Tbh, not really, not by any considerable distance at least, maybe bar on the left were a bit better now.
We were good enough last year, but city are a different animal this year.
CM should have been sorted, 2 top players bought in, it was not.
Fergie messed up in summer, got 3 players that have been good signings. But surely the most important area of pitch is CM and he totally ignored it !!
Now I'm sick of all this no value or there are no players that can improve Utd.
I could make a list of about 50 midfielders that are better than any of ours.
Utd need to be honest with fans, if we ran out of money in summer then tell us but dont pretend what we have i's enough.
Anyone can see our problem it's CM !!!
We're lacking that spark at the minute, Morrison provided an example of what we've been missing last night, but it's still too early for him.
Centre midfield was clearly our weakness last year. I actually think bar centre midfield, the team, or our first 11 is great. Some of the players are not performing to their potential atm but the we know they are can perform. Just need 1 quality player in the middle and it could make all the difference imo.
Things we'nt really resolved last summer, we were after that middlefield player we needed but didnt get him, lot of unresolved issues in the squad- Berbatov, Diouf, Kuczek, Gibson, Evans, Macheda. Injurys haven't helped either. There were problems last year as well though come to think of it.
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
I think we're a bit "myeh" compared to last year, but still second and should go through CLeague groups though even that is our usual make it hard leave it to last minute thing
Fletcher should be back to 100% fit soon that will help a lot.
I would be of the opinion that our midfield needed to be strenghtened in the summer. But that said I think we have been incredibly unlucky with injurys this season.
Whats with the de silva twins. They seem to spend more time on the treatment table. Also Anderson is very injury prone. Beginning to think its a brazillian thing...
Fletcher should be back to 100% fit soon that will help a lot.
=======================================
Not really, been p poor for the last18 months.
I think Fletcher is finished. Other then him running around all day, I fail to see what exactly he provides in the centre midfield, he doesn't seem to play well with Carrick, Anderson or anyone else we have available in the centre. He did well with Scholes alongside him but that was a long time ago and he's retired now, he seems to have declined quite a bit.
lets face it in 8 years he has put in 18 months worth of decent performances. Apart from that he has been pretty dire tbh, and he is such an average player.
The team on paper might be better than last year, but as a unit it clearly isn't.
SAF should have bought a CM last season. Fletcher looks shot to me, he seems unable to get back from that Mystery illness he had. Carrick is ok but needs somebody along side him who will drive forward more.
We have plenty of good prospects, Cleverly, Pogba (looks like he will bail) Morrison, but last night we had no width on the LH side so outwith playing Nani & Young every game we lack invention.
To be fair though, it might help us if we could get to the bottom of our endless injury list. In recent tiems we've had major injuries to Vidic, Rio, Rafeal, Fabio, Fletcher, Anderson, Cleverly, Young, Valencia, Welbeck, Owen, Herandez, Smalling, Evans etc so the side has never been settled for such a long time. SAF seems intent on rotation anyway which I hate, but even without that his hand is forced by injuries
On paper, this team look pretty much like last years tbh. just VDS replaced by De Gea.
Unlucky with the injuries...yes, especially with the defence but when fully fit, would still be the same as last year. Just addition of new players in the squad and Young on the left occasionally and maybe Cleverley.
Brown is more reliable then Evans.
***
is he?
i want the early season form back!!!!!
The answer to the OP is that United are set up better for the future than they were this time last year.
Brown is more reliable then Evans.
***
is he?
----------------------------------
Evans is a mistake waiting to happen every single game, simple as that. One mistake is all that it takes to cost a game. Not good enough to play at the highest level.
Yes!
But so are City, Newcatle and Palace.
Fletcher is in decline, that mystery illness seems to have taken its toll, I like Carrick and I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves, but he needs someone alongside him that will drive forward and make things happen. Anderson flatters to deceive too often and has had his injury problems.
As for our young prospects; I've seen little that makes me think Pogba will make the cut - and it sounds like he wants out anyway. Morrison grew into the game yesterday and looked okay, but I've heard people questioning his attitude. Our best hope is Cleverly, but this is his first season in the first team, so we shouldn't expect miracles.
Yes, we've been unlucky with injuries, but our midfield is sorely lacking in quality and should have been sorted out in the summer. I think we probably have the poorest midfield of any top six side. I just don't see a central midfielder in our squad who can get forward and make things happen; a lot of endeavor, not enough quality.
As for the initial question "are Utd a better team than last year?" Probably about the same. The trouble is, as other teams around us have strengthened, our midfield frailties now look more apparent. And the addition of Jones, Smalling and Young are not going to win us the league. The latter; I'm sorry to say, is not the great player people seem to think he is.
Did we even need Young? We have some decent wingers anyway, until this season, Valencia was doing pretty well after he came back from injury. Although Nani plays better on the right, he can still play on the left, Park can sometimes slot in and Giggs. It wasn't really a posittion Utd really needed to strengthen in. The priority should have been central midfield...heck even Parker would have been an improvement in the central midfield. He's doing pretty well at Spurs.
comment by Captain_Positivity (U2394)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
Fergie messed up in summer, got 3 players that have been good signings. But surely the most important area of pitch is CM and he totally ignored it !!
=====================================
The most important area of the pitch is the defence. If that isn;t right, you can have 10 Sneijders and lose games.
We have young players coming through and decent midfielders and a manager who knows what he is doing. One thing is for sure, he's not a knee jerk plastic with no faith in his players.
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Are Utd a better side then last year?
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posted on 1/12/11
Tbh, not really, not by any considerable distance at least, maybe bar on the left were a bit better now.
We were good enough last year, but city are a different animal this year.
CM should have been sorted, 2 top players bought in, it was not.
posted on 1/12/11
Fergie messed up in summer, got 3 players that have been good signings. But surely the most important area of pitch is CM and he totally ignored it !!
