well yea i mentioned it to the guy that Carrick was a DLP and not an AM but he still insisted that Cesc was better i guess his burgandy tinted glasses??
We need to do with Carrick, Hargreaves and Scholes what Milan have done with those lot. Milan won the CL last year not just because if Kaka's outstanding form, but because they have the best midfield in Europe. Don't forget, Clarence Seedorf won the most valueable midfidler award last year for good reason? Those 4 players have consistantly played together over the last 4 years or so with even the likes of Rivaldo, Rui Costa etc struggling to knock them aside. Consistancy is the key and it won them the CL last year. We need to do the same with our midfielders as well as Anderson and Nani. Have asettled side with players who can come in and know what's expected of them...
We do have the personnel to match Milan, but we've as yet, not had the opportunity to display a shape that could wreak all types of havoc. ---------------------------Rooney --------------------Anderson --Ronaldo------------ --------------Scholes----------------------Hargreaves ----------------------Carrick I think in Europe that could be very dangerous, with Rooney of course playing Anderson's role if Saha is fit. I don't think we'll see that formation for awhile though, because ideally, Anderson should play the 10 and ideally, Rooney should be a better 9 (which he isn't, yet) and by the time Anderson is ready for the 10 and Rooney for the 9, Scholes will have retired and Nani will have forced his way into the team. I love the Milan formation, but I don't think its really in the cards for United to play that way for too long. You may see it for a season or so, but I think we'll be less conservative in the long run.
Evidently Fergie ran into Fabregas in London earlier today. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=462180&cc=5901
But you've omitted Nani, Tevez, Giggs and Saha from that formation. How anyone would fit out attack and midfield into a formation is a mystery. There are simply too many possibilities to take into consideration. 3 world class strikers, 3 great wingers, 3 world class centre midfielders plus the likes of Fletcher, Anderson, and Park gives you a selection headache...
I'd disagree with this. I'd call our center backs about equal - the ideal pairing if someone were building a fantasy team would be one of Rio/Vidic and one of Gallas/Toure. Clichy is better than evra. They are equal when it comes to defense, but going forward, clichy is as good as many wingers in the premiership. At right back it is hard to say, but Neville is old - hasn't featured in ages, Brown is decent - about equal to eboue, but Sagna has shown in his limited time that he is possibly the best right back in the league. Since our preseason games, and CL qualifiers, he has shown himself to be miles better than eboue, and I think everyone else will see that as the season goes on. Regarding cesc vs. carrick - they are both very different players. Cesc is not an AM as many of you seem to think - he is a pure CM. He goes forward a lot lately because he has identified our lack of midfield goals as a problem, but he essentially plays just in front of the DM. He also provides a good amount of ball winning ability, and has played without a DM several times before, and looked as good as he does with a DM.
Then why is Evra on the national team, and Clichy not? Clichy is good, and getting better, but better than Evra? It also seems your defense is still as shaky as ever on setpieces. Then lets not forget Mr. Senderos. He alone would bring Arsenals defensive rating down 10 points.
Clichy is growing to be just as good as Evra. But in the mean time Evra has the upper hand but not by much.
Firstly, Fabregas & Scholes playing in the same midfield would never work, for both players not just Fabregas. As for Carrick having more to his game. That is a laughable statement. Fabregas can defend & attack better than Carrick & has scored more goals this year than Carrick did all last. When you say Fabregas can only play well with a "Gilberto" playing next to him is incorrect. Fabregas has shown numerous times he can play aswell with a more attacking minded player is playing with him. Take the Carling Cup final for example or the times he plays with Flamini (who is a more attacking player than many think) & also has played numerous times for Spain without a holding player next to him & was still the same player. The better passer is debatable but most neutrals will say Fabregas. His long passes might not be as good as Carrick but his short passes are a hell of a lot better. A more debatable arguement IMO would be if you compared Fabregas with Scholes, both are immense at what they do.
My formation was a copy of Milan's. If we were to emulate them, that's the personnel that would play. It wasn't a realistic United formation for all matches. You make some good points. United however had a better defense last year than Arsenal and will this year concede fewer goals as well. You may like your players better, but ours are more effective. Clichy is quite good, but you're wrong to say he's better than Evra because Evra's been absolutely stellar in both directions and has pretty much been our entire left flank on several occasions. I agree w/ you on Sagna though... I touted him quite highly on my EPL preview and actually listed him as one of the acquisitions of the window before he'd ever suited up in a competitive game. I think Arsenal's back four individually are better than our back four simply because of Sagna over Brown however I think as a unit, ours will out peform yours. We've also got much better depth. We have Brown, Pique, Evans and O'Shea as our back-ups. That's a unit that wouldn't be out of place in a midtable team.