'In Fergie We Trust' 19/07/2011
 Sir Alex Ferguson is on the prowl for a successor to retired mid Paul Scholes. Jack Harrop looks at the both the senior and youth options within Manchester United, rather than outside the club, and explains why whatever decision made in regard to centre midfielders will be the correct one... Report By: Jack Harrop, 3:55pm There is no doubt that Paul Scholes retiring this year is going to be the end of an era for Manchester United, as Fergie’s fledglings move on to other pursuits. The remaining member, Ryan Giggs, is now seen as a centre midfielder, and in my opinion has played better than Paul Scholes in that position last season. His continued excellence in midfield is one of many reasons why Sir Alex choosing not to sign a central midfielder this summer, which will not lead to us failing to qualify for the Europa League, as from what I’ve read is the feeling of a small portion of supporters. Firstly, I’m going to talk through a number of reasons and squad members which may not be able to replace a prime-time Paul Scholes, but would certainly lead us on our way to a 20th League title. So far the club have virtually given up on Samir Nasri and Luka Modric, who will move to Manchester City and Chelsea respectively if they do move anywhere this summer, and it is looking increasingly likely that Wesley Sneijder may stay at Inter Milan. However, United do have a large amount of centre midfielders at its disposal, many of which are tipped for greatness. Or, maybe a certain number 10 could even drop back into an attacking midfield role that so many have encouraged over the past season ?... Senior Options Darren Fletcher is an established first team player, and one of proven class. His presence has been missed in both the 2009 and 2011 Champion’s League Finals against Barcelona. Although it cannot be assumed that we would have not been beaten without him, an in-form Fletcher would have done a far better job than Oliveira Anderson in 2009 and Michael Carrick in 2011. Fletcher scores important goals and creates a large number to boot. He also has a strange ability to not be noticed unless you look for him on the pitch. Rather like Luka Modric, he does not score 15 and create 15, he tends to be heavily involved in the build up and not always the final ball. Whether that is a positive trait or not is down to person opinion...  Michael Carrick... Where to start ? - He seems to play brilliantly in about 3 games every season, but in the rest his quality is poor. When he signed a new contract earlier this year many fans were surprised, with good reason. Since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo he has never returned to the quality of those years. Personally, I will remember him for was his performance in the 7-1 win over Roma. This game at Old Trafford was one where Ronaldo also heavily featured. Although he shows flashes of brilliance, I feel that he will never return to the quality of 'the Ronaldo years'. If his performance in the 2011/2012 season is similar to that of 2010/2011, then I would not be disappointed to see him leave.  Oliveira Anderson is no doubt a likeable character, and towards the end of last season he started to show the quality we expect from a signing as expensive as he was. I hope that he does fulfil his potential in the coming years, and high-profile signing of a centre midfielder could put a halt on that. However, the 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder tends to make mistakes when push comes to shove.  Ryan Giggs... You will rarely find even a Man City or Liverpool fan who won't say that Ryan Giggs is the greatest left-sided midfielder that British football has ever seen. All person issues aside, Ryan Giggs is brilliant, and his shift from flying left winger to centre midfield has proved very successful. Even though he was playing some of the best football of his life last season, he will surely announce his retirement in the next two seasons, already hitting 37 years. David Wier has proved that it is possible to play at a high level in defence past 40, and Van Der Sar has done the same in goal. Unfortunately, this is not possible in a more attacking role. I would love to be proven wrong, but the last of Fergie’s fledglings will leave Old Trafford in the next couple of years.  Darron Gibson... Well, I’m lucky enough to live in an area very close to a number of United footballers in south Manchester. A friend (and a trustworthy one) recently delivered a pizza to the Darron's house, and engaged him in conversation. After asking whether or not he should buy a United shirt with Gibson’s name on the back, he was told not to by Gibson himself, as he is 'moving elsewhere'. Gibson can be a wonderful footballer at times, and you remember him for the wonderful screamers he has scored. However, we forget that these 25-yard blasters usually end up in row Z, and not in the back of the net. His omission from the pre-season tour is a sign that he will move to a different club, if any can meet his wage demands.  