4 goals against Hull has ensured that Wayne Rooney is well on course to surpass his previous best goalscoring season of 23 in all competitions. At the start of the season Rooney was seen as United's white light, the man to turn to in the absence of both Ronaldo and Tevez. He was always a key player, but now he has well and truly stepped out of Ronaldo's shadow. He is THE man at United. He has taken on the role as great players should and is likely to have his most productive season as a result. There have been plenty games where he hasn't been at his best this year but it has often been forgotten how poorly Ronaldo played in a number of matches, only for it to be swept under the mat after he scored a goal or two. And that's fair enough. That's what makes great players great - they can make the difference even when not in the most inspired form.
The question is what do United do if he gets injured? A strikeforce of Owen and Berbatov hardly instills confidence. History has taught us that Rooney hardly manages an entire season injury free. Be it hip, metatarsal, or some other freak occurrence, his body usually succumbs to a strain at some point. One would have to feel that this is all the more likely this year given the extra burden placed on his broad shoulders, both in terms of games played and responsibility.
In the longer term there is an even greater worry for United fans. Rumours have begun to gather pace that he may have to be sold as the Glazers continue their efforts to service the oft spoken about debt. If this come's to pass one worries about the future of United. The current team looks weak as it is, at least in comparison to recent years. Indeed many aspects of the team bring unwelcome reminders of the 2005 era, and the 'heady heights' of Kleberson, Miller, Djemba-Djemba, etc. If Rooney, the only true star and saleable asset in the current team is sold, then what is left?
This is an entirely different scenario to the one which saw Ronaldo leave. Ronaldo wanted to go. Rooney doesn't and appears to love the club. He has bought into its history, something that the Glazers sadly appear to be tainting more and more with each passing day.
And anyway, would it really be in the Glazers best interest to sell Rooney? Sure, he would bring in a one off transfer fee of massive proportions but what hope would this United team have of success without him? The last faint glimmer of hope would be extinguished. If the Glazers think the protests they are experiencing now are bad, it would be incomparable to the flak they would receive if Rooney was sold. Yesterday against Hull there were empty seats at Old Trafford. How many more would be empty if Rooney was not in the team altogether? The Glazer's much sought after corporate "fans" would surely be thin on the ground if United's last marquee name was sold.
The fact is that by selling Rooney the Glazers would end up losing money in the long run - in terms of the teams success (or lack thereof) and gate receipts. Not to mention the commercial opportunities Wayne presents.
They have already alienated a huge chunk of United fans - selling Rooney would test the fragile relationship still further, and probably stretch it to breaking point.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Premier League Thoughts
Chelsea will be rubbing their hands with glee after the only two games of Premier League action this weekend resulted in draws for their nearest challengers.
Manchester United faced a tricky match away to an in-form Birmingham City. Ferguson has suggested that the one all draw was a good result, but the truth of the matter is that a team looking to retain or win the title should really be taking maximum points from fixtures such as this. Regardless of the form of Birmingham, the fact remains that their remarkable run of unbeaten games (12 now) has to come to a close at some stage. United played will in the opening half and in truth they were horrendously unlucky to find themselves a goal behind at the interval, with Birmingham scoring from their first attack of note. What should be encouraging is that in the majority of Uniteds defeats this season they have failed to create any real chances. Even when they were behind here, they created plenty and that is a positive.
For Birmingham we saw exactly what their fantastic run has been built on - defence. In the first half especially, every United attack seemed to end with a City player throwing themselves in front of the ball. It was block after block after block. Tremendous defending - it was like playing against a defence of Jamie Carraghers. In the second half we saw a different side to them as they called the United keeper into action on a number of occasions and indeed finished the game the stronger of the two sides (though Fletchers relatively soft red card may have influenced this somewhat).
Arsenal were the benefactors of two huge slices of luck in their match at home to Everton. Finding themselves behind twice (to two excellent Everton goals - Pienaar's in particular was a wonderful finish), they required two deflected equalisers to claw a point from the game, one of these coming in stoppage time. Everton will count themselves as unlucky to concede the goals in the manner that they did but there was much to be admired about their performance, including an impressive debut from Donovan. Wenger was delighted with the point - and in the context of the game and the performance he is probably correct to be, though in the overall scheme of the Premier League title race this will more than likely be remembered as two points dropped.
Finally, it would be remiss to talk about this weekend's action (well what sparse action there was) and not briefly discuss the incident in Africa. It is no surprise that the Togo national team have pulled out of the African Cup Of Nations. No tournament is worth the suffering that they went through on Saturday. Who would have thought that a bus carrying a team of footballers would provoke such premeditated gunfire? Incidents such as this have to raise serious quesion marks around the organisation and safety offered to the teams and players in Angola. And while the ACON is the concern at the moment....the greatest show on Earth is taking place this Summer in South Africa. One wonders what effect this incident will have on the preparation for the World Cup. Security efforts will have to be stepped up. This cannot be allowed to happen again.
