Get the best out of Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.
It wasn't far off this time last year when Sir Alex Ferguson himself admitted Rooney wasn't being used to the best of his powers - too often forraging unselfishly for the better of his team, if not himself.
And last week, as United relinquished their hold on the Champions League, where was Rooney?
Working tirelessly, if not effectively, first on the left and then the right of midfield.
This despite Ferguson's vow at the start of the campaign - to play the England international in his preferred position - just behind a central striker.
You can hardly blame the United manager. Such is Rooney's willingness to work for the cause and ability to produce the goods wherever deployed, it is tempting to play him here, there and everywhere.
He was so outstanding playing on the left of midfield in the latter part of the season that it seemed the natural choice to keep him in that position against Barcelona in Rome.
That match, however, proved to be the perfect example of how Rooney's selflessness can sometimes be his worst enemy.
Frustrated
As a result, he cut a peripheral and frustrated figure - and United were robbed of one of their true match-winners.
I truly believe Rooney has the world in front of him and the best is yet to come, despite the heroics he has already produced at Old Trafford.
He is the type of player who will do whatever is asked of him, but there has to be a way to do that, while also making sure it is the best for the team.
He may put in a prodigious workrate when deployed in midfield, but wouldn't he be better served as a second striker, scoring goals and winning matches?
He would certainly have had more of an impact against Barcelona if allowed to get closer to goal.
Berbatov, meanwhile, was kept even further away from the Barca danger area, coming on only as a late substitute.
I stated when he arrived that I believed the Bulgarian would prove a fine addition to the United squad and my opinion hasn't changed.
That's not to say his debut season hasn't been without its difficulties. There is no doubt that the former Tottenham striker hasn't produced his best in the red of United.
He's not got nearly as many goals as he would have wanted, or affected the biggest games, which is what he was signed for.
But a season is not long enough to judge a player by. Sometimes it can take two, even three years to properly settle in.
It's not as if the campaign was a disastrous one. Quite the opposite.
A third successive title, the Club World Cup and the Carling Cup - Berbatov has contributed to one of the finest season's in the history of the club.
Obviously it was concerning that he was left out of United's most important games last season - the Champions League semi-finals against Arsenal and the final against Barcelona.
But I remain a committed Berbatov fan and maintain he is still a player with enormous potential.
I can still recall the period of the season when he made a crucial impact on key games. But the United manager still has the right to expect more from his record £30.75m signing. And I for one am convinced he will get it.
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Fair Shout... I feel next season will be defining for Berbatov... to float or to sink, that is the question.
United fans lets keep remembering that we did have a great season... Despite what the press may stipulate. After all, we can only claim Barelona to have had a more successful season than ours.
After the Barcelona game... and true a few shots along the way, sitting with Liverpool, Arsenal an Chelsea fans something stumbled across my mind... These fans are cheering as if it was their club beating Manchester United... It wasn't... at thats why we should keep our heads up...
It does seem that the team lacked leadership at the vital moment going on Ronaldo's comments and the general directionless play on Wednesday. I wonder how much SAF is beginning to rely on Fletcher to impart the shape of the team these days as they seem to be a lot less coherent when he's not playing. In any case I would blame for Ferguson for this one.
Does anyone else here think we need someone other than Mike Phelan assisting SAF?. I'm not convinced he's the man to get the best out of our current crop of players the same way Queiroz did.
When we went 1-0 down against top class international opponents we never looked like getting back into it and there was no plan B.
Also, Look at our young foreign players and they've not really progressed this year as I thought they would and I believe this is down to Carlos no ,longer being at the club
I'm not saying get rid of Phelan but is he really the man to take us where we need,should and want to be? I don't think so
Rio is 30. who will lead the team when he retires in a few years? where's the midfield/defensive captain? VDS is also about to retire. where's the keeper? these are the two key positions that have made United, and indeed any team, succesful. don't expect much of berbatov and rooney.
It feels like a bad season only because we lost out on a big prize on our last game and haven't got the opportunity to correct things till next season,try as hard as I can to gain hiro nakamoras powers from heroes to go back in time to tell Fergie how he should deploy his team against barca it wont work, the thing is pre-game no one complained about the formation as it worked so well against arsenal in the semi,the league game against arsenal however could have been greater analysed as we didnt create anything bar a rooney header going wide after we started well but that was put down too players saving themselves for the final, cant believe the stick we are getting off the press though way overboard.
Hopefully we will bounce back and improve next year, we where a shadow of the attacking force we are used to this season and if pool didnt draw as many games who knows,improvements in the areas we all know would be handy, a rb as wes cant be relied on due to injuries, nev is finished and de silva too raw,also would allow o'shea to cover evra and let him get a rest,central midfield, too many weak ordinary players park.fletch,anderson and carrick none are world class, or even the best in the premiership, also another striker would be great
TBETT, no. I don't know why anyone would suggest that Phelan has done anything wrong. After all, in his first year in the job we've won the Community Shield, Carling Cup, World Club Championship, Premiership and narrowly missed out on the FA Cup and Champions League. That's pretty impressive, eh? A better one season haul than Queiroz achieved, some might say.
