Sir Alex Ferguson
will forever remember the 2011/12 season for losing the league title to
Manchester City on goal difference. Yes goal difference.
That thought will
have consumed his mind for much of the summer.
And it probably
resulted in his declaration this week that re-claiming the Premier League is
the club’s number one priority for the forthcoming season.
The early summer
signings of Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund, and 18-year-old Nick Powell
from Crewe, again highlight Ferguson’s focus on buying young players and developing them within the club. It is a policy that has worked wonders before (Cristiano
Ronaldo and Javier Hernandez to name just two) but there is no indication of a
marquee-signing that some supporters may be hoping for.
With Robin Van
Persie’s future seemingly lying away from Arsenal, United’s are rumoured to be seriously interested.
How likely the
deal is however is another matter. In the past couple of years, Samir Nasri and
Karim Benzema have both slipped through the net.
In addition, the
days of United signing players for £30million may well be a thing of the past whether that is due to Ferguson's stubborness or the debt inflicted on the club by the Glazer Family.
If you believe
what you read, Everton’s full-back Leighton Baines is likely to be added to the
squad but other than that no other player seems set to put on the famous red
shirt.
Ask any Manchester
Utd fan about where their side needs improving most and 99 per cent of them will
say central midfield. But with Tom Cleverley with Team GB and
Anderson being a consistent let down, United are likely to line-up against
Everton on the first game of the season with the familiar pairing of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick.
Carrick was, in my
opinion, the most consistent player last season and Scholes is the best player of his generation. But beyond those two, there is not much to excite.
And maybe it’s
that word ‘excite’ that is the biggest issue with this current United squad.
When trying to name ‘match-winners’, only Wayne Rooney and Nani immediately
spring to mind
That is simply not
good enough for club of United’s stature.
But with Ferguson
at the helm you can never write them off.
The 2012/13 season
should see the likes of Welbeck and Hernandez really make their mark. Welbeck
was impressive at times last season, but with only nine league goals, it’s
clear where he must improve.
Only Hernandez and
Rooney reached double figures in league goals in the last campaign, so Ferguson must be
looking to others to contribute more.
Hernandez
struggled with injuries last season, but his first summer off for a couple of
years should benefit him and I expect the little Mexican to exceed the goalscoring exploits of his debut season.
When you mix that
with the return of Nemanja Vidic, as well as improvement
in David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Phil Jones & Rafael, plus
the anticipated class of Kagawa, United fans should look ahead to the new season with confidence.
After all, they
came second to City on goal difference. Roberto Mancini’s side deservedly won
the title, but it’s important to remember that City won both Manchester derbies
and therefore United actually picked up more points against the other 18 teams
than they did.
You have to expect
that City will improve and so must United. Ferguson’s side owe their rivals
a beating.
The first derby is
at the Etihad on Decemeber 8th.
Let the fun begin.
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