United On Fire

I’m assuming a 4-4-2 formation (or at the very least a 4-4-1-1) formation but I think United’s lineup is going to be increasingly fluid this season. Last season’s most effective formation appeared to be Saha up front (or Smith when Saha was injured) with Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo operating loosely around him. With that in mind, I’m looking at the right sided attacking position more than a midfielder. However, there really is only one option here.

• Christiano Ronaldo. Last season the Boy Wonder came of age. After the World Cup and the Rooney incident, it was predicted Ronaldo would leave or wilt under the pressure of the media and opposition fans. Instead he grew. I was at the Reading game fairly early in the season. Reading were leading 1-0 and the crowd around me were happy. However, my friend Terry wasn’t. The home fan’s were constantly booing Ronaldo and he thought this was only going to make him angry. He wasn’t wrong. Ronaldo took the ball and turned the Reading rightback inside out and put the ball in the net. He single-handedly saved a point for us. He also won the game away to Fulham in similar circumstances. He is our key match winner. My only criticism is that he needs to bring that level of performance up in key Champions League games.
• The Backups. The legend that is Solskjaer can fill in right midfield but his contribution can be no more that a bit part now and he may contribute more as a late substitute. Nani is mostly a left sided player but could swap over with Ronaldo. Brazilian wonder kid Anderson again is left sided and in fact is more of a central player so probably won’t feature much on the right. Youngster Chris Eagles may have the chance this season to feature in 5-10 less important League and Cup games. If he can shine this season, he may get the chance to push Ronaldo more next season, but really he won’t be able to break through. However, he has the talent to take advantage of any long term injury to Ronaldo.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Position Debate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.