With the new season just around the corner, who do you think will be the key man for United this season?
No doubt it is a collective team effort at the end of the day (a cliche nonetheless) but undeniably there is often always some player who will prove most influential, most vital and most impactful than the rest to carry the team when the chips are down. Just like what Keano had done for us for many years.
Obviously it was Cristiano Ronaldo (first time I am spelling out his name in full) for us last season with his amazing 42 goals. Minus some goals from this phenomenal record would have translated into some points dropped and thus easily cost us the title last season, taking into consideration we only nicked it by 2 and 4 points above Chelsea and Arsenal respectively.
What about this season? Will Ronaldo be the key again? Or will it be Rooney, finally coming true to his potential if Fergie restores him to his favoured central role? Or Ferdinand or...?
After somewhat careful analysis, a good read in any case, the author of the following article thinks it would be Carlos Tevez. Do you agree? Or you think it should be....?
Sunday Herald
AT FIRST glance, the glass is most definitely half-full. How could it be otherwise? Already the defending Premier League and Champions' League champions, Manchester United welcome back virtually their entire first-team squad (with the exception of Geard Pique, who made five league starts) including - crucially - Cristiano Ronaldo, the man who is likely to sweep the game's Player of the Season awards.
What's more, skipper Gary Neville, having sat out all but 10 minutes of last year, should be back to full fitness. The young midfielders Anderson and Nani, who showed tremendous promise last season, have a year of Premiership experience under their belts and, at 20 and 21 respectively, look ready to step up.
Throw in the fact that United's competitors - Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - have hardly been pulling up trees in the transfer market and the fact that the club may yet pick up another striker before the window closes and surely the title will surely remain at Old Trafford.
Or will it? Look a little closer and you can find a gaggle of negatives to balance out those positives.
Yes, United may not have lost anyone of consequence, but they haven't added anyone either. With Louis Saha a victim of injury, lack of performance and general ennui, acquiring another forward, one who can provide something different, ought to be a priority. Dimitar Berbatov fits the bill on paper, except the Bulgarian's signing is fraught with peril and pitfalls.
For a start, he'll be expensive - very expensive - £30m plus (possibly even more; having already lost Robbie Keane, Tottenham will drive up the price as far they can). That's a lot of money for a guy who turns 28 in January and who really only established himself as a force in the Bundesliga four years ago.
Add in the fact that Berbatov's workrate and attitude have been questioned in the past (as has his penchant for wanting to move elsewhere) and it's fair to wonder how natural a fit he would be at Old Trafford. Especially since - as things stand - he would not be guaranteed a place in the starting XI.
Anderson and Nani may be a year older and more experienced but then so are Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs and, at their age, that's not a good thing. Besides, Anderson will miss most of August due to his Olympic commitments with Brazil.
Ronaldo's decision to stick around is a positive, although, according to reports, in exchange for staying through next summer, he obtained a promise from the club that they would not stand in his way if a reasonable offer came in.
In the medium-term, it could spectacularly backfire. If he suffers an injury or if his performances dip (in fact, even if they're just marginally less than the other-worldly ones turned in last season) the £60m Real Madrid were supposedly ready to put on the table this August will look mighty good in hindsight.
Indeed, some cynics are suggesting that Ronaldo's departure in twelve months' time will coincide with that of Sir Alex Ferguson himself.
Speculating on when and how Sir Alex will bow out is, of course, a haphazard pursuit but surely it's not lost on anyone that the threat is always there (and has been for the past five years).
Either way, Ronaldo won't be back before October and it remains to be seen what condition and what mindset he'll be in when he does return.
Need more negatives? Well, Carlos Queiroz, Sir Alex's number two, has left to manage Portugal. And while he may not be on Roy Keane's Christmas card list, many insiders credit the club's resurgence to his influence after returning from Real Madrid.
It's always debatable just how much of an impact assistants have, but with Sir Alex getting older you did feel Queiroz was a natural link to the Portuguese speaking players.
Edwin Van der Sar turns 38 in October, Ben Foster, his heir apparent, has been hampered by injuries and, in fact, is injured again.
Wayne Rooney - not for the first time - and Michael Carrick head into the season carrying knocks, as does Owen Hargreaves another guy who seems to spend more time on the treatment table than on the pitch (last season was again typically Haregreavesesque: solid performances in big games, just 16 Premier League starts).
