This is our best squad ever and the ‘quintuple’ is still a possibility, but the team haven’t been performing as we’d like.
Why not?
Never hitting top gear
Manchester United have been treading water for pretty much the entire season. Every time we have a good game, I’m waiting for us to move up a gear and stay at the level, but it just hasn’t seemed to happen. Every good performance was followed by an average one.
We thrashed West Brom 4-0, then drew 1-1 with Everton the following week. We thrashed Stoke 5-0 then drew with Villa in our next match. We dominated derby day, even after we went down to ten men with over twenty minutes to play, but then scraped a 1-0 at home against Sunderland thanks to a Vidic injury time winner. We tore Chelsea to shreds in a 3-0 win, then could only put one against Wigan the following week.
Single errors
On a weekly basis, players make mistakes. Sometimes they are made to pay for them, sometimes they get away with them.
In two matches, United made four errors which cost us six points.
Error 1: Instead of just kicking the ball in to the stands or booting it up the pitch, for whatever reason, Nemanja Vidic chose to let the ball bounce. Now, he’s probably done that on numerous occasions this season and it hasn’t been a problem. To do that when Fernando Torres is stood next to you is bordering on retarded.
Error 2: Patrice Evra fouling Steven Gerrard in the penalty area
Error 3: Vidic diving on Gerrard and getting sent off. It almost felt like game over over at that point. It was the results of that sending off that were the killers though: a) Liverpool scored from the free-kick to put the game beyond doubt, b) Vidic misses the next two Premiership games through suspension.
Error 4: Paul Scholes blocking Fulham’s attempt on goal with his hands in the box. United were a goal down and a man down with less than 20 minutes played. No coming back.
Had these errors been spread out over the course of the season or had we got away with one or two of them, then we would be in a very different situation at the moment. However, the timing of it all was dreadful and made things appear as though they were a lot worse than they actually were. Back to back defeats when we had the potential to go ten points clears with a game in hand looked so bad, when essentially, it was individual errors which cost us scraping or draw or fluking a win.
New signings
It’s been a frustrating season which has become even more frustrating of late. Despite having the second best assists in the Premiership, we haven’t worked a way to integrate Dimitar Berbatov successfully. I think he’s a quality player and I’m made up he’s on our team, but we’re not seeing the best from him yet. 13 goals and 9 assists is a good season but of course we want him to have a great season. His touch is fantastic and he has vision to match but something hasn’t clicked the way we want it to yet.
Old signings
Nani and Anderson just haven’t been anywhere near as effective as they were last season. We’ve seen glimpses of Anderson’s potential again this season, with the pace he injects from the centre of midfield something we don’t see from Carrick or Scholes, but he hasn’t been as good. His passing has been off, he loses possession too easily and he just doesn’t seem to control the midfield like he did last year. Remember how he bossed Gerrard and Fabregas off the pitch? Where’s that player gone?
As for Nani, he has been poor. What I love about him is his fighting nature, with him happy enough to chase the ball all over the pitch. Sadly, when he does win the ball, he doesn’t do a lot with it. He’s scored some of the best goals I’ve ever seen at Old Trafford and showed he was more than up to the big occasion last season. In his defence, he hasn’t been given a long stint in the team to find form and for a while just seemed to drop out of the squad all-together.
We paid top dollar for these two though and they’ve already shown in their first season they have the potential and capabilities to cut it in this league. Last season Nani didn’t have Ji-Sung Park to compete with and Anderson didn’t have his injuries. Whilst most reds are confident about Anderson’s future at the club, some already seem to have given up on Nani. I am of the opinion that he has a shit load of potential and will be able to cut it when he’s given a steady run in the team. He looked better in his first season than Ronaldo did but the difference is Ronaldo played every week from the moment he signed.
Injuries
Injuries happen to every team and there are certainly teams who have had them worse than us but injured players certainly have had an effect on our season. The most noteable are as follows.