Manchester United faced a tricky match away to an in-form Birmingham City. Ferguson has suggested that the one all draw was a good result, but the truth of the matter is that a team looking to retain or win the title should really be taking maximum points from fixtures such as this. Regardless of the form of Birmingham, the fact remains that their remarkable run of unbeaten games (12 now) has to come to a close at some stage. United played will in the opening half and in truth they were horrendously unlucky to find themselves a goal behind at the interval, with Birmingham scoring from their first attack of note. What should be encouraging is that in the majority of Uniteds defeats this season they have failed to create any real chances. Even when they were behind here, they created plenty and that is a positive.
For Birmingham we saw exactly what their fantastic run has been built on - defence. In the first half especially, every United attack seemed to end with a City player throwing themselves in front of the ball. It was block after block after block. Tremendous defending - it was like playing against a defence of Jamie Carraghers. In the second half we saw a different side to them as they called the United keeper into action on a number of occasions and indeed finished the game the stronger of the two sides (though Fletchers relatively soft red card may have influenced this somewhat).
Arsenal were the benefactors of two huge slices of luck in their match at home to Everton. Finding themselves behind twice (to two excellent Everton goals - Pienaar's in particular was a wonderful finish), they required two deflected equalisers to claw a point from the game, one of these coming in stoppage time. Everton will count themselves as unlucky to concede the goals in the manner that they did but there was much to be admired about their performance, including an impressive debut from Donovan. Wenger was delighted with the point - and in the context of the game and the performance he is probably correct to be, though in the overall scheme of the Premier League title race this will more than likely be remembered as two points dropped.
Finally, it would be remiss to talk about this weekend's action (well what sparse action there was) and not briefly discuss the incident in Africa. It is no surprise that the Togo national team have pulled out of the African Cup Of Nations. No tournament is worth the suffering that they went through on Saturday. Who would have thought that a bus carrying a team of footballers would provoke such premeditated gunfire? Incidents such as this have to raise serious quesion marks around the organisation and safety offered to the teams and players in Angola. And while the ACON is the concern at the moment....the greatest show on Earth is taking place this Summer in South Africa. One wonders what effect this incident will have on the preparation for the World Cup. Security efforts will have to be stepped up. This cannot be allowed to happen again.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Where Now For United?
There was always a chance of an upset. Leeds were in good form coming to Old Trafford, the 9,000 fans they were bringing were always going to be in good voice, and it was always likely that Ferguson would shuffle his pack. But all that doesn't change the fact that this was an upset.
Even Ferguson had few complaints - the referee didn't add enough time apparently - but he accepted that Leeds were worthy victors and that his team had grossly underperformed.
But where now for United? And more importantly where now for United's kids? Ferguson always talks them up, as any manager would, and recently defended them in the wake of Uniteds first home Champions League defeat in years. But serious questions marks are posed by results such as that, and this defeat at the hands of a team effectively in the Third Division.
Are the likes of Welbeck, Fabio, Gibson, Anderson, Obertan, etc really good enough for United? Will they ever be? Will they go the way of Richardson, Spector, Nevland, Healy - all footballers well able to make a living in the game but good enough for football at its pinnacle? No. Absolutely no. Time will tell if this latest set of United youngsters go that way. And lets be fair, they do have time on their side. But not a whole lot.
United face City this week in the first leg of a Carling Cup Semi Final. Having been so easily taken care of by Leeds, will Ferguson trust the same youngsters to do battle with a team desperate to add some silverware after a massive financial outlay? He certainly indicated that they would play following the Quarter Final victory - it will be interesting to see if his patience has snapped with them in the aftermath of the toothless display against Leeds. He surely wouldn't want to risk another humiliation against major rivals. Or maybe he'll trust his younsters to come out fighting.
Even Ferguson had few complaints - the referee didn't add enough time apparently - but he accepted that Leeds were worthy victors and that his team had grossly underperformed.
But where now for United? And more importantly where now for United's kids? Ferguson always talks them up, as any manager would, and recently defended them in the wake of Uniteds first home Champions League defeat in years. But serious questions marks are posed by results such as that, and this defeat at the hands of a team effectively in the Third Division.
Are the likes of Welbeck, Fabio, Gibson, Anderson, Obertan, etc really good enough for United? Will they ever be? Will they go the way of Richardson, Spector, Nevland, Healy - all footballers well able to make a living in the game but good enough for football at its pinnacle? No. Absolutely no. Time will tell if this latest set of United youngsters go that way. And lets be fair, they do have time on their side. But not a whole lot.
United face City this week in the first leg of a Carling Cup Semi Final. Having been so easily taken care of by Leeds, will Ferguson trust the same youngsters to do battle with a team desperate to add some silverware after a massive financial outlay? He certainly indicated that they would play following the Quarter Final victory - it will be interesting to see if his patience has snapped with them in the aftermath of the toothless display against Leeds. He surely wouldn't want to risk another humiliation against major rivals. Or maybe he'll trust his younsters to come out fighting.
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