United’s 07/08 Mission: Not A Step Back! …
For Sir Alex, the United mission for the season ahead could not be simpler: Not a step back!
This is hardly an ultimatum-at-gunpoint, as the manager will know that his alert recruitment this summer has given United their best chance in a decade of achieving success at home and abroad.
United won the Premiership title last year, appeared in the FA Cup Final and went out of the European Champions League at the semi-final stage. The resources now at Sir Alex’s disposal, leave the club well placed for a repeat performance, with high expectation fuelling belief that United could contest Europe’s top trophy in Moscow next May.
With a winning squad enhanced by the arrival of Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson and Tevez and boosted by a crop of promising young players, there is little wonder that the manager looks ahead confidently to the new campaign.
“We played some fantatstic football, we were top goalscorers and we won,” Sir Alex said of his team’s exploits last term. “I hope this season we’ll improve.”
Sir Alex will count on his winners from the last campaign to maintain their form and must be impressed with the zest shown already by Wayne Rooney. The striker’s role will change next season but unlike the tried-but-failed movement of Paul Scholes, this is an experiment that looks set to pay dividends.
Cristiano Ronaldo is another player with all the gifts to improve on his wonder show last season. The Portuguese magician is poised to become an even more devastating influence now that United’s attacking threat has multiplied.
“We want to be winners again,” Sir Alex declared. “Attacking football is winning football.”
The manager is to be applauded for his instincts but will know that if attacking football really is the surefire route to success, Ossie Ardiles would now be one of the most decorated managers in the English game! If Sir Alex has really set his heart on Champion’s League glory next year, he would be better served by the purchase of two wily and ruthless defenders, with the knowledge and discipline to maintain a slender advantage at the highest level of competition.
United’s commitment to attack and Ronaldo’s inability to offer defensive support explain why the Premiership and United’s European campaign are unlikely to be a procession. Sir Alex will trust that Owen Hargreaves begins his United career with all the resolution he revealed in overcoming a resistant English public before the last World Cup. Ferguson will also need Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to recover the dominance of last Autumn and move to a higher gear of concentration in European competition. The manager will be concerned by Gary Neville’s slow return to full fitness and may be disturbed by United’s strength on the opposite flank. Patrice Evra looked a Manchester United player going forward against Inter Milan, in the team’s most meaningful pre-season game but a City player when asked to defend. The Frenchman’s form last season looks to have shortened Gabriel Heinze’s sojourn at Old Trafford but he has it all to do again this year. If he cannot repeat his success, who will step in?
There are other questions too? Which Paul Scholes will turn up this term? Will it be the imperious playmaker, free of injury, who did so much to spark United towards title glory or the subdued midfielder who fell short of his own standards as United laboured after their last title win in 2003?
How will Michael Carrick perform in his second year at Old Trafford and with a new role to master? Will Edwin Van Der Sar’s form be that of the final minutes of the Community Shield or will it turn the speed of Ben Foster’s recovery into a metatarsal-like obsession?
And what of the opposition? United pulversised the Premiership’s make-weights last season but struggled against the top teams, who, with the exception of Arsenal, are markedly stronger this year.
Chelsea may have lost last weekend’s curtain raiser but many observers tip Mourinho’s pragmatists as eventual Premiership winners. The Stamford Bridge squad was already formidable but Mourinho has bought wisely. The £13.5 million Florent Malouda, voted France’s best player last year, could be the transfer snip of the season, if that honour is not taken by Steve Sidwell. Having blundered last term by selling William Gallas, Mourinho has recovered his senses by bringing in the combative Ben Haim from Bolton. If a deal is completed for the impressive ‘fullback’ Daniel Alves, Chelsea will pursue the Quadruple with as much eagerness as United.
Liverpool too, begin the new season with a sense of hope. At last they have a decent striker in Fernando Torres to complement a good defence and what could emerge as a great midfield.
Arsenal should not be discounted either. Those kid Gunners oozed class in pre-season and made light work of an Inter Milan team, which a few days later embarrassed United at home. Much depends on the sometimes dazzling Robin Van Persie and the improving Emmanuel Adeybayor needs to step up too. Behind the front two, Arsenal have execllence in midfield and in defence. If Arsene Wenger can bring in two more top talents and can mould his side into performing on the mundane as well as the showpiece occassions, north London’s finest could test seriously United’s fitness for a draining fight on several fronts.
The media awaits the contest with the same relish as fans, as referenced by the superior Red Cafe and Red Issue fans fora. For sports hacks and supporters alike, United offer a win-win proposition. Domestic and European triumph would garner cheer leaders from Manchester to Mumbai. Any definitive Red stumble however, would produce a terrible and carniverous rage.
A spate of ill-timed injuries. One or more poor refereeing decisions. A sudden downturn in the state of the manager’s health. Events. One or all of these factors could leave United with nothing to show for their efforts next year.
But on the evidence of quite marvellous and sustained form stretching back to the Carling Cup victory against Wigan in 2006, United have no reason to be afraid. They have the players who have tasted success. They have unrivalled individual excellence that separates the pigmies from the giants. They have a huge squad with the right balance of youthful emerging talents and veteran campaigners. Above all, they have a manager, head and shoulders above his peers, who retains the appetite for success.
Football is not science but sometimes the right combination of factors and ingredients produces the anticipated result. As such and with Fergie as the arch alchemist, this has to be United’s year.
