Monday 1 August 2011

Slow News Day - Manchester United Preview


Aside from a bunch of negative press surrounding our inability to win our own competition, (a true benchmark of league chances) there is not much in the way of actual news surrounding our beloved Arsenal. Nothing specifically regarding any imminent transfers which I’m sure is going to further frustrate the fans.

However, according to the El Mundo Deportivo, a new offer to finally seal the signing of Cesc will be delivered which equates to around £36m but I am sceptical. They are also suggesting that the transfer of Mata is crucial as Arsenal will not sign a deal until his signature is secured. Well given Arsenals reputation for swiftly wrapping up transfer deals this should be done at the speed of light and deals will be announced this evening. Hmmm.

Aside from that nothing else to report on in terms of news aside from in my opinion the pathetic booing of the team. I touched on this yesterday and whilst I appreciate it is frustrating, after a pre-season friendly is neither the time nor the place. Wenger seems to be growing impatient with the fans impatience. Though he says he understands the frustrations he at the same time as disregards it as petulant. Which in this case it was.

I just hope we get behind the team when it matters and cut the nonsense out until we can actually make a proper judgement. Not seeing us boo when we misplace our first pass or when the inevitable Kocienly and Szczesny miscommunication surfaces regardless of whether we concede or not. Let’s just hope despite the frustration we do our jobs as supporters and support them on the field. This is not to say shut up, on the contrary, lets put pressure by voicing our opinions but in a timely manner.

And with that out of the way I thought I would use any slow news days to look at our main rivals for the league (yes I still think we will challenge for the league).  I’d like to talk about how our rivals have strengthened from last year and what that means for their chances.

Today we shall look at the champions Manchester United:

Last season: This has been well discussed; this was a team that wasn’t expected to win the league at the start of the season but the “winning mentality” and the “Ferguson Factor” saw them over the finish line to win the League.

I personally think that their success was in more ways then one down to other team’s form/shortcomings. Chelsea’s mid-season blip was huge! They were perfectly poised to win the league and even at such an early stage looked like they would easily win the league. For a number of reasons that one can only speculate about they imploded and went on a horrendous run (including a defeat to arsenal) which left them out of the running for the league and Arsenal considered second favourites. With Arsenal as Man United’s only major threat they were able to maintain their lead due to regular dropped points from us. Had Chelsea regained momentum even a week earlier the league may well have different champions.

I personally believe winning the league with the team he had at his disposal was SAF’s greatest achievement. I would go as far to say it is on par with winning the treble and Mourinhio’s success at Porto. Controversial maybe but just my honest opinion and if you look at it realistically. How many of that midfield would we be happy to have in our team? Any? I personally don’t think any one of their midfielders is anywhere near good enough. We would as arsenal fans throw fits if we had their midfield with our expectations as fans. Again controversial but I really do believe it. So Ferguson really has performed a miracle by getting this team to win the league he really has.

Playing Squad: Last seasons success seems to have shrouded the minds of the entire press, fans and country as a whole. Everyone was saying they were not good enough to win and needed strengthening at the start of last season with the midfield cited in particular. Yet now they are regarded as early favourites despite not addressing the issues of last season despite some heavy investment. It is safe to say that whilst there has been strengthening of the United squad, I would argue that it is not entirely solving the problems they had never mind some of the new ones such as  losing Scholes and Van De Sar.

With the exception of the excellent De Gea replacing Van De Sar there problems are largely unanswered. And excellent though he is, he is still unproven at this level and may struggle. He will certainly take time to find his feet so for all intents and purposes United will probably be weaker in the goalkeeping departing next season, even if it is for just this season. Phil Jones has come in and we are yet to see what sort of impact he will have but it is safe to assume he will be one for the future as opposed to be needed to have an impact this season which in my mind makes his a transfer that shouldn’t really be considered when discussing league chances. Which leaves Ashley Young, talented though he is I do not believe he solves any of the problems United have instead creating competition for a position which is not their weakest. I am not saying that is a bad thing and I am sure he will be a good signing but am not convinced how this makes a marked improvement on last season. There is of course time remaining and they could still take Nasri, Sneider or someone of that mould which would add the creativity they are missing and change things altogether.

Threat to Arsenal: HIGH. Despite all my perceived negativities of Manchester United playing squad one thing which I have often done throughout my life is write off their chances and it always comes back to bite me in the arse. Despite everything, Ferguson manages to get even an average united team winning. I still do not think they are the best team in the league by any stretch of the imagination but they will always be a threat regardless.

Verdict: Better than last season but with the same shortcomings. For now.

As a last thought; I know our needs are completely different but would any gooner be happy with the acquisition of any of these players for the price paid? I certainly wouldn’t. Let me know what you think.

Until tomorrow when we hopefully have some good news at long last!

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