Manchester United after Gameweek 1

With EPL title campaign started this weekend, a few surprises were seen. First of all, Arsenal won 6-1 against not-so-lowly side Everton. Fantastic game for their captain, Fabregas. Secondly, the team which boasted of record goals [EPL] last season started their title hunt with a loss to Tottenham. Manchester United, predicted to suffer after the departure of Ronaldo and Tevez, won 1-0, though this win wasn’t so much convincing one. Rooney on the score-sheet as predicted by lot of Football Pundits. The team which remained in Top-4 of the last season, Aston Villa lost 2-0 to Wigan. Seems as if the departure of Antonio Valencia didn’t had any hard impact on Wigan Athletic. Manchester City, the team with highest amount of money spent this transfer season, even opened their campaign with a victory, with Adebayor and Ireland [sheer class goal from him, but could have even scored easily] scoring. Though, just as a matter of fact, situation of Tevez remained the same. A substitute at Old Trafford to a substitute for a team from Eastlands.


I, as a Manchester United fan, though somewhat satisfied from the performance given by the young lads, enjoyed the match pretty much. Fabio and Evans were really good throughout the match except 2 or 3 chances. Foster was amazing as he stood strong in front of the United goal. Valencia needs to learn quickly as he too much relied on his pace rather than his skills [which we’ve seen he is too good at]. Nani recovered from the injury quite fast and it was good to see the Welsh Wizard on the flank for the second half. Wazza, as he claimed being in goal scoring touch once he is offered the CF position, was the best player of the match and always posed some threat for the opponents. The most interesting match for Gameweek 1 for most of the football fans was the Manchester United – Birmingham City match. Supporters wanted to be sure their club can perform without Ronaldo and Tevez and Rivals wanted to see the performance of United without the duo.

Here are some points in my opinion which Manchester United needs to take care of in case they want the 4th EPL title on the trot and a Champions League trophy as well:

1] As we have turned back to the customary 4-4-2 formation [after the departure of Ronaldo], Valencia has to be really fast, skillful [which he is] and deceiving [he needs to learn this] on the right flank for providing the through-balls and assists. In short, he needs to personify some maturity in himself. Playing for Wigan and Manchester United are two different things. You get noticed here at OT in case it is not your day.

2] Defence is always the reason for a team to win any trophy. Last season we had 13 consecutive clean sheets and with Vidic injured for the initial 2 weeks of the season and VDS out for 2 months, Evans and Foster have to really be on their toes and make sure to the Gaffer he can’t rule them out lightly.

3] In a football match, you win the battle in midfield. [Xavi and Iniesta from Barca clearly showed it to the football world last season]. The best part for Manchester United is we have a lot of depth in our mid-field. And with Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Anderson and Gibson being there, it would again be a problem for Sir Alex to put which ones in the mid-field. Anderson has to start maturing as a player. Gibson has been a sensation in the pre-season.

4] The left flank has still be undecided as Giggs is getting old and slowing in pace, and Rooney being placed in the CF position. Rather, from the preseason and initial matches, we have seen, SAF has turned his eyes on Nani for the left wing position. Though, in the pre-season campaign, Tosic has showed to the football world he is ready to take the left wing responsibilities for Manchester United.

5] The major problem for Manchester United from previous 3 seasons has been the RB position. It was Neville, then Brown and now Rafael. All three injured and we have a utility man in the name of John O’Shea who has played in Manchester United for almost every position. With Vidic, Ferdinand, Evans and Rafael injured, O’Shea is almost assured to play as the CB for some matches. And it is our to-be Left Back Fabio [twin brother of Rafael] playing for us RB. Hopefully, he’ll live upto the expectations but we need to get our Right-Backs fit in time before quality matches against other teams in Big-4 and UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

6] Our strike force also remained in a bit of doubt except Wayne Rooney. Berbatov performed to some extent but is again failing to score for Manchester United whereas Michael Owen missed a sitter which isn’t expected from a player of his class. Both Berba and Owen need to get better as the time passes by and make sure Manchester United are a force to be reckoned with. After all, United fans don’t really want to miss their previous No. 7

The best part for Manchester United has been Rooney in scoring touch as soon as the Premier League has begun. He promised to score goals in case he is given the CF position, and I do hope, he keeps on hammering opponent more than often in the upcoming season.


Red Devil Till Death!!!