Tom Cleverly has massive potential, but after watching him closely in this year’s U21 European Championships and whilst playing for Wigan Athletic, he does not seem to be on the same level as Oliveira Anderson just yet. I’d expect him to feature in FA & League Cup games, but personally I don’t see him becoming a regular any time soon. Let's just wait a few season first.  Ashley Young is seen mostly as a winger, but one who is famous for cutting inside to a more central position on his right foot. This is a wildcard option, but if Luis Nani, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park keep their spots on the wing, what is stopping Ferguson giving Ashley Young a try in the centre ?... And besides that, Young has already inherited Paul Scholes' famous no.18 shirt.  Wayne Rooney is another wildcard option. For the second half of the season when Javi Hernandez pushed Dimitar Berbatov onto the bench, Rooney played primarily as a second striker, and often moved so far in field he would spend long periods of time as a defensive midfielder whilst Hernandez stuck to the heels of the opposition centre backs. If Rooney was to assign himself to an attacking midfield role, with Hernandez playing as a lone striker it would be a very interesting sight, but one I think could actually work with training and use in pre-season and cup matches. Youth Options (Reserves) Ravel Morrison is playing for fun in the United youth team at 18 years of age, but has been tipped for greatness in coming years. However, this will depend on whether or not he can control his behaviour off the pitch, which has been shocking. Born and raised in Wythenshawe he is a Manchester lad, but he is also lucky to have avoided jail time for beating up his girlfriend. She refused to press charges, twice. I also recently heard a story that he is on £40,000 a year (as an 18 year old !) and had the cheek to ask for a pay rise because he was 'skint'. I’m not even sure if I believe this myself, but a friend of a friend knows Gabby Obertan very well, and they asked him who the most skilful person they train with is. Obertan’s answer: Ravel Morrison. A sign of things to come ? - Let's hope so.  Paul Pogba... Sir Alex recently said that he was close to bringing Pogba on the pre-season tour of the USA. This is proof that Fergie thinks extremely highly of the French midfielder. I cannot work out whether he is seen as more promising than Ravel Morrison, but a central midfield pairing of Pogba and Morrison is one to look out for in the future, and one that is working well in the Reserves. So, to conclude Paul Scholes retirement will not necessarily require any significant changes at Old Trafford, as we have a large number of quality midfielders ready to step up to the plate, and whose progress may be halted if we spend big money on the likes of Wesley Sneijder... CommentsDavid 20/07/2011 4:09pm
Looks like the morrati has not closed the door on sneijder moving 2 utd simpson 20/07/2011 4:39pm
100% agree excellent article.... Robert uganda., we've got anough squard let the season begin. All i pray for is a champions leauge glory. Tel.0774524666 20/07/2011 4:58pm
Disagree massively... 20/07/2011 5:01pm
So if we're playing Barca in the CL Final next summer who do we play in centre midfield to avoid the kind of hiding dished out to us at Wembley? Riggs11 20/07/2011 5:10pm
Have confidence in the youth and fergie, it wasn't that long ago that someone said 'u can't win anything with kids'! We know what happened that year True Red 20/07/2011 5:12pm
I AGREE WITH DISAGREE MASSIVELY ! David 20/07/2011 5:23pm
Yes totally agree2 True Red Stretford Ender 20/07/2011 5:49pm
Enjoyable article tho u forgot to mention Park, he came on against new England and played central midfield and think that could be his role next season with young, Nani, Valencia being the wingers. Bill McNeal 20/07/2011 6:42pm
Darren Fletcher is not like Luka Modric, and Michael Carrick was not poor last season. Stopped reading after that. Jack Harrop 20/07/2011 7:55pm
Hi guys thanks for the comments, some interesting stuff.. Sean 20/07/2011 8:08pm
U lot jest.... Sneijder and de Rossi ?? Wot cloud are u lot on, the board wud never sign them n once again were gonna av to rely on the brilliance of fergie in signing cheaper alts n bring them through or rely on youth squad True Red 20/07/2011 8:15pm
thanks guys , for agreeing , this clearly is serious and i'm glad we all know our weaknesses ! Marc 21/07/2011 3:00am
Hi people. I agree that we need to sort out the shortage in Centre Midfild, however, I think we should take things as it is, and not go into panick buying. red devil dxb 21/07/2011 9:26am
yes great article, however will never have a chance against the likes of barca. Jack Harrop 21/07/2011 12:25pm
I agree with most of you, by no means was I saying in this article 'we shouldn't buy a CM'.. obviously it would be wonderful if we did get a world class player like Sneijder.. MUFC 21/07/2011 8:34pm
I just hope it is not too late b4 fergie realizes we really need a creative mid fielder badly, he thought he had solved it the last time with barca bt it still did not change since 09 Comments are closed. |  
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