Amidst all this nit-picking, there is one guy who could carry the team on his back, much like Ronaldo did for long stretches last year. A player who spent much of his holiday training on his own, determined to turn 2008-09 into "his" year.
Carlos Tevez is the quintessential strong, silent type. He left the limelight to Ronaldo and Rooney for much of last season, focusing instead on settling in to Sir Alex's system. Now he is ready to carry a bigger chunk of the load, going beyond the 18 goals he notched last season, while leaving penalties and free kicks to Ronaldo.
"I'm just here to do my part, it's not about me, it's about the team," he told an Argentine newspaper last month, showing a flair for the kind of anodyne statement managers love. Except in Tevez' case you buy into it.
"He's one of the hardest working, most committed, most professional footballers I have ever worked with," Sir Alex said last season. "And he is a phenomenal talent as well."
While some have (predictably) compared Tevez to Diego Maradona, a more apt parallel is perhaps Scholes. Tevez is a workaholic off the pitch, who is selfless and single-minded on it.
Forget the facile Latin American hothead stereotypes, the statistic of which he is most proud is the number "one", which is the number of times he was booked in the Premier League last season. By contrast, Rooney and Ronaldo had 13 yellows and one red card between them.
In many ways, you can see United becoming Tevez's team. Ronaldo likely won't be there beyond next summer. None of the midfielders - except for, perhaps one day, Anderson - seem to have the charisma, age profile and durability to grow into a long-term leadership role.
Rooney's position on the pitch is evolving and changing and is sure to be the subject of further discussion. Sir Alex indicated that "maybe" he was "playing too far away from goal" (his scoring totals have declined every season after arriving at Old Trafford) and yet his own future seems distinctly linked to Tevez.
In fact, you get the sense that, going forward, Rooney may be shifted around to accommodate Tevez.
As a partnership, the two will most likely be integral to United's future, more so than Ronaldo. And that's why the club's foremost priority must be turning Tevez' contract (which, at present, is a loan with two years remaining) into a permanent deal.
Figures of £30m have been mentioned. If United can pull it off, it could be their transfer coup of the summer. More so than Berbatov - or even hanging on to Ronaldo for another season.
No doubt it is a collective team effort at the end of the day (a cliche nonetheless) but undeniably there is often always some player who will prove most influential, most vital and most impactful than the rest to carry the team when the chips are down. Just like what Keano had done for us for many years.
Obviously it was Cristiano Ronaldo (first time I am spelling out his name in full) for us last season with his amazing 42 goals. Minus some goals from this phenomenal record would have translated into some points dropped and thus easily cost us the title last season, taking into consideration we only nicked it by 2 and 4 points above Chelsea and Arsenal respectively.
What about this season? Will Ronaldo be the key again? Or will it be Rooney, finally coming true to his potential if Fergie restores him to his favoured central role? Or Ferdinand or...?
After somewhat careful analysis, a good read in any case, the author of the following article thinks it would be Carlos Tevez. Do you agree? Or you think it should be....?
Sunday Herald
AT FIRST glance, the glass is most definitely half-full. How could it be otherwise? Already the defending Premier League and Champions' League champions, Manchester United welcome back virtually their entire first-team squad (with the exception of Geard Pique, who made five league starts) including - crucially - Cristiano Ronaldo, the man who is likely to sweep the game's Player of the Season awards.
What's more, skipper Gary Neville, having sat out all but 10 minutes of last year, should be back to full fitness. The young midfielders Anderson and Nani, who showed tremendous promise last season, have a year of Premiership experience under their belts and, at 20 and 21 respectively, look ready to step up.
Throw in the fact that United's competitors - Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool - have hardly been pulling up trees in the transfer market and the fact that the club may yet pick up another striker before the window closes and surely the title will surely remain at Old Trafford.
Or will it? Look a little closer and you can find a gaggle of negatives to balance out those positives.
Yes, United may not have lost anyone of consequence, but they haven't added anyone either. With Louis Saha a victim of injury, lack of performance and general ennui, acquiring another forward, one who can provide something different, ought to be a priority. Dimitar Berbatov fits the bill on paper, except the Bulgarian's signing is fraught with peril and pitfalls.
For a start, he'll be expensive - very expensive - £30m plus (possibly even more; having already lost Robbie Keane, Tottenham will drive up the price as far they can). That's a lot of money for a guy who turns 28 in January and who really only established himself as a force in the Bundesliga four years ago.
Add in the fact that Berbatov's workrate and attitude have been questioned in the past (as has his penchant for wanting to move elsewhere) and it's fair to wonder how natural a fit he would be at Old Trafford. Especially since - as things stand - he would not be guaranteed a place in the starting XI.
Anderson and Nani may be a year older and more experienced but then so are Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs and, at their age, that's not a good thing. Besides, Anderson will miss most of August due to his Olympic commitments with Brazil.
Ronaldo's decision to stick around is a positive, although, according to reports, in exchange for staying through next summer, he obtained a promise from the club that they would not stand in his way if a reasonable offer came in.
In the medium-term, it could spectacularly backfire. If he suffers an injury or if his performances dip (in fact, even if they're just marginally less than the other-worldly ones turned in last season) the £60m Real Madrid were supposedly ready to put on the table this August will look mighty good in hindsight.
Indeed, some cynics are suggesting that Ronaldo's departure in twelve months' time will coincide with that of Sir Alex Ferguson himself.
Speculating on when and how Sir Alex will bow out is, of course, a haphazard pursuit but surely it's not lost on anyone that the threat is always there (and has been for the past five years).
Either way, Ronaldo won't be back before October and it remains to be seen what condition and what mindset he'll be in when he does return.
Need more negatives? Well, Carlos Queiroz, Sir Alex's number two, has left to manage Portugal. And while he may not be on Roy Keane's Christmas card list, many insiders credit the club's resurgence to his influence after returning from Real Madrid.
It's always debatable just how much of an impact assistants have, but with Sir Alex getting older you did feel Queiroz was a natural link to the Portuguese speaking players.
Edwin Van der Sar turns 38 in October, Ben Foster, his heir apparent, has been hampered by injuries and, in fact, is injured again.
Wayne Rooney - not for the first time - and Michael Carrick head into the season carrying knocks, as does Owen Hargreaves another guy who seems to spend more time on the treatment table than on the pitch (last season was again typically Haregreavesesque: solid performances in big games, just 16 Premier League starts).
Amidst all this nit-picking, there is one guy who could carry the team on his back, much like Ronaldo did for long stretches last year. A player who spent much of his holiday training on his own, determined to turn 2008-09 into "his" year.
Carlos Tevez is the quintessential strong, silent type. He left the limelight to Ronaldo and Rooney for much of last season, focusing instead on settling in to Sir Alex's system. Now he is ready to carry a bigger chunk of the load, going beyond the 18 goals he notched last season, while leaving penalties and free kicks to Ronaldo.
"I'm just here to do my part, it's not about me, it's about the team," he told an Argentine newspaper last month, showing a flair for the kind of anodyne statement managers love. Except in Tevez' case you buy into it.
"He's one of the hardest working, most committed, most professional footballers I have ever worked with," Sir Alex said last season. "And he is a phenomenal talent as well."
While some have (predictably) compared Tevez to Diego Maradona, a more apt parallel is perhaps Scholes. Tevez is a workaholic off the pitch, who is selfless and single-minded on it.
Forget the facile Latin American hothead stereotypes, the statistic of which he is most proud is the number "one", which is the number of times he was booked in the Premier League last season. By contrast, Rooney and Ronaldo had 13 yellows and one red card between them.
In many ways, you can see United becoming Tevez's team. Ronaldo likely won't be there beyond next summer. None of the midfielders - except for, perhaps one day, Anderson - seem to have the charisma, age profile and durability to grow into a long-term leadership role.
Rooney's position on the pitch is evolving and changing and is sure to be the subject of further discussion. Sir Alex indicated that "maybe" he was "playing too far away from goal" (his scoring totals have declined every season after arriving at Old Trafford) and yet his own future seems distinctly linked to Tevez.
In fact, you get the sense that, going forward, Rooney may be shifted around to accommodate Tevez.
As a partnership, the two will most likely be integral to United's future, more so than Ronaldo. And that's why the club's foremost priority must be turning Tevez' contract (which, at present, is a loan with two years remaining) into a permanent deal.
Figures of £30m have been mentioned. If United can pull it off, it could be their transfer coup of the summer. More so than Berbatov - or even hanging on to Ronaldo for another season.