Manchester United 08/09(P)Review
hmmm…
Back-to-back titles and still this Manchester United team haven’t come close to realising their potential. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a Manchester United fan who does not agree with this statement – last year, United were never close to the form shown in the first half of the 2006/07 campaign and instead sauntered along, unperturbed for the most part, as they closed in on the two biggest prizes an English team can win on home soil or Europe during a season.
No-one could have envisioned Cristiano Ronaldo having the season he had and I feel it would be folly to expect him to repeat such an unimaginable feat again. It is a good thing, then, that a player of skill, intelligence and composure has come in to help share the load.
Dimitar Berbatov is (or has been) the flavour of the month. His signing for the absurd price of £30.75m, coming just minutes before the close of the summer transfer window, was cause for much celebration amongst many agitated Manchester United supporters. The false bravado shown by Sir Alex Ferguson that he would be happy to go into this season as flawed and weakened as the team was last season, was seen straight through by a man, in Daniel Levy, whose avarice is probably only matched by Peter Kenyon in English football. He certainly wasn’t going to let the denouement conclude unfavourably, so greedy was he, in fact, that he ruined his own club’s chances this season in the pursuit of a few more million from the non-existent coffers of Glazer Towers.
United’s incompetence in the transfer market as far as acquiring players for anything close to value for money is so well-known around the footballing fraternity that its not so much an in-joke as a running one – if you have a talent that Manchester United want, make damn sure you bleed them for a good twenty, maybe thirty percent more than what he is worth – they’ll always pay it if they want the player bad enough.
But what is ‘worth’ and ‘value’ in relative terms? After all, Manchester United are paying Spurs for the player they need Berbatov to be, and with need comes desperation. You would have to be a fool to not see the benefits a player like Berbatov brings to United’s game. To quote myself:
Berbatov, by design, is a complementary player to the likes of Rooney and Tevez. They can't play like he does and he can't play like they do.
He may occupy the same spaces at times, but that is never a problem for players of such high intelligence and mobility who will orbit a focal point instantaneously giving him options and space.
We play an inordinate amount of pointless long balls to Rooney or Tevez, which they have no hope in hell of winning with 6ft 2" (and over) CB's on their backs. Berbatov's game is not to do with heading the ball, but rather his ability to bring it down perfectly with deft touch and control whilst immediately playing others into the equation.
So, from some hopeless punt or other, you've suddenly got a body up top who can make it stick, play others in and create a whole bunch of things from 'nothing' allayed to that he can actually head the ball so that changes the way teams have to set up to contain him. That automatically provides more space for those running off him on our team - it's a constant symbiotic relationship that would reap reward for both Berbatov and the players already here. It's obvious why we want him and it should be very clear to anyone who watches us and sees what we lack as to why he is necessary,
Berbatov's positioning is also in accordance with his physical power and technique. He can be played into tiny spaces, whilst surrounded by opposition bodies and still play on whilst taking out a mass of oppo bodies with his lay off - neither Rooney or Tevez can do this, nor do they try as most often they want the initial space to make a run and face their men head on.
After that you've got Berbatov's touch and finishing inside the box, which is far, far more composed and precise than Rooney's or Tevez', in other words, outside of the initial positions they all take up from time to time, they are nothing alike and should function effortlessly in the same team.
There's more than one way to skin a cat, and the Berbatov route is pure technique, control and strength as opposed to the mobility, over the shoulder pace and aggression of an Eto'o.
Of course, you then have "mister all-in-one" that comes in the form of Benzema.. but we're not going to be getting him, are we?
Berbatov will have no problem playing here. The irksome points are he isn't worth the figures quoted nor has he had the career to suggest it.
So yes, he will be extremely beneficial to United’s entire game. All those pointless punts and high-crosses to short players who can’t contest them will suddenly have worth, United’s game will now have variation and the added subtle guile only Scholes previously supplied, not to mention the composure in front of goal that has been sorely lacking for a few seasons now, but is it enough? Does Berbatov usher in a confirmed era of dominance for Manchester United?
The answer to that will vary from person to person. For me personally, I feel his contribution will be very good, but for United to push past Chelsea yet again, there will need to be a much better share of the goal-scoring load.
One of the biggest plusses that come with the signing of the Bulgarian is that Wayne Rooney will be moved back into a support-striker or attacking-midfield role which should feasibly see his game improve immeasurably from the hit and miss frustration we have seen from him over the last year. Hopefully this will be the platform from which he, and in turn the team, can thrive.
The notion of Carlitos Tevez being ‘dropped’ to the bench is ludicrous. You
do not bench a player of such burgeoning talent who is finally showing the world what he is capable of whilst still improving from game to game. He is as intrinsic to the way Manchester United are
able to set-up and play as anyone else in the team. Removing him would be like fixing one problem only to create another, pointlessly. The only time I expect to see him on the bench is when the fixture list piles up and rest and rotation becomes unavoidable. Besides which, per form, it would be impossible to drop Tevez whilst he is outperforming Rooney in the way he has lately.
Last season the midfield managed a pathetic twelve goals over 38 league games. Between
eight recognised midfielders (Ronaldo is a forward) eight goals were scored! Never mind ‘The Big Four,’ that has to be one of the worst records in the league. The counter-argument for last season goes: ‘who cares, we won The Double’ or; ‘the forwards can just do it again,’ but I feel this kind of thinking is immensely flawed and should not be used as a template for the next season even if another forward who will tally handily has entered the equation.
If the midfield behind a forward-line is not firing, it adds strain and fatigue to those who are shouldered with the burden of recompensing the goal-load. The risk of burnout to a number of youngsters along the forward line (all three of Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney) is a very real possibility if they have to be on the pitch for goals to be scored.
Between them fifty-seven league goals were scored last season, and if Tevez and Rooney had been less profligate in front of goal, it could have been as much as seventy or more, but the point is, to rest and rotate comfortably, a manager has to know that those coming in can contribute their fair share of goals. Any team loaded with stars - as Manchester United is – should expect a healthier goal-return from those who play behind the forwards. It adds variety to attacks, it calms the tempo of games and it keeps the opposition honest, which in-turn leads to less work for the front-line – it is a cornerstone of most Alex Ferguson sides and it should be no different for this one, given the talent therein.
Fifteen to twenty goals from each of: Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez and Berbatov is not unfeasible – it should be the aim – but imagine just how much more potent the team would be if the deeper-ended midfielders and full-backs added a decent tally of their own. As things stand, I see this as the only difference between Chelsea and Manchester United and the one that could very well decide the destination of the title.
The rather complacent view of some supporters is that as this side already won the league, they can do it again in the exact same fashion, give or take a few goals, with similar returns from Ronaldo. The flaws in this way of thinking are many and varied, for one, ceteris paribus is no longer in place beings as Chelsea have strengthened considerably with the simple addition of a right-back that enables Essien to move back into the position he is dominant in, and; two, Deco has arrived to give them nuance and the touch of subtle magic they sorely lacked last season, as well as Ronaldo being injured and maybe needing a month or two to find his form. Things are not likely to take the same course as they did last season – if a new title is to be added, then an approach that has been modified accordingly must be considered.
If it isn’t broke, then it doesn’t need fixing could also be uttered, but if a midfield of the calibre of Manchester United’s is only finding eight goals between eight midfielders over 38 league games, then something most definitely isn’t working as it should. Even allowing for the ‘sitting’ needed by the ‘2’ in a 4-2-3-1, there is no way two goals for Carrick and one for Scholes is acceptable.