Now I'm sick of all this no value or there are no players that can improve Utd.
I could make a list of about 50 midfielders that are better than any of ours.
Utd need to be honest with fans, if we ran out of money in summer then tell us but dont pretend what we have i's enough.
Anyone can see our problem it's CM !!!
posted on 1/12/11
We're lacking that spark at the minute, Morrison provided an example of what we've been missing last night, but it's still too early for him.
posted on 1/12/11
Centre midfield was clearly our weakness last year. I actually think bar centre midfield, the team, or our first 11 is great. Some of the players are not performing to their potential atm but the we know they are can perform. Just need 1 quality player in the middle and it could make all the difference imo.
posted on 1/12/11
Things we'nt really resolved last summer, we were after that middlefield player we needed but didnt get him, lot of unresolved issues in the squad- Berbatov, Diouf, Kuczek, Gibson, Evans, Macheda. Injurys haven't helped either. There were problems last year as well though come to think of it.
posted on 1/12/11
Comment deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 1/12/11
I think we're a bit "myeh" compared to last year, but still second and should go through CLeague groups though even that is our usual make it hard leave it to last minute thing
Fletcher should be back to 100% fit soon that will help a lot.
posted on 1/12/11
I would be of the opinion that our midfield needed to be strenghtened in the summer. But that said I think we have been incredibly unlucky with injurys this season.
Whats with the de silva twins. They seem to spend more time on the treatment table. Also Anderson is very injury prone. Beginning to think its a brazillian thing...
posted on 1/12/11
Fletcher should be back to 100% fit soon that will help a lot.
=======================================
Not really, been p poor for the last18 months.
posted on 1/12/11
I think Fletcher is finished. Other then him running around all day, I fail to see what exactly he provides in the centre midfield, he doesn't seem to play well with Carrick, Anderson or anyone else we have available in the centre. He did well with Scholes alongside him but that was a long time ago and he's retired now, he seems to have declined quite a bit.
posted on 1/12/11
lets face it in 8 years he has put in 18 months worth of decent performances. Apart from that he has been pretty dire tbh, and he is such an average player.
posted on 1/12/11
The team on paper might be better than last year, but as a unit it clearly isn't.
SAF should have bought a CM last season. Fletcher looks shot to me, he seems unable to get back from that Mystery illness he had. Carrick is ok but needs somebody along side him who will drive forward more.
We have plenty of good prospects, Cleverly, Pogba (looks like he will bail) Morrison, but last night we had no width on the LH side so outwith playing Nani & Young every game we lack invention.
To be fair though, it might help us if we could get to the bottom of our endless injury list. In recent tiems we've had major injuries to Vidic, Rio, Rafeal, Fabio, Fletcher, Anderson, Cleverly, Young, Valencia, Welbeck, Owen, Herandez, Smalling, Evans etc so the side has never been settled for such a long time. SAF seems intent on rotation anyway which I hate, but even without that his hand is forced by injuries
posted on 1/12/11
On paper, this team look pretty much like last years tbh. just VDS replaced by De Gea.
Unlucky with the injuries...yes, especially with the defence but when fully fit, would still be the same as last year. Just addition of new players in the squad and Young on the left occasionally and maybe Cleverley.
posted on 1/12/11
Brown is more reliable then Evans.
***
is he?
posted on 1/12/11
i want the early season form back!!!!!
posted on 1/12/11
The answer to the OP is that United are set up better for the future than they were this time last year.
posted on 1/12/11
Brown is more reliable then Evans.
***
is he?
----------------------------------
Evans is a mistake waiting to happen every single game, simple as that. One mistake is all that it takes to cost a game. Not good enough to play at the highest level.
posted on 1/12/11
so was Brown!
posted on 1/12/11
Yes!
But so are City, Newcatle and Palace.
posted on 1/12/11
Fletcher is in decline, that mystery illness seems to have taken its toll, I like Carrick and I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves, but he needs someone alongside him that will drive forward and make things happen. Anderson flatters to deceive too often and has had his injury problems.
As for our young prospects; I've seen little that makes me think Pogba will make the cut - and it sounds like he wants out anyway. Morrison grew into the game yesterday and looked okay, but I've heard people questioning his attitude. Our best hope is Cleverly, but this is his first season in the first team, so we shouldn't expect miracles.
Yes, we've been unlucky with injuries, but our midfield is sorely lacking in quality and should have been sorted out in the summer. I think we probably have the poorest midfield of any top six side. I just don't see a central midfielder in our squad who can get forward and make things happen; a lot of endeavor, not enough quality.
As for the initial question "are Utd a better team than last year?" Probably about the same. The trouble is, as other teams around us have strengthened, our midfield frailties now look more apparent. And the addition of Jones, Smalling and Young are not going to win us the league. The latter; I'm sorry to say, is not the great player people seem to think he is.
posted on 1/12/11
Did we even need Young? We have some decent wingers anyway, until this season, Valencia was doing pretty well after he came back from injury. Although Nani plays better on the right, he can still play on the left, Park can sometimes slot in and Giggs. It wasn't really a posittion Utd really needed to strengthen in. The priority should have been central midfield...heck even Parker would have been an improvement in the central midfield. He's doing pretty well at Spurs.
posted on 1/12/11
comment by Captain_Positivity (U2394)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
Fergie messed up in summer, got 3 players that have been good signings. But surely the most important area of pitch is CM and he totally ignored it !!
=====================================
The most important area of the pitch is the defence. If that isn;t right, you can have 10 Sneijders and lose games.
We have young players coming through and decent midfielders and a manager who knows what he is doing. One thing is for sure, he's not a knee jerk plastic with no faith in his players.
Page 1 of 1