Where does Utd need to improve for next season?

[appoo]

Joe Paterno once said that if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. with that in mind...


1. Attacking Balance


Death, Taxes, Mourinho whining like a girl, and a combined 35+ goals from Rooney and Ronaldo. These are the guarentees in life, but they can't do it alone. When United have played their best - it wasn't just Ronaldo and Rooney, it was Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick all playing at a high level. Giggs and Scholes were fantastic over the first half of the season, but seemed to fade towards the end. Was it just normal wear and tear? or was it their bodies finally slowing down and catchnig up with their age?

IMO - I think Utd need to develop a better attacking balance, that sometimes relied too heavily upon Rooney and Ronaldo being brilliant. One such answer might be in the form of the introduction of Giusseppi Rossi - who from all reports has been brilliant with Parma. His highlites there speak much of his movement, technical ability, and skill. I see no reason why he can't do that for Utd, if given a chance.

2. Defensive muscle in the middle of the pitch.

Roma, AC Milan, Liverpool and even Fulham all exposed Utd's glaring weakness. If you have the ability to attack through the middle of the pitch, you'll have Utd at an advantage. I don't know what the answer here is - whether it's getting a real defensive midfielder or having the central defenders play more aggresivly, or if it's simply a design by Sir Alex because he wants to attack so much - but Utd simply won't win in Europe with out better strength in the center of the field.

3. Depth

The fall off from the 1st team to the squadies is a large one. Sorry, you can't go from Ryan Giggs to Kieran Richardson, or Michael Carrick to John O'Shea, or Vida to Gabby Heinze - and expect to consistently succeed. While Utd were ravaged along the backline through injury - the relative good health of Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Rooney, and Giggs were a huge factor in this years title run. One that I'd rather not completly rely upon. The solution might be to not loan so many players. Rossi, Evans, Lee Martin, etc.

All I know is that I never want to see John O'Shea in the middle of the pitch or Kieran Richardson anywhere on the pitch in a match that means something.

[Republic of Mancunia]

See what happens when you finally do start a thread?

http://www.peoplesrepublicofdis.co.uk/albums/album16/tumbleweed.sized.jpeg

:D

[sitati_kituyi]

I'll pitch in :)

I think you said it perfectly, United could do with a reliable striker (for obvious reasons), a good midfield ball-winner (especially for Europe) and depth, the most obvious place being on the wings. If 2 of Ronaldo, Giggs and Park are unavailable, we have a problem. And even if they are available all season, surely the former 2 will need rest at some point. So I feel when Fergie says "2...maybe 3 targets", he means the striker, the ballwinner, and some decent cover on the wings if we can get some quality in.

[Vermont Red]

Nice job Appoo.

With VDS and Foster I think we're set at keeper for next season.

At RB, I think we need to bring back Simpson as protection for the aging Neville.

At LB, we are set with Evra and can use Silvestre and O'Shea as backups. I think Heinze will be gone.

At CB, Ferdinand and Vidic are the preferred pairing, with Brown first off the bench. I'd like to see Evans and/or Pique brought back.

In central midfield we have Scholes and Carrick, with Fletcher ready to deliver. If we can get De Rossi then we'll be set. I expect that we will get Hargreaves, which won't be the worst thing in the world.

In wide midfield we have Ronaldo and Giggs, with Park behind them. Given Giggs' age, we need another wide player. If we are really in for Bale then this may be solved. Richardson should be gone.

Up front we are set at 10 with Rooney and (hopefully) Rossi coming back. At 9 I expect to see at least one of Saha and Smith gone. We need a reliable 9 coming in (Torres, please). Whatever we get from Solskjaer next season is a bonus.

To summarize, CM, wide midfield and forward. Our big problems this season were lack of options at CM, depth and another option at 9. If we can solve those problems, then sky's the limit.

[Stud83]

To summarize, CM, wide midfield and forward.

... in that order. Completely agree with it.

[Vermont Red]

... in that order. Completely agree with it.

*faints*

[lynne]

... in that order. Completely agree with it.

Except that you got rid of 3 players....isn't there some way where we don't wind up in a situation next year with only 14 healthy players and 3 games per week? How about getting new players and keeping the old ones around?

Then maybe we can worry about the squad players getting cranky from lack of playing time this time next year.

[Devil500]

My 2 biggest concerns..Strikers,and a central midfielder and maybe another winger.

[433tom]

Nice job Appoo.

With VDS and Foster I think we're set at keeper for next season.

At RB, I think we need to bring back Simpson as protection for the aging Neville.

At LB, we are set with Evra and can use Silvestre and O'Shea as backups. I think Heinze will be gone.

At CB, Ferdinand and Vidic are the preferred pairing, with Brown first off the bench. I'd like to see Evans and/or Pique brought back.

In central midfield we have Scholes and Carrick, with Fletcher ready to deliver. If we can get De Rossi then we'll be set. I expect that we will get Hargreaves, which won't be the worst thing in the world.

In wide midfield we have Ronaldo and Giggs, with Park behind them. Given Giggs' age, we need another wide player. If we are really in for Bale then this may be solved. Richardson should be gone.

