United in a typical pose
United’s time is coming to an end. That was the ludicrous claim from someone that dislikes Manchester United that prompted me to write this full analysis on the future of Manchester United.
The exact words that were used were:
“The teams at the top are getting stronger, football is cyclical, just think United’s time is coming to an end.”
I honestly don’t think that he could be more wrong. I concede that football is cyclical but that does not necessarily mean that United’s time is coming to an end. Sir Alex Ferguson can not have built 4 different teams in his time as the manager of Manchester United if the end of an era for one team means the end of an era altogether.
Sir Alex Ferguson has been a master of re-forming winning and successful teams over and over again. Manchester United will still be a force to be reckoned with when the next cycle comes round and the reason why is because Sir Alex Ferguson has already started to plan for the future. We have already signed players who will possibly be the future Manchester United and from where I sit, everything is looking rosy for the next 5-10 years.
The Goalkeeper
It is widely reported that David De Gea is a done deal and will be the next Manchester United goalkeeper. Too many things indicate that this deal is now done including his club team-mate Diego Forlan talking about his move to Manchester United. He is an extremely good goalkeeper and is very experienced despite only being 20 years old. He has already won the Europa league experiencing how it is like to play in a final of a tournament and has made some absolutely superb saves for Atletico Madrid. With his talent and age it is absolutely clear to see that he will be an outstanding choice of a goalkeeper for Manchester United.
The Centre Backs
Last season we signed Chris Smalling from Fulham. His rise since the days of playing for Maidstone United has been on a meteoric scale. He has shown his quality last season and he can only get better and better.
Chris Smalling made 33 appearances in total for Manchester United last term and excelled in his defensive role. He was superb for us every time he played and will surely be the mainstay of the Manchester United defence for many years to come. He “enjoys” defending and is quite skilful with the ball at his feet too. A natural replacement for Rio Ferdinand, a player whose heights he could one day exceed.
Phil Jones is Manchester United’s latest signing at a price thought to be in the region of £16.5million. Last term he made 28 appearances for Blackburn Rovers and was absolutely outstanding for them playing at centre back. He also has great composure on the ball highlighted by the fact that he can sometimes double up as a central midfielder.
Although I have only sparingly seen Jones play, his highlight appearance for me would have to be in the match where Manchester United wrapped up the 19th title at Ewood Park. He was a rock at the back all day and was my man of the match if I had to pick one for Blackburn. Everything indicate to me that the Jones/Smalling partnership will be a very long term one for both club and country in the future.
I have already seen the Jones/Smalling partnership in action, albeit for the England U21’s in the European U21’s Championships. So far England have played vs Spain and Ukraine conceeding just one goal and even then the goal was from a corner which depends on the whole team to defend, not just two players. They are probably the only two players who have played at the highest standard in both matches, Smalling edging Jones for my man of the match vs Spain and Jones edging Smalling for my man of the match vs Ukraine. It is clear to see that this will one day develop into a “world class” partnership. Our two current first choice centre backs have been the most major part of Manchester United’s success over the past 5 years and I feel that this will be the case with this pair also.
The Full Backs
It goes without saying that both Rafael and Fabio Da Silva will succeed at Manchester United. The twins have so far been fighting it out for the right back spot due to the immovable object that is Patrice Evra at left back with Fabio edging out Rafael to appear in the final of the Champions League. Both of them have been pure quality for Manchester United and despite some questions over Rafael’s temperament which can surely improve as time goes by, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that both will be future Manchester United players for many seasons to come.
You are now probably thinking that I have forgotten about Jonny Evans yes? Well if not I guess you have already forgotten about him too. Since making his debut in Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat to Coventry City in the League Cup in 2007, Jonny Evans has gone on to make 85 appearances, being linked with a transfer to both Real Madrid and Barcelona at one time. With the signing of Phil Jones it was thought by quite a lot of fans that this marks the end of Jonny Evans, but does it really?
In Manchester United’s league game against Chelsea at Old Trafford Jonny Evans came on as a half time substitute for John O’Shea and played the whole second half as a left back. He played an absolute blinder at left back vs Chelsea, very assured in his passing and very definite in his tackling and I feel that he could eventually be moulded as a left back. Some suggestions is that he may become Manchester United’s next utility man after it appeared that John O’Shea may be on his way. Whatever happens though, I feel there is still a future for Jonny Evans at Manchester United.
The Midfielders
Anderson is a centre midfielder that I shall put a lot of focus on. Since joining from FC Porto he has only impressed sparingly. He has been unable to put a consistent assault onto a first team place since arriving due to various different injuries here and there as well as being out of form and favour at times. Having said this there were times last season when it felt like the penny had finally dropped for Anderson. I think that pre-season this summer will be most important for 23 year old Anderson. This may be the first time since joining us that he may have a full pre-season and if he manages to stay clear of injuries I feel that he could be an important first team player for years to come.
Furthermore, looking at what could potentially be our team (something like this!)…:
De Gea,
Rafael, Smalling , Jones, Fabio
Cleverley, Pogba, Anderson,
Young, Rooney, Hernandez
…does it look like a team or for that matter a club who’s time is about to come to an end?
factor in that the team above does not include “star” signings (and should Fergie get a couple then god help the prem!!), this team has alot going for itself…for years to come!!!
Yes it does!
