Assuming a 1st eleven of; ............Saha - Ruud Giggs - Keane - Scholes - Ronaldo Silvestre - Rio - Wes - Gaz ..................Tim Try and pick a second eleven using established squad players without playing them out of there recognized position. Is harder than it looks! Then also judge the strengths and weaknesses of the side you are left with. Here is the best I can do. ..............Bellion - Ole Fortune - Dj2 - Kleberson - ?? P Neville - O'Shea - ?? - ?? ...............Carrol Means no place for Forlan as we already have two strikers. No place for Fletcher, Butt or Miller as we already have two central midfield players. Not totally sure about putting Fortune in at left wing, his attacking play suggest he is more suited to left-back as his first position these days. Eagles, Richardson etc. cannot be considered established not having played many first team games. Hadn't realised we were quite so short of right-sided players (winger and fullback).
I read somewhere that NINE players have replaced Beckham this season. I must admit that I can't come up with nine myself - six in Ronaldo, Fletcher, Solskjaer, Kleberson, Giggs and Bellion (maybe Forlan) and four for the right back slot - G Neville, Brown, P Neville and O'Shea. Still ten players for two positions certainly suggests something's wrong out there
Decent second squad... Bellion--Forlan Kleberson--Dj2--Fletcher--Ole Fortune--O'Shea--Pugh--PNev Carroll Bench: Miller (M) (established?) Butt (DM) Spector (D) Eagles (F/M) Williams (GK)
Out of the guys I listed on the field, I'd only say Danny Pugh is technically out of position (and probably not established either). PNev has played a good bit of defense in his day, and while Kleberson isn't a true left winger, his Brazillian-ness means that playing over there raises fewer issues for me than Fletcher on the wing. As for the subs, I realize that several of those guys have never played a first team match before, but I just wanted to see how far I could stretch it. Aside from Chelsea, I doubt you'll find any team in the world capable of fielding a full "bench squad" plus a "bench bench" with anywhere near that quality of players.
Not really a secret that our depth is all in the middle. What's worse is this: who's coming through the pipeline? Not exactly a lot of wide players. Richardson, yet Fergie doesn't seem to have any faith in him. After that? Eagles, Timm, Martin, Jones, Vieira's clone. All central players. Who are we linked most strongly with? Van der Vaart, who's preferred position is in the center. We badly need another winger and a full back... but I don't see where they're coming from. Luckily, fullbacks seem to go for rather cheap. But quality wingers are hard to find unless you want to shell out a fortune.
Two starting eleven with players from the current squad: ----------Saha - Ruud Giggs - Keane - Scholes - Ronaldo O'Shea - Rio - Silvetre - G.Nev -----------Howard ---------Forlan-Bellion ----------Kleberson Solksjaer - DjDj - Butt - Fletcher -----Fortune - Brown - P.Nev -------------Carroll
We should pick up Marat Izmailov... he would be a perfect pick up... he can play on both wings or as an Attacking midfielder and is great in linking the midfield with the attack ala Scholes... he is quick, goodish crosser, but a good passer and excellent touch on the ball... good shot with both feet... he would also be cheaper than VdV... he is also better on the wings than VdV and he could be our 4th striker as well... we would have... Ruud, Saha, Forlan, Izmailov, Ole Gunnar, Ronaldo, Bellion... more than enough cover I would say... we have 2 powerhouses... 2 quick forwards, (Bellion and Forlan) 1 tactician(baby faced assasain), and 2 wizardlike versatile link strikers (Iz and Ronaldo)