Up front we are set at 10 with Rooney and (hopefully) Rossi coming back. At 9 I expect to see at least one of Saha and Smith gone. We need a reliable 9 coming in (Torres, please). Whatever we get from Solskjaer next season is a bonus.

To summarize, CM, wide midfield and forward. Our big problems this season were lack of options at CM, depth and another option at 9. If we can solve those problems, then sky's the limit.

I pretty much agree.. but am a bit more concerned out wide. At this point we are not 100% sure if Park will be back. Evidently it was borderline as to whether it was a career ending injury. And Giggs has looked very tired over the past few weeks and looks to have lost another step. Giggs is my all-time favorite, but I'm not 100% convinced he can cut it out wide next season. If Bale is ready to instantly step in if Giggs is not effective on the wing or gets hurt, thats fine... But I would like to see additional cover out wide. Maybe Nani.

[Shahji]

Some Big areas where we can improve
Winger- we got Ronaldo , Park,Giggs,Richardson and adding Eagles to that.
Leaving Ronnie

Park-how many games have he played this season , 20ish games that not enough for a 2nd choice winger , he may just had a very unlucky season or maybe some of injuries are reoccuring we dont know.

Giggs-He really didnt play as a winger this season in my opinion more of a in a hole position though changing positions with Rooney and popping on the wings at times.

Richardson-Richie isnt just good enough for United no matter how much hard he tries.

Eagles-Same with Eagles I m expecting SAF to sell him and Richardson.

Then we come to Rooney who has played at LW due to us play 4231.

So concluding we have 2 players world class in Rooney and Ronnie playing in the wings(with the current formation) and then Park who isnt good enough in many people's eye for me he is a good second choice so IMO we need a winger.


ST- we got Smith , Saha , Rooney,Ole , Dong and perhaps Rossi to play this role.
Smith-not good enough to be first choice in my opinion.
Saha-excellent player but whats the point if he is unfit most of the times and I really like Saha.
Ole-Some sub apperances next season even though his 11 goals were very vital this season.
Rooney-dont have to say anything.
Dong-looked out of sorts in the one game he played(I know it is very unfair on him but fact is fact) going out on loan.
Rossi-Not a targetman he wont really be competing for a ST role specially if we play a 4231 imagine Rossi being your lone man upfront , maybe given the hole role or even some role in the wings.

So striker is needed which also means one of Smith and Saha to be sold.

CM-
It is obvious we need a destroyer which is essential for a 4231 formation but we dont really play a Maka , we like a more box to box player like Essien.
Another reason I didnt write a DM in the heading because I m not sure who we will get if Fergie cant get a DMC who can contribute in attack perhaps he will go for another Carrick player who can play DMC but also the playmaker role someone like Toulalan.

But thats just my view Fergie top priority would be a DMC I m sure.
Now what to do with Fletcher , in one word keep him , Liverpool have 4,5 mids and still buying Lucas(great talent) so why cant we keep 4 cms , 4 players covering for 2 position isnt that much.


Another potential area is RB as Gary is getting on with injuries now,
Can Wes Brown do it , play him RB but in a 4231 a RB needs to bomb down a flank and overlap the winger who may choose to come inside like Evra can Brown do it , what other get Simpson back or give Lee a chance , Simpson looks the part at Sunderland but wouldnt it be better to give him a chance in prem a season and Lee is too inexperienced.
Someone like Faubert perhaps dont this isnt a immediate concern.

Now what to do with the utility man OShea , if Pique comes back we can probably take over from OShea as the utility man as he can play RB , DM , CB(not LB or GK :D though) or sell Pique then.

[barthez4]

United needs more cowbell.

[Holy__Joe]

United needs more cowbell.
haha love that skit, But I love the actual song even more

[United Pumps]

It sounds strange but Hargreaves should improve our attacking balance. It will allow Scholes to have his preferred role further up the pitch. Also, the same will happen with Carrick as he'll have to worry about tidying up much less. It will also mean that, unless we play Rooney as a striker - oh gawd no - we'll have competition for the three total futebol places. Obviously this means that we're going to need a fit Saha or a replacement (even though Smith has been impressive). As I don't think that we're going to get a fit Saha anytime soon we're going to need a replacement. Bent would do fine and it could possibly be Rossi. I'm happy with Park as back up for Rooney, Giggs, Scholes and Ronaldo as one of them will most likely start on the bench anyway. However, it could be useful to have another attacking midfield option which isn't Richardson. Fletcher is a fine replacement for Hargreaves and I suppose Scholes could do Carrick's job in the unseen even of him picking up an injury. With Pique popping in for tea and scones on the lawn we should have enough defensive depth but if we're getting rid of Heinze then we'll need to get another quality defender. Keeper = Foster.

[LA. MAN UNITED]

Midfield could use some improvement. Also , maybe adding a midfielder. If we cant sign a midfielder , maybe we could get a midfielder as a backup plan. Beyond that , only a slight improvement at the midfield and I think were good..