Up challenging for the title once again, quarters in CL, Fa cup winners. But at the end of the day whilst Chelski hold the ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ bank account no one can compete with them, so as long as it's attractive entertaining football where we win a lot more than lose, who cares!

Yawn! Does Hince watch football or just read these forums and call it his own work? MY prediction, just sneak the title

Have to say i think your pretty spot on! Good article.

Well, Hince has just said what we've all known for the past months, we need a goalscorer, someone who in the 89th minute of a 0-0 game find the net or who in the course of a game can bang in 2 or 3 goals against lower opposition. OGS can't be expected at this stage to take on that responsibility, Smithy isn't capable of scoring 25 a season & Rossi can't score at all at the moment. Rooney can get 12-18 in the season, which means all the pressure is now heaped on Saha's shoulders ( which will cause him to be out due to a back strain injury until Xmas. ) Joking aside Saha in all probability will break down during the season & we don't have a quality striker to step in & replace him.

I don't agree by saying without Ruud, that's taking 30 goals out of the team; I believe that without Ruud, we will actually score more goals as a team overall. I'd guess Rooney to bag 15-20, Saha 15-20, Solksjaer 5-10, Smith 5-10, Scholes 15, Ronaldo 15, Giggs 5-10 and the rest of the team to provide another 10-15 goals between them. That's at least 85 goals overall, AT LEAST. I don't think you could look at these figures and believe them to be unrealistic or unreasonable.
A lot will say we only scored 58 last season in the league, but Scholes was out for a large chunk of the season, we never had Solskjaer, Smith was played out of position and Saha was only there for December onwards. I'm optimistic we will score goals with the players we have, and if so, we will finish higher than third Hincey...

Midfield is the main problem. Even with Ruud, if he did not get the ball, he could not score goals and the United midfield has sadly been lacking for the last three years. Carrick is only part of the answer, we still desperately need a world class midfielder to suplement the midfield. Witht the number of injuries we seem to have picked up over the years the squad is not strong enough to cover for long periods of injuries or suspensions. At Chel$ki and Liverpool last season our midfield was 2nd best. Time to put that right was weeks ago.

Bang on the button Paul. As a City fan you show remarkable foresight regarding United's upcoming season. My fear is that Saha will have no pressure on him to perform and that he will pick up another long term injury. Rossi will struggle without his acknowledged mentor Rudd and too much is expected of the other strikers at the moment. I suppose we can hope for a cup, oh dear its the 70's all over again.

Spot on Hincey! United will lack the firepower to win the premiership, but it doesn;t seem like the Glazers are interested in actually spending any money during the transfer season. They have, so far, made a profit out of transfers this season, with the 12million and 10 million pounds received for Mikel and Ruud , which totals 22m and paying 18million for carrick and taking kuszack on loan, we have so far made a profit of 4 million or more. so when are the glazers actually going to invest in the club, or are they happy to finish second or worse every year? This might explain why Fergie is still at the helm, having long overstayed his welcome.
Lets hope that both our new owners and current manager start showing some ambition and sign at least a world class striker or midfielder if not both.

All the talk about finding the next Roy Keane is ridicolous. He is not out there. I agree United need one more midfielder beside Carrick, who is an excellent player by the way. Sir Alex are in the hunt for a natural ball winner in the same muld as Keane was and Gerrard is. There are several of this kind of players out there. Tottenham snapped up zokora. Other players like Diarra, Makoun, Muntari, Macherano, Senna, Nolan, Reo-Cooker, Kristofer Heastad, Gravesen, Gattuso, Nigel de-Jong and the list could go on and on. It remains to see who Sir Alex manage to bring in. I agree that it could be vital to get a prooven goal scorer. Chinedu Ogbuke, nigerian and plays for norwegian club Lyn is availeble. I know top European clubs are monitoring him including Arsenal. Wenger is genius in spotting this kind of players.

United is very much in e run in for the premiership title. Prolific goalscorer Ruud Van Nistelrooy might have left to play for e Galacticos, but United still have many strikers left with points to prove.
Without Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Sir Alex has Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha, Giuseppi Rossi, Alan Smith and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to pick from.

