This column will take a look at every reds favourite bugbear, the midfield.
First off, i don't accept that out central midfield is that much worse than our main rivals. With almost no exception our rivals all play some kind of variation of 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, in other words none of them play regularly, if at all, with wingers, and most flood the middle of the park. So we when we play the big games we are never going to dominate the centre of the park.
Plenty have remarked on our poor record against the top sides over the last couple of months of the season. But that was after getting knocked out of the champions league. And whilst i don't think that should have deflated the squad as much as did, there's no getting away from it, it did. But what about our record in the big games, before that, wins at Chelsea, City, Liverpool and a respectable draw away to Tottenham. The defeats at home to City and Chelsea, were strange empty games, they shouldn't have been, but they were
I suppose it boils down whether you want to try and dominate games, even if that can mean midfield stalemate's, or your content with less possession but see more excitement when we have the ball attacking with width.
During the treble season, especially in Europe, there were loads of times, even at Old trafford, when our opposition would have loads of possession, but we would be miles more dangerous than them,going forward when we had the ball. Of course the period 2006-09 was played with three in the middle, but that was as much to accommodate Ronaldo, leaving him free to do his own thing. Football can be exciting with three in central midfield, but it's not really the United way.
The Chelsea league game at Stamford bridge was a perfect example of that. We started the game on fire and destroyed them on the flanks to go two up, before they forced their way back into the game.
It has happened every time we play City, they see most of the ball, but if we are on our game, we look dangerous every time we go forward. We win some, we lose some, but nobody has really got the measure of us as i see it.
The puzzle to me this season, is how the hell we won the title by so many points when we didn't have one wide man who had, even a half decent season. A naturally left footed wide man would be up there with central midfield recruitment for me this summer. But other than Gareth Bale where are they.
What i would readily concede, is a lack of depth in the midfield department of the squad. Were Carrick to spend a couple of months on the sidelines we would be struggling. I would be looking to bring in one deep lying, defensively minded partner or alternative to Carrick. With Nick Powell and Adnan Januzaj fighting to force their way into the first team squad and Kagawa hopefully better integrated into United's style of play and the rigours of English football, i don't think we are that desperate for a Fabregas.
Carrick - I've always been a fan, so the only surprise is why has it took this long for his true worth to appreciated amongst United fans, never mind the nations press. To me it's criminal that he hasn't been one of the first names on an England manager's team sheet, these past few seasons.
Admittedly he had a big slump in form a couple of seasons ago, but he's back to the kind of form that we saw from him in his first couple of seasons at the club, when he was quietly excellent at the side of Paul Scholes. If we had a player of comparable quality consistently at his side at the heart of the midfield, we would be some team.
Tom Cleverley - But of course Scholes has finally retired, Giggs is forty next season and can't play week in week out. Which leaves Tom Cleverley. It has to be said, that after the disappointment of his first injury ravaged season at the club, I was expecting big things from the number 23. And disappointingly he didn't really impress, in fact once Real Madrid knocked us out of the champions league Fergie rarely used him. He failed to influence games enough and we find yet another central midfield who doesn't seem to be last the ninety minutes out.
That surprised me, because when i had seen him play for Watford, he seemed to be a box to box, run all day kind of player, remember his second half charity shield display against City. I don't know whether i saw what i wanted to see, or whether last seasons injuries have affected him. It's a big season for every United player next year with a new manager, but i feel it's a really big one for Cleverley.
Darren Fletcher - I was sceptical as to what we could expect from the Scotsman after his illness problems and wasn't to surprised to see his season cut short. Nobody liked to say it, but when he did play during the earlier part of the season, he was nowhere near the player that we so sadly missed against Barca at Rome.
I 'd love to see that Darren Fletcher re-appear at some stage next season, but i really can't see it happening.
Anderson - What's the point of analysing his season, injured often, still unable to last ninety minutes and still not showing any signs of being anywhere near what it takes to be a Manchester United player. This summer must surely be the end of his time at the club, however popular he is in the dressing room.
Nick Powell - He didn't play that often during the first part of the season, but when he did, he showed the potential that saw Fergie rate him so highly. I'm not sure he's really an out and out central midfield player though. I was particularly happy with his display in Istanbul, it may not have meant anything to United, but it did to the Turks and the home crowd and he gave a very good performance, before fading during the second half.
Ryan Giggs - I'll class him as central midfield, even though he played his share of games out wide and it's fair to say when he did, he was as good as our younger regular wide men. The Real Madrid home tie summed him up, how the hell did a thirty nine year old put in a performance as good as that.
