Manucho Permit...

rotherham_red

Like I said earlier, anyone who thinks Berbs coming will lead to Tevez/Rooney being benched is being an absoloute cretin.
We have to justify our outlay on the three big buys, if nothing else because of Fergie's stubborness, how do you propose he'll do that? The only way possible, having Rooney, Ronaldo, and Tevez playing in behind Berbatov...

BaldwinLegend

Don't understand that view. Do you think SAF feels forced to play Anderson, Carrick and Hargreaves all at the same time for the same reason?

Wake up, it's 2008 - football is a squad game. If you listen to the interview with Berbatov, you'll see he's full of respect for SAF and is here to learn from him - he'll respect SAF's decision if it goes against him, as will Rooney and Tevez.

Since when was having 3 world class strikers such a problem? They expect to be rotated. They may well play all together sometimes, but SAF did not buy Berbatov purely for that - he has undoubtedly overused Rooney in the last 2 seasons due to his inability to buy Berbatov, and I think he'll be very happy to give Rooney the occasional rest from now on.

SAF recently said that he ideally likes to work with 4 strikers - eg the '99 team. This team now has that finally - Rooney, Tevez, Berba and Manucho, and I think Fergie will utilise them with his usual intelligence - he's under no pressure to play them all at once.

Redfighter

I think with those forward players it's a no-brainer. It's who is first choice behind them in midfield which I think is a harder choice.

------------------MID----------MID

TEVEZ-----------------ROONEY-------------RONALDO

----------------------BERBATOV


Obviously Scholes is first choice I feel alongside Hargreaves but with the ability to use any combination of Carrick, Anderson, Fletcher, Scholes and Hargreaves we have an awesome midfield.

Add to this the extra forward players Nani, Giggs, and Park with possible involvment for Manucho then I think our verstaility, cover and options are unrivalled in Europe.

We need not worry about keeping everybody happy, that's Fergies job.

smallred

hope manuncho is fit for the carling cup, should see him make his debut then...with fergie clearing out Saha and dong and loaning out campbell, we now have 4 definate strikers.

hopefully, will see this team against boro -

foster

rafael browne neville fabio
fletcher posseban o shea park
manucho wellbeck

Raven_Blade

Definite confirmation took long enough. Now I hope Manucho is ready ASAP. Things have worked out exactly how I expected in the transfer window. We have Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov and Manucho as our 4 strikers for the season. Campbell has gone on loan and is not being sold, yet.

Chris H

Yes. As everyone knows, showing the world how shrewd he is in the transfer market is far more important to Ferguson than winning titles. Or knocking Liverpool off their perch. Or anything else.

Cretin, heal thyself.

a_devil_inside

No Evans?

MadDogg

They will be benched more often than they would be without Berbatov. I expect the three of them, and to a lesser extent Ronaldo, to rotate with one of them generally on the bench. But they'll all start more games than they don't.

unknownnames

Man United striker Manucho gets work permit
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ngland&cc=4716

nme_pro

The game and our style of play has changed massively since '99. We play with four or five attacking players attacking players now rather than two centre forwards. I think that our formation will completely change during games. Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov will all interchange. I think that people's wish to have Rooney play just behind the striker will not be happy as he will continue to play all four/five attacking options over the course of a game.
I do agree that I doubt they will all start every game, however I think that whoever is on the bench will come on for Giggs/Nani as oftern as any of the other forward players

amir51

What I dont understand is that if he automatically qualified for a work permit....why did it take us a year to figure this out? What the f*** were our legal team doing?

VoetbalWizard

tied up in the berbathread.

INF-AMOS

Donut

Gill said something about games counting even when he was injured. That probably means he couldn't have started any earlier than he will.

RedCanadian

SAF's got his 4 strikers... nice!

rotherham_red

Anderson, Nani et al are young players for the future. They even acknowledged that they played more than they thought last season.
Carrick has played in the vast majority of the games he's been available for, sans the little period at the start of last season.
Hargreaves has always been injured, and is a bit shit.

I understand its a squad game, but football is different now to what it was in 1999. We dont play the 4-4-2 any more, we dont have Keane anymore, we simply cant have two strikers up front, if it means that the midfield is compromised.

Im not even saying its a problem, I'm loving it, because Rooney will finally play in his proper position, and we have a world-class striker who is a presence up top. I seriosuly dont know where your getting that from...

We have able replacements for all of the 4, in the form of Nani (Ronaldo), Manucho (Berbs), and Anderson (Tev/Rooney), and also Giggs (Tev/Rooney). So your squad argument is inconsistent with the facts.

Also, I have no doubt that initially we will probably play a 4-3-3, while we wait for Ronaldo to come back and for Berbatov to get fully acclimatised in the team, but in the long term, it will most definately be a 4-2-3-1 with all four in the starting line-up...

rotherham_red

Its going to be Scholes and Carrick - They are the best-balanced, and are much more likely to have retention of the ball, an absoloute must if we are to play the system well.

Exactly. People are assuming that Sheringham and Solskjear are the norm. They are most definately not. Both had their reasons for accepting time on the bench, you dont put one or two absoloutely world-class players on the bench (well, not unless your Chelsea) and not expect them to throw a strop.

rotherham_red

Sarcasm doesnt really translate across the wires of the internet mate, best stick to your day job...

Fergie isnt doing it to prove a point (well, he probably is to the Glazers), he's doing it so that he has as many potential game winners on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes.

rotherham_red

Oh, no doubt, for squad rotation purposes, its a must. But for the big games, they are ALL going to start at the same time.

giggs-beckham

So 4231 then? it looks good doesnt it. id like to see it v the smaller teams at old trafford first to get the players used to it:

foster

rafael ferdinand vidic evra

scholes carrick

ronaldo -- rooney -- tevez

berbatov

Attack, attack attack!

nme_pro

Swap Scholes for Anderson that that is a mouthwatering future team. If Foster and Rafael progress as we hope. There literally wouldn't be a single flaw.

Tibs

You'd have to swap Scholes for Hargreaves or Anderson.

Hopefully Manucho will score our 3rd goal at Anfield

giggs-beckham

I wouldnt want anderson back there though i'd want him as cover for any of the mid 3. perhaps possebon can step up in the near future and partner carrick. scholes i think has lots more in the tank, looks as good as ever.

jasonrh

Manuchugalug!

Chris H

It doesn't? Perhaps you're in the wrong forum then, buddy.

Nice of you to offer career advice though. Thanks pal.

Just in case it didn't translate again, that was sarcasm. Did this help? Hope it did, friend.

Count Duckula

So why did we spend all that money on Nani if he's going to get nowhere near our proper first team in the years to come?

red_ninja

But... Where are the goals going to come from ?

Ace

Especially without Fletcher..