Comments on: Sir Alex Ferguson is Not Stupid

By: The Five Reasons Why Manchester United Will Be Okay | Latest Football News

The Five Reasons Why Manchester United Will Be Okay | Latest Football News — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:49:54 +0000

[...] United game after game, it was only because the system set it up that way. When I wrote about Sir Alex Ferguson’s new plan the initial feedback was “yeah, but who will replace Ronaldo!?” It’s a simple [...]

By: NorwegianDevil

NorwegianDevil — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:33:52 +0000

@ Andy:

To answer your question:

No, Van Nistelrooy was not.
Yes, Ronaldo was.

But for all of Ronaldo’s good sides he wasn’t without fault. And thats why I believe that we are in a very similar situation now as we were when RVN left.

When RVN played for United we were predictable. People knew that if the could keep him silent then we would be les potent. Problem was that our play was dependant on RVN as focal point, and if you put him out of the equation we were much easier to handle. As with Ronaldo, RVN didn’t track back much, and because of that other player had to work harder to cover the room left by RVN’s abcense and then found themselves out of position when it was time to attack leaving us with fewer attacking options. Because of this we were more predicable and easier to defend against.

With Ronaldo last season we saw a lot of similarities. Stop him, and we were easier to contain. He didn’t track back so other had to cover his defensive duties. Our first two league wins was because we attacked and defended as a team and because of that we were very unpredictable. With the emergence of Ronaldo as the worlds nr. 1 we again became predictable. Now that he is gone I believe that we will go back to being unpredictable and we will be better as a team.

We have no reason to panick.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:56:12 +0000

Quick question: was van Nistlerooy the best player in that Man U team or was he just a prolific goalscorer? Was Ronaldo just a prolific goalscorer or was he the best player (by some way) in the team? There’s the difference.

By: The Five Reasons Why Manchester United Will Be Okay

The Five Reasons Why Manchester United Will Be Okay — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:17:02 +0000

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:42:21 +0000

That’s the key right there – how did we replace Ruud? Not with a striker! Not with a clinical player! Fergie changed the system so Ronaldo would find himself in front of goal more often, and over time the teenager who had “no end product” grew into his new role.

Fergie doesn’t replace players with direct replacements – he changes the system to suit the players that are still there.

And you’re repeating the same things we all heard when Ruud left – “where will all the goals come from?” They come from all over! Look at the 2006/07 season…the goals just get spread around more. Just because one goalscorer left doesn’t mean a team needs to find a brand new, direct replacement goalscorer. Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Nani, and co. will all pick up their share of goals.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:27:43 +0000

I really don’t think i am missing the point. You mentioned van Nistlerooy being replaced and how they managed to find someone to score his goals for them. I ask you this: who from the current Man Utd team is likely to score the 30 goals that Ronaldo would have scored had he still been there?

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:48:58 +0000

Andy, I think you’re missing the whole point. Fergie isn’t trying to replace Ronaldo anymore. He’s building a new system that doesn’t need Ronaldo. Nani may not be anywhere near Ronaldo’s footballing skills, but perhaps he will fit into the system better (he is certainly better at tracking back, for instance).

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:12:36 +0000

I wouldn’t say he’s lost the plot at all. I also wouldn’t say that he was at all happy with how his summer has panned out. Losing Ronaldo and Tevez and replacing them with Valencia and Owen? Neither of those are good enough replacements and to say Nani will step up and replace Ronaldo is quite ridiculous. He is nowhere near the player Ronaldo is and will never be. He wanted Ribery, Benzema, Eto’o, Silva etc but couldn’t get them.

By: Zain Alvi

Zain Alvi — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:42:57 +0000

I definitely agree with you, Brian, and I have the same point of view as presented in the comment above by ‘flagged’. Nani definitely needed a greater role at Old Trafford and Wayne also needs to play with his natural approach in order to extend his best foot forward.

Obviously, Cristiano is a huge loss but like you said, it’s pointless to find a direct replacement for a player like him because there is NONE. As for Tevez, he was great for you guys but Gary Neville is right in insisting that a fully fit Michael Owen will surely supply United with what Tevez used to provide.

With that being said, I really hope Sir Alex loses the title next season, regardless of whether or not he loses the plot.

By: flagged

flagged — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:59:07 +0000

Yes i agree, Sir Alex has not lost the plot, he has done fantastic business in the summer and saved Utd a lot of money in the process.

As you said he hasn’t really replaced Ronaldo and Tevez only becoz he didn’t need to, i think Rooney and Nani will benefit from this adn it will show this coming season.