Solskjaer has time and time proven to be a super sub, and for his age that role would probably suit him and the team best.

Wayne Rooney is improving every game, and has all the attributes to be the greatest footballer of his generation. Not sure if he's a proven goalscorer, he scores the beautiful and classy goals for team. Although I'd like to see him play in midfield, Fergie would more likely to deploy him in the foward position, probably playing off a main striker.

Louis Saha to me is probably United's most reliable striker. Despite being unlucky with injuries for the past 2 seasons, he came back strongly and still managed 15 goals for us last season despite only playing half the number of goals we actually played. I tip Saha to be our top marksman this season- he's strong, he's full of pace, he's good in the air and he's clinical.

Alan Smith is set to return from a gruesome injury he suffed last season against Liverpool in the FA Cup. Fergie's experimented Smith in midfield last season, which in a way didn't exactly work out. He'd revert to forward position again this season, and I have to say, as much as many may doubt Alan Smith's goalscoring abilities, he actually had little chances of really playing in advanced positions. Although known as a striker, he's spent his time in midfield for Leeds frequently, and for United he has played at the centre of the park and on the right as well. I think he's a much maligned striker, and can be a very good striker for us if given the advanced position. He's aerially dominant, which's always nice to see. He's terrifically aggressive, plays his part in defending from the front, tackles well as well, and is very strong. Of course, that's not striker's attributes we're talking about, but i have to say, Alan Smith has 2 good feet and can shoot accurately and powerfully with both of them. I think he can be a surprise goal machine for United this season.

Giuseppi Rossi. He's set to make his breakthrough to United's setup this season, and is tipped by many to be a hit for the Old Trafford outfits. One thing about this lad is, he's absolutely confident of his own abilities, and that is important for strikers. He's got a nice low centre of gravity, has bundles of pace and is good at turning past defenders. He's got a good first touch as well, and is good at passing under pressure from defenders, which is important for United is terms of keeping possession. Whether he'll massively contribute to United's goals remains to be seen, but he's certainly one to look out for this coming season.

So, United lack of firepower? Not quite.

Smith & Rossi to gel and play Sheringham/Solksjaer to Rooney & Saha's York/Cole. Blow the remaining transfer budget on one of Hargreaves/Diarra plus Senna.

I'm looking forward to the bundles between Warnock and virtually every other manager in the prem! Johno: If it was 1999 I would agree but to expect 15 goals each from Scholes and Giggs may be pushing it a bit IMHO, Ronaldo should certainly score a few more and hopefully Saha can stay fit to get us 25+ goals, Rooney may get close to 20 but needs to be more accurate and selective in his shooting.

Kevin, are you writing Rossi off? He's been very unlucky in pre-season but remains a natural goalscorer. I think he should be given his chance now as one of the back-ups to Rooney & Saha. Ole has scored a few in pre-season but you seem to be using a different criteria to judge him!

"Spot on Hincey" Is paul hince submitting comments himself?

We will progress without RVN. We were much better last year without RVN in the side, look at our run and overall performance 2nd half of season. RVN is finished in football, look at him for holland too. He might scrap 25 goals a season but he creates nothing, for himself or others. Our system is rigid and predictable around him. Saha might score 20 but create 10. Rooney, Ole and Rossi are similar. Saha, Rooney and Ole have the ability to create a goal for themselves out of nothing in particularly tight games, whereas RVN runs offside, and fouls people and generally loses interest. Rossi, Smith, Rooney, Saha and Ole all have something to prove this season and will be hungry. I would also expect Giggs and Ronaldo to be deployed centrally on occasions. Should RVN be replaced? I like many others believe it is Rossi's time to step up, he is a natural footballer and will have no problems. We will be fine.

So according to Hince we are going to score 38 goals in the premiership next year - that is 30 goals less than last season. Does he think we are stupid. I've heard this same simplistic line from other people and it is pure garbage. So our game will now not be based around pinging the ball into one finisher - well I say good job because that style made us boring, predictable and above all boring. Saha probably will not score the same number of goals as Ruud in his pomp because he is not a goal hanger and spends half his time dropping deep linking up play but other players' contribution will increase as a result. And at long last we will be able to break quickly from defence into attack as we did so successfully in the glory years. And our football will be entertaining once again. Roll on next season and fingers crossed Louis stays healthy.