I still wonder some times what kind of career he would have had if he had played his whole career more centrally as others earlier in his career thought he was destined to do. It may have been even better.
We shouldn't forget during the first half of the season, when he didn't seem to play as regularly, a few, me included, wondered whether father time was at last catching up on that body of his. So his renaissance was glorious to behold. It was a warning that nest season may indeed the last of the gang to die.
Paul Scholes - Apart from a glorious second half during the failed come back at home to Tottenham where he completely dictated the game as he did at his peak, it wasn't really the season he would have wanted to bow out in. There were rumours he had retired around the new year as his reappearance from injury seemed to be forever on the horizon. But he came back to give us a couple of cameo's that didn't really to do anything other than suggest he had got his timing spot on.
Music
Autechre - Exai: A pretty good, if overly long set of songs from Rochdale's finest, not easy listening obviously, but rewarding eventually.
Gareth Williams & Mary Currie - Flaming Tunes: I saw this reviewed on Quietus, i'd never really heard of Gareth Williams or his previous band This Heat, but i really got into this, hard to categorise as other than experimental, it's still the kind of album you could put on repeat.
Matthew E. White - Big Inner: Another cracking album, Americana, country soul, it's got a pretty southern feel, religion and all. The religion leaves me cold, but the music totally hits the spot.
Palma Violets - 180: More workday fare from one of the latest UK indie wanna be's, it has it's moments, definitely worth a listen.
Robyn Hitchcock - Love from London: More of a rock feel to this new album from the singer songwriter than i have heard on the couple of his earlier albums that i've listened to. Whatever vibe he can write a tune, and there's more than the odd cracker on this.
Seasick Steve - Hubcap music: Possibly his best album, still not sure. The blues tracks are good, though not stand out, but the country ish tinged tracks really stand out. I love the southern soul tinged Coast is clear.
Wayne Shorter quartet - Without a net: Previously i've mostly listened to his mid 60's phase which i absolutely love. I appreciate this, it gets almost classical/avant garde, but it doesn't hit the spot as that earlier phase does. I suppose i should have advanved into his fusion phase first. The 23 minute Pegasus is easily the stand out, at times reminding me of Aaron Copland style mid 20th century American classical music.
First off, i don't accept that out central midfield is that much worse than our main rivals. With almost no exception our rivals all play some kind of variation of 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, in other words none of them play regularly, if at all, with wingers, and most flood the middle of the park. So we when we play the big games we are never going to dominate the centre of the park.
Plenty have remarked on our poor record against the top sides over the last couple of months of the season. But that was after getting knocked out of the champions league. And whilst i don't think that should have deflated the squad as much as did, there's no getting away from it, it did. But what about our record in the big games, before that, wins at Chelsea, City, Liverpool and a respectable draw away to Tottenham. The defeats at home to City and Chelsea, were strange empty games, they shouldn't have been, but they were
I suppose it boils down whether you want to try and dominate games, even if that can mean midfield stalemate's, or your content with less possession but see more excitement when we have the ball attacking with width.
During the treble season, especially in Europe, there were loads of times, even at Old trafford, when our opposition would have loads of possession, but we would be miles more dangerous than them,going forward when we had the ball. Of course the period 2006-09 was played with three in the middle, but that was as much to accommodate Ronaldo, leaving him free to do his own thing. Football can be exciting with three in central midfield, but it's not really the United way.
The Chelsea league game at Stamford bridge was a perfect example of that. We started the game on fire and destroyed them on the flanks to go two up, before they forced their way back into the game.
It has happened every time we play City, they see most of the ball, but if we are on our game, we look dangerous every time we go forward. We win some, we lose some, but nobody has really got the measure of us as i see it.
The puzzle to me this season, is how the hell we won the title by so many points when we didn't have one wide man who had, even a half decent season. A naturally left footed wide man would be up there with central midfield recruitment for me this summer. But other than Gareth Bale where are they.
What i would readily concede, is a lack of depth in the midfield department of the squad. Were Carrick to spend a couple of months on the sidelines we would be struggling. I would be looking to bring in one deep lying, defensively minded partner or alternative to Carrick. With Nick Powell and Adnan Januzaj fighting to force their way into the first team squad and Kagawa hopefully better integrated into United's style of play and the rigours of English football, i don't think we are that desperate for a Fabregas.