You seem to be basing his career on what the players did in Rome and you probably have no idea what Phelan actually does.
I can’t see many changes in personnel next season, other than Tevez going. We’ve got a lot of youngsters back from loan and this should be a season for testing them and finally deciding if players like Nani and Park really have a future with us.
Up front, I think David is right in that Rooney and Berb will be given more time together and find a way of working with Ronaldo. The exit of Tevez will facilitate that and give more opportunity for Kika and Danny (even Fraizer if he makes it back).
I hope to see Tosic and Possebon given more starts in midfield as Scholes and Giggs get rested more frequently. The story about OH not being fit until January is nothing more than journalistic rubbish, it’s far too early to make such a gloomy judgement. (I really wish we could find a new Keane this summer, but it’s not going to happen.)
My biggest concern is what happens after next season? Giggs, Nev, Scholes, VdS would have gone, Rio will be out more than in and I’ve got this nasty feeling SAF may call it a day. If that’s the case, the new Boss will make his mark by selling Ronaldo. So lets look forward to another successful season next year – it may be the last before the big transition.
OK getting the best out of Rooney and Berbatov fine, but what about getting the best out of Nani, Anderson, Carrick (on a regular basis) keeping Hargreaves, Foster, Ferdinand and Wes Brown fit would also help. Can't help thinking that Ronaldo's reluctance to track back also hindered the team, hence Rooney being moved to the wings.
We simply cannot afford to sit on our hands in this period of transfer wheeling and dealing. Chelsea and Liverpool (and, dare I say it, even City) may well set the tone in terms of money being spent to reinforce squads. We need to be a bit ruthless with our squad, I feel, and get rid of the chaff.
Players like Anderson and Nani are deadweights and will never be good enough to wear the red shirt.
Tevez has mouthed off a bit too much to convince many of us that, even if we purchased him, he would be really settled at the club. Berbatov has proven to be an unmitigated flop, and at his age, how is he expected to improve at our club? Is he going to get any quicker or change his style of play? Of course not.
We need a proper left sided winger who poses an attacking threat: Park is an excellent squad player but doesn't offer enough going forward, a no-nonsense striker who'll lead the line, a centre midfielder in the Essien mould who doesn't suffer from an injury curse, possibly a world class right back to replace Neville (although Wes can do that job well) and a new keeper - we cannot wait for Foster to prove that he can handle the rigours of a full season without getting injured.
We need to stop spending exorbitant sums of money on crocks and lightweights and get some quality in. Mark my words, the other sides will be spending big this summer and we cannot afford to get complacent and assume that everything will be as hunky dory as this season.
This squad was very close to winning every trophy available,somewhat unlucky in the fa cup semi..but deserevedly beaten in the Chamions league final..its like 3 trophies is seen as a failure.Calm down everyone! We can't win everything and there are not that many out there who would improve the squad so don't throw the baby out with the bath water..some of the young players being pilloried at the moment will probably come good as well..then people will be saying..."I always said he had what it takes"...Come on guys knee jerk reactions did not make United the winning club they are..were you inthe sack Fergie brigade? As for other clubs..they will always be playing catch up.
It was a different season in that we won a lot but only one thing anyone really cared about and that SAF has cared about before, i.e. the league. We even won the league in an odd disjointed way taking almost all the points form the lower teams and few from those near the top, winning lots 1-0 and struggling to win a lot. To me it was the midfield that was the problem all year and we won most games on individual talent in the forwards and a great defensive display. There were a few memorable victories Chelsea in the league, Arsenal in the CL, and a few memorable losses Liverpool at home! I watched the Barca game three times and have to admit once over the disappointment I don't think there was that much between the teams, they took their chances we didn't take ours, 80% of Barca passes were nothing passes.
Personally I think SAF bottled it, he lost confidence in going for the win, favouring a 5 man defensive midfield and hoping Ronaldo could snatch the winner. And maybe he was right because without a good midfield it's hard to press for the win, although as we showed when we had to 0-2 down to Spurs we had the power to overwhelm teams.
I hope we can fix it next year with a good CM that the others can be deployed around. Get Rooney back in the middle and get back to attacking ways and lets win in style!
