Maybe a little off topic, but this has been on my mind the last few days:
I have my doubts on some of the replacements brought in and some of the players that need to be replaced in the near future.... (Especially if you look at the fact that numerous players have been brought in the last 6 years and very little of them have made it to being a first team regular, if not sold already: bellion, kleberson, miller, djemba are the usuals suspects in this matter..)
First off, Owen may prove to be usefull as a squad rotation player, but i dont see him banging goals in every (other) game like ruud did (or whatever other succesful striker/target man in the past). (I do hope to be proved wrong by him ofcourse) Also, somehow i dont feel that Valencia is going to cut it at the highest level either, as for this Obertan fella, i mean...he never could earn a first team spot at a not so spectacular french side? Sound like Bellion mark II to me IMHO...) And we cant rely on up and coming talents Macheda or Wellbeck just yet either... so yeah, i do feel we lost quite a bit of quality upfront...
Furthermore, the game is supposed to be won in midfield, so who's going to win it for us? We cant possible rely on two players of around or over 35years of age to boss the midfield anymore but yet, with Fletcher not always available and Hargreaves potentially out for the best part of the remainder of his career... what options do we have left... gibson? Again, a decent player for the reserves or Sunderland maybe, but he hasnt convinced me of any of his supposed qualities one single time... IMO it reminds a bit of Miller... (As for Anderson, has great potential but shouldnt be burdened with to much defensive responsabilities as his creativity would be restricted to much)
So in essence, if we dont want to spend big on world class players - i'd prefer to see more talented 18 or 19 year old youngsters (coming through our own youth ranks or scouted and bought from foreign clubs) to be given opportunities in the first team more often (dear i say it: maybe a bit like arsenal) instead of bringing in average players already in their twenties (like the ones mentioned) which wont cut it anyway and
restrict the development of younger and potentially more talented players...
Not a wrong post Franq, but I disagree with the way you are putting it forward. Your points are true I guess, but you read too much into them and look at it from a far too pessimistic angle.
First when you mention that a lot of the players we have brought in lately haven`t succeeded, you mention a lot of players signed 03-04 but no the ones signed after that. After the Djembas we have signed Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Van der Sar, Nani, Anderson, Berbatov, Hargreaves, Park etc. who all are first team players.
Re Owen I do think he will bang goals in. He might not have to though. You don`t mention that losing Ronaldo frees up Rooney to play in a preferred positon where we all know he is at his best. Nor do you mention that Berbarlo Lights now has one more season to get used to his team, and that he will improve no doubt. Similar steps of improvement can be expected from Nani and Anderson as well.
Obertan, Macheda and Welbeck are young talents, they`ll come in handy but we don`t rely on them.
Re the midfield, you are correct that Scholes and Giggs are growing old. You fail to mention Carrick though, who is our most important midfielder by far. Carrick together with one of Anderson/Fletch, with Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs, Gibson and even Valencia as back up is more than enough in terms of both quality and quantity.
Adding to those you have Tosic as well who might bring something to the table. Valencia has looked promising and the manager obviously has a lot of faith in him. Our defence is the same as last year, perhaps even better now that Evans and the Da Silvas have had another year to grow.
All in all you are too pessimistic. Our squad is still the best in the league, and losing Ronaldo might just make us more fluid and entertaining in attack. Last year wasn`t an especially good year for us in terms of attacking play - I`m sure this year will be better.