We do lack depth, there is no doubt. We've got the quality in Saha and Rooney but we're struggling if one does get injured. However, I don't see a magical solution presenting itself. Torres would be superb, but he doesn't want to leave and we don't have 25m knocking around. Any money we do have MUST be spent on the midfield still. We're just going to have to hope that Saha and Rooney stay fit. Good as it is to see Ole back, I wouldn't want to depend on him now. Smith is adequate, nothing more, no matter how hard the boy tries. But then he is going to be better than Keane, isn't he Mary? Rossi - utterly unproven.

Yeah we've really lacked goals and attacking options this preseason haven't we. Third! I suppose everyones second favourite team Liverpoo will be second?? I've said it before and i'll say it again There is no way the Scouse are finishing above us.

Citeh 'may' win the premiership. Mighty powerful word 'may'

I am a bit long in the tooth. I only vaguely remember the Law man (information wasn't easy to come by in Bangladesh in the 60's! As a boy of 11 I had to walk 7 miles to town to listen on the wireless. And eat my uncles rancid goat cheese and corriander broth!). What I do remember however is nearly 40 years of United fans bemoaning the lack of a regular 30 goal a season striker. We finally found one and have had one for 5 seasons (150 goals), and now Fergie has engineered a fall out to get him out of the club, just like he's done with countless other players. Players who score 30 goals a season are as rare as rocking-goat droppings. Until he brought Evra and Vidic on infront of RvN in the Carling Cup Final, he was happy at O.T. Fergies spin will now make it all seem like Ruud's fault. Don't believe a word of it. Saha isn't fit to lace Ruud's boots. Ruud is an all time great. Solksjaer? Don't make me laugh. 33 years old and not a competitive season under his belt for 4 years. Take the rose colours specs off reds, the man is finished. Smith? 1 in 4 goals/game at his peak, nothing like Ruuds strike rate. As for Rossi? Would he get 38 goals in 40 European games? would he heck! Please replace Ruud with a top quality striker Fergie, we can't possibly be a better team if we don't replace class players.

Yet another journo buying into this myth that selling a striker who scores 30 goals in the season means we'll score 30 goals less over the course of the next season. That might be true if we only played with 10 players in our starting line-up but otherwise that logic is deeply flawed. Based on the end of last season, playing without RvN means more playing time (and goals) for Saha and faster-paced football with a a number of different players chipping in with goals. I don't suppose anyone knows the actual figures for goals scored by the TEAM last season in games with RvN vs. goals scored in games without him? I reckon they'd make pretty interesting reading.

I might be alone with what I saw last season, but the body language of Ruud was saing that he was finished as a prolific goalscorer. As far as I remember Saha+Rooney gave far better performance and were working together brilliantly. Ruud neither had a pace nor vision to create very good partnership with nobady at the current squad. He does have, I must admit, a clinical finish, but I don't think that United play in the way to match to his style.

I take it you are reciting the bangladesh version of that fabled monty python sketch about childhood deprivation?
FYI Denis Law was the best, sadly afflicted with a dodgy knee through the latter part of his career

Khaled, LOL! But not true IMO. Saha is a better all round forward than Ruud for me.

Selling Ruud was a joke (or should I say giving him away at ¿¿10 million). He's is still the most consistent goalscorer in world football, pure and simple. Some fans seem to have short memories, he's scored over 150 goals for United playing mostly as a lone striker, now that takes some doing. If we don't replace him with Torres our title chances are dead, pure and simple. He's the only striker capable of being similarily prolific. Forget Tevez and Adriano. And I don't know why we're waiting on Diarra either, he wants to go to Madrid. I predict we finish 2nd. So, who should we have signed and sold if we were serious about catching Chelsea:
IN: Vieira, Duff, Riquelime, Torres and Buffon (In addition to keeping Ruud)
OUT: Fletcher, Smith, Saha, Miller, Silvestre and Park