Just been reading a few of the comment here some good some bad. As a paying customer at OT I feel I have a right to have my say regarding the season and future. Firstly, as much as I respect Mike Phelan, I genuinely believe we need a world class coach as a replacement, did anybody see the body language sat on that chair like he was sat on his sofa at home. Quieroz was never out of the technical area barking instructions. When Barcelona's bottle went in the first 10 minutes going into a 4-5-1, it wasn't even identified. I thought we were unlucky with the first goal, Carrick almost had the ball and his momentum carried the ball past VDS, with the assistance of a hopeful toe poke by etoo. What astonished me more was that we didn't change it to accomodate Barca's tactical switch, anyway the games history now can't change the result.
What has also upset me is the selfishness of Rio, in all this. Okay I can understand that he wants to play in the biggest club game in the world, but at the expense of whats best for United was inexcusable. Particularly as he hadnt played for nearly four weeks, where Evans had deputised brilliantly, and he has now just pulled out of the England games. In doing so he made our defence as weak as Barcelona's Guardiola and rest of the Barcelona team new this, and exposed it brilliantly, Messi's headed goal need I say more!!!
Having said all this I will long remember this season, for the good it brought, the spurs second half, Macheda's goal, double over city, and stopped the scousers reaching their holy grail. All the euro greats have lost finals, how did chelsea fans feel last year, milan fans against marseille etc. That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, we are Manchester United at the end of the day
keithmat, you do realise that we lost in Rome by NOT playing a defensive formation, don't you? The attacking 4-2-3-1 nearly worked but needed us to score first. Ten minutes of us totally dominating and then we throw away a goal with sloppy defensive play. had we played a defnsive minded 4-5-1 that might not have happened but we wouldn't have had any more of the ball and less chances.
Next season will be hard
i think , we need a) Goalkeeper b) one back c) two or even three midfielders and at least d) one GOOD centre forward and we need to get rid of dead wood like
Carrick, Park , Nani and co , and give chances to the youngsters at least
if that is possible , not sure we can do that cos the PL is so competitive.
t&c one mans 4-2-3-1 is another mans 4-5-1, everyone is entitled to their opinion but what I saw was United's defensive European away formation a 4-5-1 with Ronaldo playing as a lone striker and Park and Rooney as defensive wide midfielders, maybe Giggs was supposed to be further forward but he was too ineffective to tell.
You can say different if you like, and I am not privy to the dressing room, but that's my opinion of what I saw. And my opinion of the season is that we have been defensive all season letting goals come by individual effort and break aways. Not the tactics I want to see form United.
Tooth & Claw, you are correct on Phelan vs Queiroz but under Queiroz's guidance United played scintillating football.
Obviously all but a few of the commentators in here are under 30...i.e. you have no idea what it was like to be a UNited fan from 69-92...occasional Cup run and always league failure. And eternal scouser scorn.
This season was magnificent, tieing Scousers on 18, the Mt. Everest of English football.
So we lost the CL FInal, I was there, we lost to a better team on the night, who got the crucial first goal....
Now will you all grow up.
Way to go SAF, MP and all the lads, great things to come...
Berbatov's penalty clearly affected the player's confidence in his own ability. Critically, it may have affected SAF's confidence in him. I guess we'll only know next season.
People still looking for a Keane replacement. Wow. He was tough and a great captain but short on ability. Fletcher does everything Keane did but he's not a Keane tough guy. Fans like an enforcer plus let's face it he walked the walk and talked the talk. Roy was his own man but in many ways he was a pain in the ass. All these red cards and headlines. Let him go folks. I was a big fan but put him up beside Cantona and he doesn't come close. Hargreaves is tough as nails but we have to wait and see. Rooney is our best player by a country mile. Tough as teak, great skills and loves to play. You will never see Roo sitting on his arse yelling at the ref. He gets up and runs half the park to get the ball back. He will see his career out at OT so don't f about; give him the armband now and if Ronny wants to go then use the cash to get Benzema and a winger. Barry has gone to City so things have started. 12 million folks for Englands best holding mid fielder and some people here want us to fork out 26 million for Tevez. I don't think so.
Next season will be no different to this. Fergie will still be playing dads army, Players being played out of position and good young talent being either loaned out or sold, like Pique or Rossi were for peanuts. Look who has been the golden boot in La Liga the last two seasons and Fergie was clueless how to play him. This last season was a success but we played the worst football for years. So many 1-0 results and this I attribute to the fact that Fergie did it all alone, his way. Individuals saved us this season, not tactics, namely Rooney, Ronnie and Tevez. One or two of them may not be here next season and Rooney cannot do it alone.
M J O'Connor, you're are entitled to make your views known whether you attend OT or whether you are one of those armchair fans that live beyond Greater Manchester that some posters here so love to hate.
You raise an excellent point - I wondered, with the benefit of hindsight, why Sir Alex didn't drop Rio in favour of J Evans, one of his famed Jim Leighton moments.
Back on my high horse especially about our very average midfield, amongst other things. There are probably two main reason we have played 5 in the middle of the park in "The Final" - 1) because we are now afraid to loose games and - 2) our midfield lacks genuine quality and steel, what we do not in class, we try to make up for with numbers and non stop running.
