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The Season Ahead Part Thirteen : Manchester United
Published by Ian John on September 10, 2009
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Prospects for 2009 :
Surely it is a case of almost the same again for Sir Alex. Last season’s Premier League champions will be hopeful of defending their crown even minus the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo. Sir Alex has refused to overspend in his defence of the title, even with £80m from Real Madrid being brought into the club coffers. Michael Owen looks a solid piece of business but only time will tell of Valencia is a fitting replacement for Ronaldo. Certainly United will be amongst the title chasers again this season and will also be strong in Europe and Wayne Rooney may well benefit from playing a more focal role in the team now that Ronaldo has left the club. As always, they are a real contender.
2009 is a big season for :
Wayne Rooney. The England striker now becomes the face of United after Cristiano Ronaldo left the club and the pressure is on him to perhaps score some of the goals that will have departed with the Portuguese winger to the sunnier climes of Spain. With Sir Alex Ferguson hinting at a more central role for Rooney this season, this may well be the season that Rooney develops into the figurehead of the team. If it brings the best out of him as a player then not only will it auger well for United’s chances of success during the season, but also England’s chances of performing well should they qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.
Guaranteed to irritate in 2009 :
Oh lord, where do we start? You can always be assured that self-confessed scouser-hater Gary Neville will come out with something entirely inflammatory before a Liverpool or Everton game, even if he is on the bench or in the stands. Then there is the continual pressuring of officials over every vaguely contentious decision, that I am sure every single United player is given a crash course on before the season starts. There will be the rather dull press reports maintaining that United are no longer the force they were without Ronaldo and towards the end of the season we will be inundated with reports over the fitness of Wayne Rooney before the World Cup Finals. God forbid he gets injured again before the finals because most of the national press would jump off a very high cliff if that was the case.
Things they’ll moan about in 2009 :
Fergie’s a past master at mindgames, but he doesn’t fool me. His barbed comments before games are designed not only to stir up opponents, but also pressurise the officials. It puts unfair spotlight on the referee and his assistants in these crucial games and is something the Scotsman needs to stop doing as, to me at least, it isn’t an example of brilliant mind-games, more a cynical exploitation of the officials and their invidious position when refereeing key games involving United. Fergie will moan about 37 other things by the end of October too. The fans may moan about Fergie not spending big to replace Ronaldo if things don’t go too well early on. But will they question his judgement? Some may. They are lunatics though. The vast majority would not dare contemplate second guessing Ferguson who is to United what Shankly is to Liverpool or Winterbottom is to Arsenal.
Song that sums up their chances in 2009 : “Without You” by Harry Nilsson
He’s gone, but they’ll survive. United never relied on one player. They survived Keane going, Beckham going, Best going and Cantona going, they’ll do the same with Ronaldo.
Image Courtesy of ***Eamon Curry123*** at Flickr.com
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Nabyl Charania on Fri, 11th Sep 2009 9:57 am
Man U lack bite in the midfield, going thru Rooney makes them one dimensional and Valencia hasn’t quite settled into his role I don’t think. Going to be tough for them to repeat…
Ian John on Thu, 17th Sep 2009 1:44 pm
They’re not as strong this season as they were last but they will be thereabouts come the end of the season. I just think the loss of Ronaldo may be too much to cover for this year and let’s face it as good as Scholes and Giggs have been, they are not getting any younger.