Manchester United fans will have been delighted to see the team open up a three point lead over Liverpool at the top of the table after the champions secured a two-nil win over Portsmouth at Old Trafford last night.
Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick were on target on what turned out to be a night of missed opportunities for United, it very much a workman-like performance but it means that the league leaders still have a game in hand over the Merseyside Reds who could only manage a draw with Arsenal on Tuesday at Anfield.
United supporters and the manager will be concerned about the prospect of facing an in-form Arsenal team next week in the Champions League, because against Liverpool they looked fresh and full of running, in contrast the Reds once again looked out of sorts and disjointed at times against Portsmouth.
United have played more games than any other Premier League club this season and it is starting to show, to add to Fergie's concerns Gary Neville and John O'Shea picked up injuries that will keep them out of action for a few weeks. Some United fans might well argue that's no bad thing in the case of the Irishman - but in fairness, he has done a reasonable job for the team of late when slotting-in both fullback positions.
For his part and since his return from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Neville looks to have lost at least a yard of pace and it's questionable how much longer he can go on at the highest level of the game.
The good news is Rafael and Wes Brown are both fit. The really bad news is that Carlos Tevev has given perhaps his strongest hint yet that he will leave the club this summer. The Argentine is a massive fans favourite and many will be unhappy if the club do make his contract permanent, as promised on several occasions. Tevez wants to play in the big games, but since the arrival of Berbatov - who has failed to live up to expectations - the former West Ham striker has been on bench warming duty.
The fans will not be too surprised to learn that reports are claiming Ronaldo will finally get his own way this summer with a big money move to Real Madrid, but that will depend largely on Ferguson, who has previously stated he wouldn't sell the Spanish club a virus. Following an indifferent season from Ronaldo and despite his apparent apathy towards playing in England, he remains United's top scorer, but it might be the case that Fergie will grant the player his wish and set him free.
Losing both Ronaldo and Tevez would hurt United and it would mean the club would have to bring in two quality replacements. Given Tevez wants to stay and play; it would seem like an act of complete madness not to let that happen.
United would be far better off cutting their loses on Berbatov and selling Ronaldo for £100m + then signing another top striker. The club needs to do transfer any deals early, certainly before the sale of Ronaldo is announced, because once rival clubs know United are "cash rich" the asking price for potential targets will rocket.
Honestly speaking, all season long, Man Utd never play as well as last season. Ya, they looked disjointed not just against Portsmouth, they looked disjointed for the majority of this season.
ReplyDeleteThe reason for this is because of the rotation policy the Sir Alex adopted this season. When you rotate your team, you will look disjointed because players have to play with different players every week.
I m not saying that I opposed the rotation policy considering the amount of games United has to play this season and the number of cups they are going to it.I totally agree with this rotation policy.
But James Rydell, you need to understand that sometimes you need to give and take. If you want United to involves in all competition and possible win the majority of the cups, you need to have a big squad and you need to rotate the team in order for the player to overcome fatigue.
When rotation happen, you need to accept that it is not possible to play as well as when United play the same team week in week out. You should be grateful that United still grabbing the points even though they rotate a lot ( remember Liverpool rotation policy).
The reason United still winning even though they rotate a lot is because of their good defending. Currently, United have already won the World Club Cup and Carling Cup. They are still going for Premier League and Champion League plus manage to reach the semifinal of FA Cup. The key is big squad and rotation but when rotation happen, they will look little bit disjointed. Thats the fact, accept it.
You don't say. I wouldn't disagree with you about the rotation policy. What I will say is that sadly Paul Scholes legs have gone and I do wonder about the logic of playing him in important games. I'd also add that we have badly missed Hargreaves this season.
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