Owen Hargreaves and Wes Brown have missed the entire season, both of whom were first team players last season, who both started in the Champions League final, showing their ranking within the team.
We were without Ronaldo for the first month of the season then he spent the second month getting his fitness back after missing months of football because of surgery.
Paul Scholes missing for all of October and November.
Rio Ferdinand picked up an injury after playing Spurs on December 12th, missing our next eleven matches in all competitions.
Wayne Rooney did his hamstring in January and didn’t start for us for a further eight matches in all competitions after that.
Then we’ve had the injuries to the squad players. Rafael da Silva showed us what he was capable of but then an injury which hit at the turn of the year has seen him ruled out ever since. His more highly rated brother, Fabio, missed the first half of the season due to a shoulder injury, then when he did get a game, picked up a strain in his calf.
Onwards and upwards
All season I’ve been waiting for things to click and fit in to place. The potential with this squad is fantastic and we’ve just been waiting for those great performances, or this or that player to come back. You keep thinking it will be the next weekend and then reality hits: we’re half way through April! It’s almost a whole year since the joy of beating Wigan and that fantastic night in Moscow!
But then you have to think, we’ve already got two trophies in the bag, we’re top of the league, and we’re in the semi-finals of two other competitions. It’s bloody incredible and the fact that we’ve managed to get here without playing blinding football every week is testament of our squad.
So, to quote Dimitar Berbatov, “WE are Manchester United”, and whatever we win this season, I’m certain things will click for us soon enough!
Great post, Scott.
For me players like Tevez don’t have to blame only themselves. Something didn’t work out this season. Maybe you are right, the injuries have been the main problem for that, but we have to cope with that.
Very strange season.
Berbatov is a quality player who oozes class, but he just doesnt fit in with our team. United are a pacy counter attacking team, but berbatov is a more slow and controlled possesion player. Watch the porto game, every time he recieves the ball our foward momentum comes to a grinding halt. He holds up the ball well and he has nice little flicks but at the end of the day most of his passes go backwards.
I think Nani and Anderson get unfair criticsim from the United faithful. Neither of them get extended run outs so they can come into some sort of form, but Nani especially has recieved zero chance. I question why Fergie bought him, Not because I dont think he is good enough, but because he seems to have no interest in playing the boy. Anderson might have given the ball a way a few times against porto, but his pace and pysicality shut down Portos midfield in the first half. I am a huge fan of the boy and if given 4-5 consecutive games he will show his form of last year.
Let me think. Did Berba fit into the Tottenham system ? Are they a slow team ?
Fergie just didn’t find the perfect balance so far. And again he also had his share of injury.
No more worries folks, we are geting closer to the promise land.
let me think, are spurs a good team?
what connection with the fact that he was good for them ? even for the bad team like spurs..
mj – I hear what you are saying but I think the “pacy, counter attacking team” we saw last season and previous seasons has had to adjust because up until the dippers game most teams have just “parked the bus” and got eleven men behind the ball in their own half. This has made it very difficult to counter. Given time Sir Alex will find the perfect blend and we will hit the peaks again.
By the way how blessed are United fans. Top of the league with a game in hand, Semi’s of Champions league and FA Cup and Carling cup winners. To think we have “problems”. Would hate to be a Newcastle fan!
i agree with the fact that Berba has to be just a bit more aggressive in front of the penalty area. but this just shows the fact that he is not selfish wich is good. i’m desperate for him to start pulling off the performances.
@ King Eric
Arsenal fans are not desperate )
but you just feel that something doesn’t work in the system. we are in a good position now but the most important part of the season is still to come.
Perfection is our motto King Eric!Seriously.I think one reason is CQ’s absence and i don’t want to start another debate on this.Just my opinion.When discussing about our 7 reds this season,i said that last year the players seemed to have cooler heads and that was maybe due to the week in week out coaching sessions with Carlos who looks more relaxed than SAF.But it’s not just this.It’s every other reason plus the fact that a team that goes all the way in 2 major competitions,the next season tends to struggle.There would come a point when people like Carrick,Evra,Vida,Ronaldo,Rio and a few others who were at the forefront for the last 2 years,would be suffering from a burn out.Not only physical but mental as well.Wayne Rooney,bless his heart,is the only one who never gets tired of playing football.That’s why his appearances stand out more than anyone’s this season.Along with Vida,he has been our player of the season.
i think anderson has been unlucky with injurys
Reading this depressed me ………..
Nice post must say…
1. Errors: Agree with this. Everyone does make mistakes, its the timing that counts OR in this case. Doesnt count for us!! Instead of blaming Vidic I would rather give credit to Torres for taking advantage of it. We are lucky othets didnt …. I wouldnt say Paul scholes’ was an error. I just refuse to believe that. It was a very Human reflex reaction which ANYONE would have made that time.
2. New signings: Berbatov has been a disaster, no question about it !!! A 30mn player doesnt know how to shoot..He should have scored against Porto… This is a player who has played in the Epl for sometime now, has all the exp. Considering Berba relies on the other players to create goals for him. Who would want a better midfield than ours with the likes of Giggs, Scholes, Carrick et all ..masters of the passing game. If he cant click now..I do not understand when can he !! .. the best of Berba was his assist in the Anfield match .. Since then he has been bloody average..Dont see him playin any better than he did this season..But i ll just pray he does. Somehow i just trust SAF too much !!
3. Old signings : With Anderson, I d say he has been unlucky with injuries for sure. Great fan of Hargreaves for his versatality, unlucky again. He had an absolutely fantastic last season. getting into the starting XI and performing straight away. With Nani, i d say he has not been given the no. of starts that he deserved. I mean, its nothing as compared to last season. Park is good, but when having a dry spell in terms of goals (in Man Utd terms). Park is not the guy I would bet my money on. Please do not forget Nani was very good pre season. Should have been given more chances than he actualy got. Maybe next season I hope..
4. Injuries: We always miss the injured ones. I so desperately wanna see Wes and Owen take the field again but dnt see it happening this season. But this is no reason for us not performing so well this season. Thats is what great teams are made of.
I agree stats wouldnt agree with us. I mean, who says that the team that sits atop the epl, world champs, carling winners, in the semis of the FA and the CL are not playing well. I completely agree that we havent been the team that we used to be but after the Porto match, this is our time and tell the others who we are!! and Thank u Berba for reminding WE ARE MANCHESTER UNITED… hope u realise this soon too.
Thoughtful analysis and some good comments all round. Personally I’m a ‘half full’ rather than ‘half empty’ man, so I’m sure United will fire on all cylinders soon. I’m a big fan of Berba’s and of Nani, and Anderson, and I’m sure they’ll all come good. It’s pretty amazing how well we’ve done given the disruptions through injuries and sometimes odd team selections but , as I’ve argued before, opponents have found a new approach to playing United. After many teams had mastered the ‘park the bus’ defensive strategy, which led to so many dull 1-0 victories, now teams are going for a more aggressive, higher up the pitch attacking mode, which has rather caught United on the hop. Spurs did it to some extent (remember Lennon v Evra?),Liverpool did it, Fulham did it, VIlla did it, Porto did it in the first leg, and each time United have struggled, not helped by the terrible individual errors that Scott has listed. I think now they have a more settled back 4 and more solidity in front they should be able to respond better to the new tactic. Some teams may come to regret their more attacking mode, now United have twigged what’s going on. Berba may look slow, but he’s terrific at exploiting space. I saw encouraging signs from him against Porto . One other thing, I hope Fergie will never pick Giggs and Scholes together from the start, especially if Gary Neville is playing. We need players with ‘legs’. Scholes is OK if you need a cool head late in a game, but he’s not been consistently good enough from the start (although to be fair he was pretty good against Sunderland.) It’s best to see him push forward , to avoid him getting caught in possession as he has done on occasions, putting needless pressure on the defence.
Great post scott. To be honest berba has got it all to be a United player but he has not clicked because he is not playing inside the box where he will get a lot more chances from our wingers and full-backs.In the porto game he was just nowhere to seen when the wingers or full-backs were giving crosses.Instead of berba giggs and ronaldo were our target men most of the time and that did not help us getting the second goal and hence a nervy finish.
For me berbatov should start playing more inside the box and focussing on winning the header and that’s the only way we can start playing more freely.Because however good he is no one can disagree that he slows down the attack and hence he should play more centrally and not drifting wide.
Agree with you Giles Giggs and scholes should never be allowed to start together
Gotta agree with MJ’s two points:
“Berbatov is a quality player who oozes class, but he just doesnt fit in with our team.”
AND
“Nani and Anderson get unfair criticsim from the United faithful. Neither of them get extended run outs so they can come into some sort of form, but Nani especially has recieved zero chance.”
I’ve written a lot on this blog about the first point so, no more today.
About the second point, Nani needs to use his LEFT LEG – the game against Porto was another case in point, he had the ball inside the penalty area, he had lots of space to his left, the opposing player just KNEW that he wouldn’t go there – and he didn’t ! Anderson was, to my eyes, just bullish in the game against Porto; the best he’s played so far this year. Injuries have slowed him down but his combination of speed and strength are awesome – what’s really puzzling is that he arrived being touted as a skill-player and that’s what’s not been in evidence so far. I’m still really high on this kid – he can be really great but he needs to stay injury-free and get a good run of games.
What’s encouraging about this season is that only in the game against the RentBoyz at OT has the team really played up to its ability.
Can we expect more ?
Can SAF put the pedal to the metal ?
Why not ? – after all, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Il tell you whats the problem…its the midfield!!! Our best man in the centre of the park is Ryan Giggs. Carrick is sloppy and only makes defence splitting passes when he feels like…Scholes is also losing the ball way too often. Sigh if only we could get Essien and Diego/Fabregas or some other attacking mid that will allow us to work the ball around the oppenents box…
@mj, couldn’t agree more with your comments on berba. realized it in the porto game more than ever before. he so often slows our game down. i don’t think that spurs where such a bad team last season as some write here… they showed some good pace, as far as i remember, and i thought berba was playing much better and a different style aswell.
but i guess one should be cautious in criticising him, we do not exactly know what role he gets from the manager.
after all, King Eric is right, we shouldn’t be too sad about our season, regarding what we achieved so far (and hopefully achieve in the last games).
Great post! A few good points!
I, like some posted before me, am enjoying the moment. How blessed are we? Playing on and off, still searching for that “dream” team and the perfect place for everyone to fit in, and yet- we are still on course, and in every competition. After all, remembered are the champions, not the way they’ve played. I have so much faith in SAF, that I am ready to pray to him every night.
Compare the two Porto games.
Without Berbatov the ball is going back and forth between the two penalty areas like a pinball. We just could not get a hold of the ball or take control of the game.
Contrast it with Wednesday night. Possession stats comfortably in our favour for an away European tie (Same with Inter, compare this to last year against Roma and Barca), the game was largely controlled, and Porto were restricted to long range shots.
This is in large part due to Berbatov. This guy doesn’t just do fancy touches just for the hell of it. Watch him pick up the ball in tight situations, control it perfectly, shift out and beat a couple of players and lay it off effortlessly. He doesn’t do it with Ronaldo type stepovers or pure pace (although he’s considered slowly than he actually is). A great example of this is the first goal against Sunderland last weekend, setting up Rooney for a cross, after having two or three surround him. With him keeping possession (he’s by far the best of our forwards at this), the midfield can push up, and we tend to take control of games. This was significant in the clean sheet run – teams didn’t take many shots at us, because they rarely had the ball.