Dude, first of all if you for one minute believe that the likes of cleverley, welbeck have any chance of making it at old trafford, then something is surely wrong with you.. the only bright thing coming out of england u21 were jones and smalling .. technically all our youngsters are overrated and are not good enough.. fergie knows that believe me if United are thinking of getting anywhere close to barcelona , its definitely not with the likes of cleverley and welbeck.. maybe pogba might have a say but there aren’t too many from the reserve.. we have already seen the likes of gibson, bebe, get shipped out and i hope obertan and co follow.. it saddens me to see spanish players are so well ahead of our english.. but i believe we need quality signings asap.. United are and will always be a top team but do not fool yourselves by thinking the youth is anywhere close to what the media makes of them.. and this goes for most english youth players
our youth team is technically better than anything else this country has to offer. If you didnt completely rely on sky sports news for your footballing knowledge your opinion might not be a load of rubbish.
exactly. that youth never made it after scholes, giggsy et all so it’ll be very optimistic to assume these new crop will be good. i doubt it very much. it’s impossible for tgem to compete with spanish, german , belgian , swiss, even portugese or italian – no chance
All I know is a team like Man Utd has always had a very, very short leash when it comes to young goalkeepers, no matter how talented. They simply don’t have the luxury to wait out a developing GK.
Expecting De Gea to immediately become the next van der Sar is expecting too much.
welbeck and macheda not good enough for us for sure, as well as there is no guarantees about youth making it, we need to invest but it looks like all our top targets already gone so i’am not so optimistic considering chelsea will spend heavy (uefa fair play rules will be fucking corrupt), and jews glazers not prepared to spend fucking leeches
why not bale? he can replace giggs, same wales,same left foot, same style of playing.. he is not overrated!! just need the perfect squad and team that is ,MAN UTD!(im suggesting this bcause we dont even bother to fight for sanchez. Pity us, sad us and sorry to say this but stupid us. For him, sad him, pity him i just dont know if hes stupid. But for sure, if he reallllllllyyyy go to barca, hes not thinking FAR ENOUGH. cant blame him, its hes fucking AGENT! the agents are all only thinking about fucking money, bullshit. at barca you will be “god” and that is if maybe,for 1 or 2 seasons.(just look at henry, ronaldinho same style as sanchez,)and after that, what? throwing your self at MLS? what a fucking life.hes style of playing is not like barca. dont know, just dont know. PLS MAN U, buy players. pls no players like valencia! pls.. hes not good enough for man utd. just look at him??pls..im just starting to open my eyes, my heart and mind for nani..hope he’ll improve more and more. we should give more match to anderson, fabio, smalling and jones. pls throw away wellbeck, gibson, macheda, bebe, evans and so on… why 44 pound for pastore? then SAF will throw him away?(just like heinze, veron(veryX10 good player) SAF just dont like Argentinians..(i think so)..why not hazard? theres alot more worth it young and talented players out there. same goes to star players such as sneidjer, bale and so on.. just think about it.to be beaten to barca 3-1, again, 3-1, again 3-1, again 3-1!!!!! and we were defending like hell… its MANCHESTER UNITED, NOT NEWCASTLE UNITED. just think hard. thank you. just giving my opinions. but for sure, SAF is the best. Man utd is the best.
consistancy is the key, trust is the main point, SAF trust n consistancy in the united team helped us last season. There is no way SAF will overhaul the team with some many new signing, it will destory the team like chelsea and man city. man utd definitely have alot of youth coming thro to help maintain that consistency and a few world class signings to boost the team. i for one think SAF is trying to build the next generation on united great around English players thus the like of smalling, jones, young, rooney, carrick, and the young ones coming thro.
The reason i believe Uniteds time is coming to an end is based on the facts of the last few years. Whilst they have won 4 out of the last five titles i see a definite shift in their position of being able to compete for the top players. This was not the case previously. Nowadays they tend to buy potential and hope it will come good. With Man City and Chelsea continuing to buy the biggest names Uniteds luck must surely run out. Also for the first time in memory Alex Ferguson has allowed too many of his influential players get old together and has not found adequate replacements. Which meant players like Giggs and Scholes played way to many games last year. The Champions League ultimately showed the gulf in class that has developed between Man United and the top team in Europe(bigger and more brutal than two years ago id say), and it is only a matter of time before the other teams in Europe and also the EPL catch them and overtake them. More worrying for Man United that with the £750 million debt they are now saddled with they can no longer buy their way out of this situation has they have been able to do in the past. The next step then will be that the fans voices will become more vociferous against the owners which will add more pressure onto the team. The whole thing will then implode. You wont necessarily agree with view, but when it happens remember where you heard it first.
wishful thinking son. You sound very bitter like piers morgan. I will own a house on the moon before this comes true. City and chelsea have been buying greedy mercenaries not the top players. We buy young talents that we turn into world stars that help us for years. Our academy is the best in england and one of the best in europe which will benefit us for years to come, unlike citys or chelseas. Every year for the last 15 iv heard our time is coming to an end. Yet to see any evidence so far. No be gone with your obsession of the worlds greatest club and fuck off back to your own bitter blog were your probably still talking about united.
Mancherster united “the england champions” ……..mancherster united we have best eruopain players in the world but we need some good african player making squad not bechwarmers.. ……..up man utd!!!!
uniteds not coming to an end with sneijder in thier squad nobody can come to an end actually manu have a chance of beating barcaaa!!1
End my foot. 20 league titles bitches!!!!!!!!!