cont from post 2268
Can they make it a third in a row?
Manchester United aren’t a team with much to quibble about; the best defence, the best attack, league and European title holders, with a side who for the most part are young and improving, but that does not mean performances can’t be improved upon and outside of Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano Ronaldo, each and every one of the xi can do better (in terms of performance) this season than they did last year:
Edwin Van der Sar: not flapping at high-balls and punching average drives directly back into play.
Patrice Evra: Needs to do much, much better in terms of end-product. He should be good for more assists and goals than he gets, especially with his marauding attacking game that gets him into so many impressive positions.
Wes Brown: almost perfect on the defensive end, but can get better going forwards.
Michael Carrick: needs to impose himself more in the opposition half as well as score more goals.
Paul Scholes: can definitely manage more than one goal in 38 games.
Wayne Rooney: has a whole level above the one he has shown, he should be mentioned readily with the world’s best players.
Carlitos Tevez: the same as Rooney. Carlitos was always touted as a future World Player Of The Year contender, he, like Rooney, has a whole level above what he displayed last season.
Anderson: can definitely improve his shooting. Seriously.
Nani: more goals and consistency.
Park: more goals.
Fletcher: It’s high time his overall game went up a few notches. He should be looking past cameo roles in big games.
O’Shea: passing and concentration could be way better.
So there Manchester United, just like any other side, has room for improvement.
Each player has attainable goals, and if they hit them, Manchester United will be walking a way with a third Premier League title in a row.
The new additions to the squad are all young and brimming with talent. Jonathon Evans is a player I expect to become world class in the next few years and detractors to this lad getting on as our cover at centre-back will be few and far between once he displays his ability. Fabio and Rafael are not likely to get many games in the league, but between them they do bring a lot of energy and excitement. Manucho is ‘The Truth’ for which no further words need utterance.
Can Gary Neville get back to anything resembling his old self? I’m not sure, and I wouldn’t like to put money on him not breaking down again during rehabilitation. He is some distance away from Wes Brown’s starting spot and it will be very hard for him to get his foot in the door of the best back-line (by fact) in Europe.
As mentioned in the Chelsea section, I believe the fixture congestion and the World Club Championship will derail Manchester United’s bid to retain the Premier League title and it will be their ability to re-acclimate quickly once they return that will determine whether they can get with the pace quick enough not to have the excursion prove fateful.
If they can, I feel this will be the tightest, hardest to call Premier League title of them all.
Probable Line Up.
1.
------------------------Van der Sar
---------------Ferdinand----------Vidic
Brown----------------------------------------Evra
------------------Carrick------Scholes
Ronaldo----------------Rooney--------Tevez
-------------------------Berbatov
2.
------------------------Van der Sar
---------------Ferdinand----------Vidic
Brown----------------------------------------Evra
------------------Carrick------Scholes
Ronaldo-------------------------------------Nani
------------------------------Rooney/Tevez
---------------------Berbatov
Key Players:Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Scholes, Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez