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Hey guys how are we? Haven't posted a thread in a while.
Yeah I was at the game last night and honestly, particularly in the first half, the passing and movement was of a standard I have honestly not seen before from United. Everything happened so fluidly, every time someone got the ball 2 or 3 options would open up for them naturally and every player would pick the right pass and move on fluidly with the rest of the team. It was awesome. We could have been 5 up at half time and that is no mean feat, against a Fulham side that previous to last night had conceded 18 goals all season.
United showed their strength in depth by bringing on youngsters Darren Gibson and Jonny Evans, who fitted seemlessly into the team, and a certain Wayne Rooney who has been out for 5 weeks.
So this all got me questioning, has any Manchester United team ever been better than this? And you know what, I don't think they have, honestly. But I think the first 11 of the '99 team was on a par without doubt. The '99 team had 2 weakness, Ronny Johnson was good but no Jaap Stam, and the strength in depth was not what it is now.
The current team also has 2 weaknesses. The first being the left wing slot. Even last night, moves lose a slight bit of rhythm because players are reluctant to pass to Park when he is the screamingly obvious pass, because the know he is technically not even close to being on a par with the rest. And this does make us less lethal than we could be. The other weakness if that we don't have a striker who hangs on the shoulders of defenders giving the option of a through ball straight through the middle to be put through on goal, and at times last night while we had possession we were screaming for that.
Those two weaknesses are what stand between us and becoming the greatest Manchester United, and possibly football in general, team of all time. Will they be fixed? I honestly think they will, if not by next season, then the one after that.
So we have to think of solutions to these 'weaknesses' in our persuit of perfection. What do we do? Well I think there are a couple of potential avenues to solve each problem. For the left wing issue, there is either the possibility, that either Nani, or Tosic, will come through and be world class as the rest of the team is. Or we can bring someone in, like David Silva or Ashley Young for instance, who we know would do an exceptional job for us, and probably sell one of the current wingers, either Park or Nani probably.
Then there's the 'guy getting in behind' weakness. Again, there is actually an 'in squad' solution. We have young Welbeck coming through, and he has the pace and technique to be able to be this player for us. But he is another player who prefers to position himself so he can get the ball into his feet rather than running onto a through ball. So we could try to nurture him to making darting runs off the shoulders of defenders to get through on goal. Whether that would work though we don't know. Another of our strikers with the potential to be this player is Wayne Rooney. He has all the necessary skills to be this type of player, but do we, and he, want to limit his time on the ball by making him the striker who plays off the shoulders, when we know he is best playing off a main striker. So again, the other option is to bring someone in, at Tevez's expense, who we know will do this job. The perfect person to bring in would be Benzema in my opinion.
So whats the right solution? I don't know. But if we do iron out our weakness, we are on the brink of perfection. And with Ferguson's squad management, I think theres a damn good chance we will reach the point of being our greatest team ever.
Yeah I was at the game last night and honestly, particularly in the first half, the passing and movement was of a standard I have honestly not seen before from United. Everything happened so fluidly, every time someone got the ball 2 or 3 options would open up for them naturally and every player would pick the right pass and move on fluidly with the rest of the team. It was awesome. We could have been 5 up at half time and that is no mean feat, against a Fulham side that previous to last night had conceded 18 goals all season.
United showed their strength in depth by bringing on youngsters Darren Gibson and Jonny Evans, who fitted seemlessly into the team, and a certain Wayne Rooney who has been out for 5 weeks.
So this all got me questioning, has any Manchester United team ever been better than this? And you know what, I don't think they have, honestly. But I think the first 11 of the '99 team was on a par without doubt. The '99 team had 2 weakness, Ronny Johnson was good but no Jaap Stam, and the strength in depth was not what it is now.
The current team also has 2 weaknesses. The first being the left wing slot. Even last night, moves lose a slight bit of rhythm because players are reluctant to pass to Park when he is the screamingly obvious pass, because the know he is technically not even close to being on a par with the rest. And this does make us less lethal than we could be. The other weakness if that we don't have a striker who hangs on the shoulders of defenders giving the option of a through ball straight through the middle to be put through on goal, and at times last night while we had possession we were screaming for that.
Those two weaknesses are what stand between us and becoming the greatest Manchester United, and possibly football in general, team of all time. Will they be fixed? I honestly think they will, if not by next season, then the one after that.
So we have to think of solutions to these 'weaknesses' in our persuit of perfection. What do we do? Well I think there are a couple of potential avenues to solve each problem. For the left wing issue, there is either the possibility, that either Nani, or Tosic, will come through and be world class as the rest of the team is. Or we can bring someone in, like David Silva or Ashley Young for instance, who we know would do an exceptional job for us, and probably sell one of the current wingers, either Park or Nani probably.
Then there's the 'guy getting in behind' weakness. Again, there is actually an 'in squad' solution. We have young Welbeck coming through, and he has the pace and technique to be able to be this player for us. But he is another player who prefers to position himself so he can get the ball into his feet rather than running onto a through ball. So we could try to nurture him to making darting runs off the shoulders of defenders to get through on goal. Whether that would work though we don't know. Another of our strikers with the potential to be this player is Wayne Rooney. He has all the necessary skills to be this type of player, but do we, and he, want to limit his time on the ball by making him the striker who plays off the shoulders, when we know he is best playing off a main striker. So again, the other option is to bring someone in, at Tevez's expense, who we know will do this job. The perfect person to bring in would be Benzema in my opinion.
So whats the right solution? I don't know. But if we do iron out our weakness, we are on the brink of perfection. And with Ferguson's squad management, I think theres a damn good chance we will reach the point of being our greatest team ever.
i worked it out by comparing each position to get a final 11 and then i had more of the current team in the lineup so say thats the better team (i didnt do the full squad so this may have an impact on the final outcome)
