shabz
Full Member
Apart from Sir Alex, who even I dont think could make this team reach the dizzy heights he was so accustomed to.
98/99
Goalkeeper
Nick Culkin
Peter Schmeichel - World Class
Raimond van der Gouw
Defender
Henning Berg
Wes Brown
Michael Clegg
John Curtis
Danny Higginbotham
Denis Irwin - World Class
Ronny Johnsen
David May
Gary Neville
Phil Neville
Jaap Stam - World Class
Midfielder
David Beckham
Jesper Blomqvist
Nicky Butt
Ryan Giggs- World Class
Jonathan Greening
Roy Keane - World Class
Paul Scholes
Michael Twiss
Ronnie Wallwork
Mark Wilson
Forward
Andy Cole
Teddy Sheringham
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Dwight Yorke
07/08
Goalkeeper
Ben Foster
Tom Heaton
Tomasz Kuszczak
Edwin van der Sar - World Class
Defender
Wes Brown
Craig Cathcart
Patrice Evra - World Class
Rio Ferdinand - World Class
Gary Neville
John O'Shea
Gerard Pique
Mikael Silvestre
Nemanja Vidic - World Class
Midfielder
Anderson
Michael Carrick
Chris Eagles
Darren Fletcher
Darren Gibson
Ryan Giggs
Owen Hargreaves
Ji Sung Park
Paul Scholes
Forward
Cristiano Ronaldo - World Class
Nani
Wayne Rooney
Danny Welbeck
Louis Saha
Carlos Tevez
18/19
Goalkeeper
De Gea - World Class
Lee Grant
Sergio Romero
Defender
Eric Bailly
Matteo Darmian
Diogo Dalot
Phil Jones
Victor Lindelöf
Marcos Rojo
Luke Shaw
Chris Smalling
Antonio Valencia
Ashley Young
Midfielder
Ander Herrera
Andreas Pereira
Fred
Jesse Lingard
Juan Mata
Nemanja Matić
Scott McTominay
Paul Pogba - World Class
Forward
Tahith Chong
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial
Marcus Rashford
Alexis Sánchez
Comparing the squads I think it is safe to say the biggest problem is our defence is nowhere near as solid as it was. We havent got any world class defender which was something SAF made essential since the signing of Stam, he knew it would elevate us to the elite European level and it something which we haven't had since he left. Our full backs are also an issue, the quality we have is not fit for our ambitions. No top class team is using a winger as a full back amd if they were they wouldn't be conpeting for top honours.
The quality of our midfield is also something which is worrying, although we have a world class midfielder in Pogba we do not have any support. In the past we had 3 or 4 central midfielders that were comfortable on the ball, happy to control the tempo and able to keep possesion. We are seriously lacking in this department. We have also had central midfielders who were great at retrieving possession and starting of moves instantly, we are very slow to get back at teams and fill in gaps for which we have been punished on numerous occasions this season.
Up top we probably only have one clinical finisher in Martial this season, we had 4 in 98/99 and 2/3 in 07/08, players who you would bank on scoring when staring down on goal in a one on one. We need to take chances when they come our way in big games especially. We have put smaller clubs to the sword in recent weeks but struggled to put Spurs away and couldnt really muster anything at all against PSG.
The world class players I chose were players who I believe would get into 80% of first teams in their competitions at the time.
We have had successful blueprint laid down before and if we follow it we can be successful again.
98/99
Goalkeeper
Nick Culkin
Peter Schmeichel - World Class
Raimond van der Gouw
Defender
Henning Berg
Wes Brown
Michael Clegg
John Curtis
Danny Higginbotham
Denis Irwin - World Class
Ronny Johnsen
David May
Gary Neville
Phil Neville
Jaap Stam - World Class
Midfielder
David Beckham
Jesper Blomqvist
Nicky Butt
Ryan Giggs- World Class
Jonathan Greening
Roy Keane - World Class
Paul Scholes
Michael Twiss
Ronnie Wallwork
Mark Wilson
Forward
Andy Cole
Teddy Sheringham
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Dwight Yorke
07/08
Goalkeeper
Ben Foster
Tom Heaton
Tomasz Kuszczak
Edwin van der Sar - World Class
Defender
Wes Brown
Craig Cathcart
Patrice Evra - World Class
Rio Ferdinand - World Class
Gary Neville
John O'Shea
Gerard Pique
Mikael Silvestre
Nemanja Vidic - World Class
Midfielder
Anderson
Michael Carrick
Chris Eagles
Darren Fletcher
Darren Gibson
Ryan Giggs
Owen Hargreaves
Ji Sung Park
Paul Scholes
Forward
Cristiano Ronaldo - World Class
Nani
Wayne Rooney
Danny Welbeck
Louis Saha
Carlos Tevez
18/19
Goalkeeper
De Gea - World Class
Lee Grant
Sergio Romero
Defender
Eric Bailly
Matteo Darmian
Diogo Dalot
Phil Jones
Victor Lindelöf
Marcos Rojo
Luke Shaw
Chris Smalling
Antonio Valencia
Ashley Young
Midfielder
Ander Herrera
Andreas Pereira
Fred
Jesse Lingard
Juan Mata
Nemanja Matić
Scott McTominay
Paul Pogba - World Class
Forward
Tahith Chong
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial
Marcus Rashford
Alexis Sánchez
Comparing the squads I think it is safe to say the biggest problem is our defence is nowhere near as solid as it was. We havent got any world class defender which was something SAF made essential since the signing of Stam, he knew it would elevate us to the elite European level and it something which we haven't had since he left. Our full backs are also an issue, the quality we have is not fit for our ambitions. No top class team is using a winger as a full back amd if they were they wouldn't be conpeting for top honours.
The quality of our midfield is also something which is worrying, although we have a world class midfielder in Pogba we do not have any support. In the past we had 3 or 4 central midfielders that were comfortable on the ball, happy to control the tempo and able to keep possesion. We are seriously lacking in this department. We have also had central midfielders who were great at retrieving possession and starting of moves instantly, we are very slow to get back at teams and fill in gaps for which we have been punished on numerous occasions this season.
Up top we probably only have one clinical finisher in Martial this season, we had 4 in 98/99 and 2/3 in 07/08, players who you would bank on scoring when staring down on goal in a one on one. We need to take chances when they come our way in big games especially. We have put smaller clubs to the sword in recent weeks but struggled to put Spurs away and couldnt really muster anything at all against PSG.
The world class players I chose were players who I believe would get into 80% of first teams in their competitions at the time.
We have had successful blueprint laid down before and if we follow it we can be successful again.