Carrick - I've always been a fan, so the only surprise is why has it took this long for his true worth to appreciated amongst United fans, never mind the nations press. To me it's criminal that he hasn't been one of the first names on an England manager's team sheet, these past few seasons.
Admittedly he had a big slump in form a couple of seasons ago, but he's back to the kind of form that we saw from him in his first couple of seasons at the club, when he was quietly excellent at the side of Paul Scholes. If we had a player of comparable quality consistently at his side at the heart of the midfield, we would be some team.
Tom Cleverley - But of course Scholes has finally retired, Giggs is forty next season and can't play week in week out. Which leaves Tom Cleverley. It has to be said, that after the disappointment of his first injury ravaged season at the club, I was expecting big things from the number 23. And disappointingly he didn't really impress, in fact once Real Madrid knocked us out of the champions league Fergie rarely used him. He failed to influence games enough and we find yet another central midfield who doesn't seem to be last the ninety minutes out.
That surprised me, because when i had seen him play for Watford, he seemed to be a box to box, run all day kind of player, remember his second half charity shield display against City. I don't know whether i saw what i wanted to see, or whether last seasons injuries have affected him. It's a big season for every United player next year with a new manager, but i feel it's a really big one for Cleverley.
Darren Fletcher - I was sceptical as to what we could expect from the Scotsman after his illness problems and wasn't to surprised to see his season cut short. Nobody liked to say it, but when he did play during the earlier part of the season, he was nowhere near the player that we so sadly missed against Barca at Rome.
I 'd love to see that Darren Fletcher re-appear at some stage next season, but i really can't see it happening.
Anderson - What's the point of analysing his season, injured often, still unable to last ninety minutes and still not showing any signs of being anywhere near what it takes to be a Manchester United player. This summer must surely be the end of his time at the club, however popular he is in the dressing room.
Nick Powell - He didn't play that often during the first part of the season, but when he did, he showed the potential that saw Fergie rate him so highly. I'm not sure he's really an out and out central midfield player though. I was particularly happy with his display in Istanbul, it may not have meant anything to United, but it did to the Turks and the home crowd and he gave a very good performance, before fading during the second half.
Ryan Giggs - I'll class him as central midfield, even though he played his share of games out wide and it's fair to say when he did, he was as good as our younger regular wide men. The Real Madrid home tie summed him up, how the hell did a thirty nine year old put in a performance as good as that.
I still wonder some times what kind of career he would have had if he had played his whole career more centrally as others earlier in his career thought he was destined to do. It may have been even better.
We shouldn't forget during the first half of the season, when he didn't seem to play as regularly, a few, me included, wondered whether father time was at last catching up on that body of his. So his renaissance was glorious to behold. It was a warning that nest season may indeed the last of the gang to die.
Paul Scholes - Apart from a glorious second half during the failed come back at home to Tottenham where he completely dictated the game as he did at his peak, it wasn't really the season he would have wanted to bow out in. There were rumours he had retired around the new year as his reappearance from injury seemed to be forever on the horizon. But he came back to give us a couple of cameo's that didn't really to do anything other than suggest he had got his timing spot on.
Music
Autechre - Exai: A pretty good, if overly long set of songs from Rochdale's finest, not easy listening obviously, but rewarding eventually.
Gareth Williams & Mary Currie - Flaming Tunes: I saw this reviewed on Quietus, i'd never really heard of Gareth Williams or his previous band This Heat, but i really got into this, hard to categorise as other than experimental, it's still the kind of album you could put on repeat.
Matthew E. White - Big Inner: Another cracking album, Americana, country soul, it's got a pretty southern feel, religion and all. The religion leaves me cold, but the music totally hits the spot.
Palma Violets - 180: More workday fare from one of the latest UK indie wanna be's, it has it's moments, definitely worth a listen.
Robyn Hitchcock - Love from London: More of a rock feel to this new album from the singer songwriter than i have heard on the couple of his earlier albums that i've listened to. Whatever vibe he can write a tune, and there's more than the odd cracker on this.
Seasick Steve - Hubcap music: Possibly his best album, still not sure. The blues tracks are good, though not stand out, but the country ish tinged tracks really stand out. I love the southern soul tinged Coast is clear.
Wayne Shorter quartet - Without a net: Previously i've mostly listened to his mid 60's phase which i absolutely love. I appreciate this, it gets almost classical/avant garde, but it doesn't hit the spot as that earlier phase does. I suppose i should have advanved into his fusion phase first. The 23 minute Pegasus is easily the stand out, at times reminding me of Aaron Copland style mid 20th century American classical music.
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