Manchester United Superthread 2014 mod warning #8081

TheDoc wrote: »

The part I find funny is that if Lucas was fit, Liverpool would have essentially noticed no negative impact from Gerard not being in that team, and at somewhat the same time might have even done better.

The stuff about him being captain fantastic and stuff is utter rubbish. When you look at some of the results and performances, even most recently the shaky end to Sunderland, a "Captain Fantastic" should be able to calm things down, reassure the team and set the tempo and pace.


Not wanting to invite Liverpool fans into the thread to have a big row over it, as I only posted the other day how it annoyed me, but the whole Gerard narrative has annoyed me more this year alongside how Liverpool were the neutral favorites because of their "British" core.

Which is bollox, considering that United have won the league last year with more British players and it wasn't a narrative or a praise of the squad.

Coupled with the fact Rogers only signed one British player, bringing in a good few foreign flops, so all his talk about british this and that is a touch rubbish as well.

Also on the United front, the following is a translation of somet thoughts that crept into my head this week, as I've been reading the various angles of investigation as to what happened this year.

As the autopsy continues on one of the most dramatic collapses in recent memory in the Premier League, I recall how journalists,and at times myself, last year wrote how the United squad winning at a canter, was one of the worst squads Ferguson had assembled. I also recalled some articles around the time about how the quality in the league was so utterly terrible, that it inflated the status of this squad, and nearly masked over the evident cracks and weakness' in the squad, something Ferguson to his credit mastered in his reign.

Not covering up to the public, or to cover up what might be perceived as a deficiency with himself, but identifying his weak spots and when unable to seal it with a new signing or youth prospect, overloading another area to compensate.

I genuinelly believe Ferguson thought Anderson would shake his injuries and hit the hot form and level that was expected when he signed. I believe he thought Cleverly would develop into a nimble, adept midfielder in the mold of Xavi , Iniesta. Coupled with Carrick, I do believe he thought he would eventually have a midfield that was fast, dynamic and mobile. As the season lost to City, showed up the squads weakness', again in the midfield, Ferguson did what he did so often to rectify the situation. Seeing his plans for his existing playing staff wasn't bearing fruit, and maybe feeling little value in the market, he went out and bought a goal machine. A singing who in Van Persie brought a massive lift, brought class, and a **** ton of goals to help wrestle the title back.

But even at the end of last season, questions were very much there to be answered in relation to the squad.

Valencia had regressed entirely. Young was misfiring and injury striken. Rooney was looking like a dead weight. Ferdinand had shown he had lost his yard of pace and was struggling. Evra was starting to weign. The midfield was looking brittle and disjointed. Kagawa wasn't fitting in.

While the squad won the title, at a canter, it wasn't down to explosive quality, it was down to imploding rivals. It was down to one of the worst qualities of PL I can recall for years. I do feel it inflated the reputation of the squad beyond it's credit.

This isn't in anyway a defence of Moyes, looking back now though he seemed to make signals the squad needed improvement and it wasn't forthcoming, but that was his fault not pushing harder. Being champions isn't enough to excuse standing idle. Look at the signings City made before the start of last season, they had surrendered the title before a ball was kicked.

When I look back, at how critical so many quarters were on the quality of the squad, when I look back at how poor the league was as a whole, and I see the questions lingering over the squad, it makes me puzzled now to see, in the aftermath, the same journalists and pundits pushing the point you can't dismantle a championship team, that it was difficult to achieve and would cause uproar.

The more I think about it, it's creeping into my mind that what we witnessed this year wasn't entirely down to changes and the implementations of this year, but the small decline in quality that begun last season in the squad, and somewhat hit a head this year.

It also gives me immense optimism thinking this way, because we have witnessed squads in the past being broken up or reshaped at the point where they are about to collapse, unfortunately in this instance it wasn't done before the collapse. But the club has always signed the right players, brought through the right youth, and being able to get back challenging in 1-3 years.

I hope that is the case this time, that while we might be without the title for a year, two, maybe three, we are building the right squad to wrestle it back and maintain the challenge going forward.

Might be somewhat optimistic on my part, after this year I feel I have to be.



And breathe.........