I’m slightly biased when it comes to Berbatov, being Bulgarian myself, but I really think he’s getting short shrift from many people. (4/10 from the Times, wtf?) His assists/goals record is good for his first season, although yes, it could be better. I’m sure next season we’ll see the best of him.
This is the best squad we have ever had. The finest young talent in the league. We’re on the verge of having the greatest season in the history of global football. Current league, European, and World champions. The glass is well full…………
confoundedbridge you might be right. I will go and check our defensive records with and without your countryman at the starting line up.He might not pressurize defences like Carlos does,but maybe his ball retention buys us time and takes the sting out of the opposition.Liverpool at home was also a pinball sort of game.
I really want to see more of Fabio with our team.
It’s such a shame that it’s near the end of this season and he probably won’t get chances. A Rafael / Fabio Fullback combo in our first team would be very interesting to see in the summer when we play our practise games…
Can anyone tell me what game Fabio came on for us?
I’ve forgotten what game it was….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavihA5SrBo
costa this is emilys 99 united chant video
and just for you emilys 100 video will be you suggestion of take me home united road
ellioman he started against Tottenha at home in the cup.It’s late now but i feel that next year we will see a lot of both twins.
gotta hate tiny tears thanx!Lol,even little kids are onto City!How sad!Take your time with the 100th one.From what you have told me it’s a little tough on her.
@costas
ahh… thanks!
I remember he played well in the short time he was on.
Have to find a copy of the game somewhere and see if I remember correct
Scott, I thing that this season there were numerous occassions when we did not capitalise from our domination. The final, killer pass was lacking too often for my liking. Lets look just at two back to back defeats. At 2:1 for the dippers, we had a good period of domination without creating a decent opening. Same at Fulham, although down to ten men, we played most of the half in front of their goal, yet ended up with nothing.
I also think that for all the quality of the squad, we still have not replaced Roy Keane. We need a true leader on the pitch.
And finally, are we missing CQ more than we though we would?
The whole point with Berbatov is he should be the focal point, the pinnacle of our attack. He’s not, and thats why we seeing a much different, and in my opinion less effective, player this season. Get him at the business end of the pitch where his holding up of the ball would be very productive, whereas now he’s getting it in midfield and moving it backwards. I honestly believe the teams main problems would be solved if he played ahead of Rooney, and not vice versa.
And Anderson is a legend, and a future captain of United. We just need to get more out of him in an attacking manner because he’s got skill, pace, and creativity to burn.
@davetian
Hehe, hopefully Anderson will become a legend for us but I doubt he will end up as the captain of the team. As one of my favorite players for us I really do hope he will be given the chance to play more games (probably will be faced against Fabregas in the upcoming Arsenal battle) and help the midfield dominate. He did a fantastic job against Porto and he was just coming out of injury.
Regardin future captain material for United, I do not see any other than Rooney as our future captain. I just can’t picture anyone better to lead the team into battle and captain them when things aren’t going smoothly for us.
our attack has been poor, because our left side and the centre of our team is poor, and upfront is well. nani park are not good enough and they dnt provide or score enough goals, carrick scholes anderson fletcher hargreaves how many of those players can not only grab games by the scruff of the neck but score goals is well. we have not replaced keane scholes and giggs right and we are left with good and above average players in carrick scholes anderson fletcher hargreaves nani park, out of keane scholes beckham giggs, only beckham has been replaced with ronaldo. rooney has had a big problem that he has not settled partner, he has to deal with having to be placed with either tevez or berbvetov who both dnt suit rooneys game. someone said united could not agree a fee with atletico for torres if that was the case what a huge error, if united had got hold of torres we would not have the problem rotating the two because they both play in their proper positions. ribery was another we missed out on in 2007, if we had these two we would not be moaning about our attack.
davetian: i fully agree with your Berba’s comments.Fergie has changed his position to like an attacking mf.he should be the focal point like he was at spurs & banging in goals.
As Sir Matt once said,”At Manchester United,we strive for perfection.If we can’t have that,we’ll settle for excellence.”
