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I hope "this topic has been done to death" NOT before. But really want to hear your views on what are the weakness(es), if any, that you perceive.
Nothing negative, alarming or 'desperate' here. Just that I feel less point to talk about our strengths because the strengths will take care of itself. On the other hand, it may be more worthwhile to discuss about our perceived weakness(es) that we can improve upon.
For me, I mentioned it in the what-I-really-think thread:
The defence, our fortress, stands tall and proud as usual. Once a worrisome position, the RB, now boasts of having the most depth instead, with the exciting Rafael ready to step in for Gary and Brown. Another promising Evans can now be counted upon as a good backup for Rio and Vidic, together with Brown. The only concern is the LB. Yet to be able to see Fabio in action for the first team due to his shoulder operation and our jolly good fellow, JOS, is just good enough as a stop-gap measure and no more.
If there is any weakness, the CM must be our weakest link. May not be weak as of grave concern but definitely room for improvement. I think we lack a CM who can stamp his authority, impose himself in the middle of the park and with the necessary aggression as a no-nonsense ball winner. We also don't have somebody who is of a marauding mould since Scholes' legs are now too heavy to carry him through from box to box.... Wait a minute before you jump the gun. I honestly thought Hargreaves and Anderson could perform these two vital functions for us but we all know one has a bad knee and the other one has not yet really stepped up that one or two notches that we all expect him to. I really expected much from them in these two aspects but am still awaiting for different reasons.
Fletcher and JOS are just too lightweight. Carrick is too classy for dirty works but nonetheless has a fantastic sense of positioning to make up for it, good timely tackles and is of course, capable of good distribution like Scholes. Recently, Giggs has been recommended by the boss to play in this central role too. Not too bad from I saw with his cool head, experience and a fair amount of energy. But not good enough, I suppose, to impose or to last the franatic pace required for that. And of course, Scholes, still possesses the quality with his distribution but has been blowing hot and cold, lacking both in consistency and the necessary pace too. Last but not least, another promising youngster by the name of Possebon looks classy so far but is not what we missed as aforementioned and of course now out injured.
.................................
As for Rooney and Tevez, I feel we are so fortunate to have them with such extraordinary outputs, starting offensive moves, closing down on defenders, chasing for lost causes, hassling midfielders and even tracking back to help out in defensive works. At the same time, they are expected to contribute to the goal counts. But coming back to the beginning of this post, I suspect Rooney and Tevez are also doing a lot of leg works as tireless workhorses for us at least partly due to the qualities missing in our CM as mentioned. And have we grown to be too dependent on their work rate?!
Especially for the lack of steel in the our CM positions. The other two I cited ie the LB and box-to-box type of CM are perhaps only minor.
What prompted this thread is because of the Everton game when we struggled in the second half as they pressed and fought hard, and we could not seem to cope with it enough, let alone to turn it around. It also reminded me of the Liverpool game when after taking an early lead, we were swarmed for the next 80 minutes. I am beginning to wonder if it is because we do not have a Mascherano type of player to add steel when we need to in such tough circumstances. Are we too soft in the middle?
Do you agree or disagree? Or are there any other perceived weakness(es) you see?
Nothing negative, alarming or 'desperate' here. Just that I feel less point to talk about our strengths because the strengths will take care of itself. On the other hand, it may be more worthwhile to discuss about our perceived weakness(es) that we can improve upon.
For me, I mentioned it in the what-I-really-think thread:
The defence, our fortress, stands tall and proud as usual. Once a worrisome position, the RB, now boasts of having the most depth instead, with the exciting Rafael ready to step in for Gary and Brown. Another promising Evans can now be counted upon as a good backup for Rio and Vidic, together with Brown. The only concern is the LB. Yet to be able to see Fabio in action for the first team due to his shoulder operation and our jolly good fellow, JOS, is just good enough as a stop-gap measure and no more.
If there is any weakness, the CM must be our weakest link. May not be weak as of grave concern but definitely room for improvement. I think we lack a CM who can stamp his authority, impose himself in the middle of the park and with the necessary aggression as a no-nonsense ball winner. We also don't have somebody who is of a marauding mould since Scholes' legs are now too heavy to carry him through from box to box.... Wait a minute before you jump the gun. I honestly thought Hargreaves and Anderson could perform these two vital functions for us but we all know one has a bad knee and the other one has not yet really stepped up that one or two notches that we all expect him to. I really expected much from them in these two aspects but am still awaiting for different reasons.
Fletcher and JOS are just too lightweight. Carrick is too classy for dirty works but nonetheless has a fantastic sense of positioning to make up for it, good timely tackles and is of course, capable of good distribution like Scholes. Recently, Giggs has been recommended by the boss to play in this central role too. Not too bad from I saw with his cool head, experience and a fair amount of energy. But not good enough, I suppose, to impose or to last the franatic pace required for that. And of course, Scholes, still possesses the quality with his distribution but has been blowing hot and cold, lacking both in consistency and the necessary pace too. Last but not least, another promising youngster by the name of Possebon looks classy so far but is not what we missed as aforementioned and of course now out injured.
.................................
As for Rooney and Tevez, I feel we are so fortunate to have them with such extraordinary outputs, starting offensive moves, closing down on defenders, chasing for lost causes, hassling midfielders and even tracking back to help out in defensive works. At the same time, they are expected to contribute to the goal counts. But coming back to the beginning of this post, I suspect Rooney and Tevez are also doing a lot of leg works as tireless workhorses for us at least partly due to the qualities missing in our CM as mentioned. And have we grown to be too dependent on their work rate?!
Especially for the lack of steel in the our CM positions. The other two I cited ie the LB and box-to-box type of CM are perhaps only minor.
What prompted this thread is because of the Everton game when we struggled in the second half as they pressed and fought hard, and we could not seem to cope with it enough, let alone to turn it around. It also reminded me of the Liverpool game when after taking an early lead, we were swarmed for the next 80 minutes. I am beginning to wonder if it is because we do not have a Mascherano type of player to add steel when we need to in such tough circumstances. Are we too soft in the middle?
Do you agree or disagree? Or are there any other perceived weakness(es) you see?