With Giggs and especially Scholes at the end of their days who will grab the midfield by the scruff of the neck next season? Carrick, Park, Anderson, Fletcher, Gibson - none of them are in the same class as Gerrard, Alonso, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Fabrigas, Xavi to name a few. Our Midfield is an area we simply must strenghten. Our engine room spluttered all season, especially against Barca - they made us look like kids and kept the ball from us at will. We on the other hand gave the ball away far too easily as we have all season and in the end paid dearly for it. We were utterly disgraceful against Arsenal a few weeks back.
We need to rebuild, class/quality players are needed in all areas of the park, replacements for the old guard (Neville, Giggs, Scholes, VDS, and very probably Hargreves). New blood to instill new desire into the team, to boulster and solidify our midfield (which I repeat is average to say the least, bereft of imagination and steel) and also in defense. Should Rio have played in the final? No - Rio has never been one for a fight, a tremendous footballing centrehalf but bottles too many big tackles and relies too much on his alleged pace, his fitness problems are going to cause us more grief next season - maybe time to look at a long term replacement or cover for Evans and Vidic. As a matter of urgency we need a hard and intelligent striker, a new coach to replace Mike Phelan (whose body language against Barca was nothing short of embarassing, his tactics are a mirror image of the way he played - honest endeavour, hard work but with little or no flair.
Tatically we blew it, in the lead up to the game we should have played our full team Champions League Final team against Arsenal - the closest team in the Premiership to Barca (Rio should not have played in the final after 3 weeks out), Evans deserved his chance especially if the brains trust thought him a better player to keep than Piquet.
Before the champions league final we were made favourites on the back of our defense; not because of our feared attack. I wonder what we could have achieved with a Fernando Torres type striker, two top wingers and a goal scoring midfielder, we may have been more of an attacking threat over the 90 minutes. Barca were brilliant for 80 minutes, technically we were not in the same league - they had 11 exceptionally gifted and intelligent players on the field, we had a team designed not too loose. We played for 10 minutes, fired blanks and got caught with a sucker punch, after that we never looked like we had the ability to get back into the game. Had we scored first I think we would have sat back and relied on our much vaunted defense to win the game, had we got a second goal it would have been on the break. The best United team of all time? in terms of winning trophies maybe - in terms of playing the United way not even close.
Yes, we have had a season the vast majority of teams could only dream about. We will now be judged on how we play in the 2009/2010 season. Please, please, please let us return to our attacking roots, sick and tired of the dreary 1-0's and the nervousness of our football. We have won everything lets rebuild, the future is what counts now and the next two seasons will be very difficult indeed. We must recruit wisely, nurture the talent we have and get rid of the very obvious dead wood in the squad. I would gladly sacrafice winning anything for 2-3 years, whilst we rebuild in preparation for another 20 years of dominance.
The problem is the same one that was so easily idetifiable back in Sept, tinkering in midfield. The lack of logic or common sense in the belief that rotation is bad for the defence (therefore we lose a class act like Pique)but is essential for the midfield is irritating. What do we get; first class season from the defence and a below par one from the midfield.
I don't care who plays as long as we have a clear idea who our first choice midifelders are and play them. Of course the presence of Giggs and Scholes in the squad will undermine any attempt at this, as well as the morale of our younger players, i.e. Anderson and nani.
If Giggs, Scholes and Neville continue to hang on it will diminish their stature and esteem at the club. If they love the club the best thing they could do is to call it a day. By staying they are only damaging the development of the team and handicapping the club financially with their salaries.
Football is not about the future (Macheda, Wellbeck, Da Silva(s)) etc etc nor is it about the past (VDS, Giggs, Scholes Nev etc). It is only about NOW!! If young players make an immediate impact and sustain that impact then it is wonderful. But in today's premiership they will have very little time to do it.
Would any of you seriously have any of our youngsters regularly coming up against Terry, Carragher or Gallas? Or even willing to take a chance against Lescott, Cahill or Dunne? Failed 'chances' mean dropped points!
We need top stars, at the peak of their game, playing NOW to justify the expense supporters shell out and have a serious chance to win trophies. The past success is great to crow about but it is the immediate next season that is important.
We clearly have the basis for the next campaign, but we take future success for granted, at our peril.
keithmat, "t&c one mans 4-2-3-1 is another mans 4-5-1," Er, no! I realise that formations don't float everyone's boat and that I'm a bit of an anorak where formations are concerned but 4-5-1 is nothing like 4-2-3-1. Get yourself a book on formations or google for it. There are plenty of good sites. In my opinion, it will enhance your enjoyment of watching United if you know what formation is being played, particularly in this glorious period where we are totally adaptable in tactics and formations.