Actually guys, our fellow Bulgarian Manc confoundedbridge does have a point.I just went and checked.Going by games started only,in the 32 games that Berba has started we have conceded 15.In the 23 that he hasn’t started,we have conceded 25.Whenever he plays,we are les adventurous but probably less troubled at the back.
0.46 vs. 1.08 goal per game )
not bad.
Costas, do you have stats for the number of goals we scored with and without Berba ?
Just did it Corea.Keep in mind that this is about games started since i don’t know how many times he has been substituted in or out:
He has started in 32 games in which we have scored 61 goals
He has’t started in 23 games in which we have scored 40 goals
So it’s 1.91 vs 1.74
It’s not that big a difference.On Wednesday we have been the typical United side of this season.Composed and not really threatened.Maybe Berba plays a part as well.
@ costas
but, mate, both stats look to be in his favour
the number of goals we conceded with him starting is the most impressive. 
They are corea.I just have to see how many games he started along with Rio and Vida.That could be more telling.For example,he didn’t play in the Blackburn Carling Cup game in which we concede 3.But Rio and Vida didn’t play either.So numbers are fun but they might not tell the full story.I just wanted to make that clear.But for me,he does offer more to the table than his apparent lack of pace or goal threat.SAF wouldn’t start him so much if he didn’t have his reasons.
SAF wouldn’t start him so much if he didn’t have his reasons.
–
golden words. but even He makes mistakes and misjudges things. but i’m sure the best of Berba is still to come.
I watched quite a bit of Berbatov playing for Spurs, and he didn’t particularly play as a leading striker. He’d be in the hole, slipping balls in for Robbie Keane (you can see how much he improved him), linking play in a similar way, although I must say, he scored more as well.
Recently I’ve been having the thought that perhaps we should just play Ronaldo as a striker. He has all the attributes you need – pace, power, tremendous heading ability and he sticks away more than any other player (average 30 a season nearly for 3 seasons). He doesn’t finish like a classic striker, but there’s no doubting the statistics.
I do miss the way he played in the 06/07, imo his best season. As well as getting 23 goals, I think he got 20 odd assists, comparable to what Yorke/Beckham were getting back in 99 (btw the entire season review of that is youtube, best 90 minutes you could spend). His all round play was spectacular, you could really rely on him producing a defence splitting pace, and he wasn’t so bulked up then, so he could still skip past players in the same way, (think the build to Rooney’s goal in Roma that year).
I’ve always thought Tevez slows our attacks down and dribbles backwards too much…
I think Berbatov is class – when he clicks I think he’ll be the missing piece of the jigsaw
Glass is nearly full
I’m resigned to the fact that we are playing badly this season. My hope now isn’t that we start playing well. What I would love to happen is that we win things (maybe even everything!) while still being shit. That would be so funny!
First of all i want to give congrats to u and to all man utd supporters for winning to my team (Porto) in the CL quarter finalls.
As a Porto supporter i know very well Anderson. Is a marvelous kid and football player that is still loved in Dragão (as u could see in the game).
the problem with anderson underachievement in the Man utd is due to bad positioning. Is natural position is as attacking midfielder. In grémio was in that position we played. In porto also. We was considered the best player in the world sub-17 also playing for brasil in that position.
What sir alex does, putting him as defensive midfielder is a Crime against football because take of the game the best things ha has to give. Technique (he can pass by 3,4, 5 players), pace, and being closer to the attackers to give the final pass. I still think that he could be superior to Kaka (if he improve is shoot, because in the rest he’s superior) and be one of the best players in the world but the manager have to play in is right position…
The problem of Nani this year is the lack of continues games. Sometimes i tried to compare him to CR7, and the only thing i see him inferior is not scoring too much, although he has a good mid range shoot. In the rest, is very good in set pieces, great technique (superior to CR7 in one to one), very good on the wings, and with good potential to play in the middle (in Sporting made fabulous games as AMC).
Continues the good work
Best Regards
Hugo Silva