I'll include our wide men in this part of my look back, though perhaps they could have had their own section, but that would have been so negative i couldn't be bothered doing it like that. The other reason I've included them as part of the attack is for those games, Europe and generally the games against City and Chelsea where we have played some kind of 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.
Obviously it was all change with the arrival of RobinVan Perise from Arsenal, and from what we saw of Rooney in pre-season and then that horrific first game at Goodison, thank fuck for that. I'll own up to not really getting our move for the Dutchman, attack wasn't really a problem for United last season. Most of our problems had been injuries to defenders and a lack of a partner to Carrick until Scholes came out or retirment.
But as usual Fergie proved us wrong, i know Mancini thought the difference between United and City was Van Perise's signature for us, it wasn't just that, but it was a hell of a big part of it. The irony of course being that Rooney had supposedly wanted to leave because the owners weren't showing the ambition with signings that he wanted, when we did, it was Rooney whose place in the team was affected the most.
As to the wide men, that was probably the least influential we have been on the wings since the 2004-2006 drop in quality we suffered with the likes of Bellion, Kleberson and a young Ronaldo learning consistency. We didn't really have one of our wide man give us a half decent season. Although it's definitely not Welbeck's best or favoured position, he was usually as effective out there as any of Valencia, Nani or Young. It will be interesting to see how Moyes approaches this, as far as i can see, he did tend to go with two wide men at Everton, though not necessarily two out and out wingers.
Van Persie - A revelation, at first it was mainly the goals he brought to the team, by around Christmas it was also all round team play. He had a blip, unfortunately at a pretty important part of the season, he wasn't at his best, in either of the games against Real, but he eventually came back Strong. A candidate for player of the season, all in all we couldn't have asked for more from his first season at the club. In fact as the season went on he looked more and more like a leader on the pitch and you can't have enough of them for me.
Wayne Rooney - His omission from the team for the return leg against Real Madrd shocked me, as it did for almost everybody else. But looking back, i can't really see why we should have been shocked. In Madrd he had hardly figured as an attacking force, where as Danny Welbeck certainly had, and Welbeck had done the defensive part of the job excellently as well. On the basis of Rooney's form up to that point of the season, was there any reason to expect Rooney to give the kind of performance we got from Welbeck that night.
Never mind that first game at Goodison, you could see how out of shape he was in the pre-season fixtures. There is just no excuse for a professional to be that out of shape, and the best paid player of the club to boot. I'm not one for thinking players shouldn't let their hair down, but come on, fucking hell, that was taking the piss.
The injury came at a good time, allowing him to achieve a proper level of fitness before his re-appearance. He played reasonably well at times from there on in, though could still have games like Swansea away, where he was comically bad. And there's an important point, for a supposedly top player, when he is bad, he can be fucking awful. Whoever saw Zidane, Scholes, Messi when they couldn't do a thing right. By the end of the season he was being dropped into central midfield, and to be honest when Fergie suggested Rooney had told him wanted to leave the club, it wasn't a total surprise.
Fergie has been reported as telling the board that this would be the optimum time to sell the ex Everton man, we'd get as much as we will ever get for him if we release him now. And i suspect Fergie thinks he is a player who has already peaked and will not get any better.
It's telling that Rooney's camp are now trying to spin something different almost every day as the offers don't flood in him for him. I'm with Fergie on this and for the reasons listed above, add to that, the fact that his departure could liberate Kagawa and Welbeck into a more central role and I'll admit I'll be disappointed if he is still here come May. Though i suspect, given the lack of offers, he'll probably end up staying.
Danny Welback - A strange season really, his goal scoring record has been held against him as an example that he is no natural goal scorer. I'm sorry i don't really buy that, was anybody saying that last season.
He has suffered for playing out wide, more often that not doing a job for the team, and due to the lack of chances out there, started to snatch at them when they did come. I still see a top class central striker in him, but he needs to play there more often. His fast feet and pace against Real Madrid home and away, had Real worried to death, the way he always turns up for the big games, think of his performance against Liverpool at home,means i still see him as the future. The departure of Rooney would help to bring him on no end in my opinion.
Javier Hernandez - He probably didn't play as much as he would have liked, but he still chipped in with his ratio of goals. Three seasons into his United career, it seems to me that he'll never be as good as a United forward should really be outside the box, but as an out and out goalscorer he is good as there is at the club.
There was talk of him leaving, that's since died down, I'd love him to stay, but wish he could improve his game outside the box, what a player we would then have on our hands.
Shinji Kagawa - He has gone on record this week, stating that he was disappointed with his first season at the club. It's true he didn't set the premier league alight as some of us had hoped and i stupidly predicted.
The early injury didn't help, but he had shown signs that could adapt to the rigours of English football occasionally. As the season went on, he did improve and in getting a hatrick and delivering a superb performance at West Ham, gave the kind of signs that his second season could well start to deliver the kind of performances he gave at Dortmund. He would be another player who would benefit from Rooney's departure to my mind. His recent performance for Japan against Italy was the kind of display we'd love to see at Old Trafford.
Obviously it was all change with the arrival of RobinVan Perise from Arsenal, and from what we saw of Rooney in pre-season and then that horrific first game at Goodison, thank fuck for that. I'll own up to not really getting our move for the Dutchman, attack wasn't really a problem for United last season. Most of our problems had been injuries to defenders and a lack of a partner to Carrick until Scholes came out or retirment.
But as usual Fergie proved us wrong, i know Mancini thought the difference between United and City was Van Perise's signature for us, it wasn't just that, but it was a hell of a big part of it. The irony of course being that Rooney had supposedly wanted to leave because the owners weren't showing the ambition with signings that he wanted, when we did, it was Rooney whose place in the team was affected the most.
As to the wide men, that was probably the least influential we have been on the wings since the 2004-2006 drop in quality we suffered with the likes of Bellion, Kleberson and a young Ronaldo learning consistency. We didn't really have one of our wide man give us a half decent season. Although it's definitely not Welbeck's best or favoured position, he was usually as effective out there as any of Valencia, Nani or Young. It will be interesting to see how Moyes approaches this, as far as i can see, he did tend to go with two wide men at Everton, though not necessarily two out and out wingers.
Van Persie - A revelation, at first it was mainly the goals he brought to the team, by around Christmas it was also all round team play. He had a blip, unfortunately at a pretty important part of the season, he wasn't at his best, in either of the games against Real, but he eventually came back Strong. A candidate for player of the season, all in all we couldn't have asked for more from his first season at the club. In fact as the season went on he looked more and more like a leader on the pitch and you can't have enough of them for me.
Wayne Rooney - His omission from the team for the return leg against Real Madrd shocked me, as it did for almost everybody else. But looking back, i can't really see why we should have been shocked. In Madrd he had hardly figured as an attacking force, where as Danny Welbeck certainly had, and Welbeck had done the defensive part of the job excellently as well. On the basis of Rooney's form up to that point of the season, was there any reason to expect Rooney to give the kind of performance we got from Welbeck that night.
Never mind that first game at Goodison, you could see how out of shape he was in the pre-season fixtures. There is just no excuse for a professional to be that out of shape, and the best paid player of the club to boot. I'm not one for thinking players shouldn't let their hair down, but come on, fucking hell, that was taking the piss.
The injury came at a good time, allowing him to achieve a proper level of fitness before his re-appearance. He played reasonably well at times from there on in, though could still have games like Swansea away, where he was comically bad. And there's an important point, for a supposedly top player, when he is bad, he can be fucking awful. Whoever saw Zidane, Scholes, Messi when they couldn't do a thing right. By the end of the season he was being dropped into central midfield, and to be honest when Fergie suggested Rooney had told him wanted to leave the club, it wasn't a total surprise.
Fergie has been reported as telling the board that this would be the optimum time to sell the ex Everton man, we'd get as much as we will ever get for him if we release him now. And i suspect Fergie thinks he is a player who has already peaked and will not get any better.
It's telling that Rooney's camp are now trying to spin something different almost every day as the offers don't flood in him for him. I'm with Fergie on this and for the reasons listed above, add to that, the fact that his departure could liberate Kagawa and Welbeck into a more central role and I'll admit I'll be disappointed if he is still here come May. Though i suspect, given the lack of offers, he'll probably end up staying.
Danny Welback - A strange season really, his goal scoring record has been held against him as an example that he is no natural goal scorer. I'm sorry i don't really buy that, was anybody saying that last season.
He has suffered for playing out wide, more often that not doing a job for the team, and due to the lack of chances out there, started to snatch at them when they did come. I still see a top class central striker in him, but he needs to play there more often. His fast feet and pace against Real Madrid home and away, had Real worried to death, the way he always turns up for the big games, think of his performance against Liverpool at home,means i still see him as the future. The departure of Rooney would help to bring him on no end in my opinion.
Javier Hernandez - He probably didn't play as much as he would have liked, but he still chipped in with his ratio of goals. Three seasons into his United career, it seems to me that he'll never be as good as a United forward should really be outside the box, but as an out and out goalscorer he is good as there is at the club.
There was talk of him leaving, that's since died down, I'd love him to stay, but wish he could improve his game outside the box, what a player we would then have on our hands.
Shinji Kagawa - He has gone on record this week, stating that he was disappointed with his first season at the club. It's true he didn't set the premier league alight as some of us had hoped and i stupidly predicted.
The early injury didn't help, but he had shown signs that could adapt to the rigours of English football occasionally. As the season went on, he did improve and in getting a hatrick and delivering a superb performance at West Ham, gave the kind of signs that his second season could well start to deliver the kind of performances he gave at Dortmund. He would be another player who would benefit from Rooney's departure to my mind. His recent performance for Japan against Italy was the kind of display we'd love to see at Old Trafford.
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