The midfield & impending lack of creativity
If anyone's desperate or dedicated enough to take notice of all the posts on here a few of us have been banging on about the midfield's lack of goal scoring & creativity for a little while. Names like Diego, Gourcuff & Ribery were touted long before this summer & the departure of the only genuinely creative threat we possesed outside of the strikers & an aging, brilliantly reinvented Ryan Giggs leaves me shitting it a bit at the moment.
So where does that leave us this summer? Scholes was on the wane before this past season. A legend in every sense of the word, and although probably capable of sticking around this season it's impossible, unfair & frankly unlikely we should expect him to produce week in, week out. He's done us proud, and he'll still pull the strings & ping some majestic passes around but realistically I'm thinking we'll see him maybe 15 time in the league including subs appearances & maybe another 5 in all other competitions. His goal scoring threat is minimal, & it's time for someone else to take the mantle.
Giggsy proved the priceless nature of a player who can collect the ball in the centre of the park & move it positively. Be it a 10 yard carry & lay off or an incisive first time hit to a colleague - he was choosing his options so well (up until the CL final...) & in the most fitting of tributes was rewarded with the PFA award. His influence & experience in deciding how to play the game can't be over emphasised, his courage to continue to play positively is a lesson in itself. Ronaldo used to get up & dribble, or shoot, again & again no matter how many times he was kicked or hit row Z. Ferge praised that & we may have got frustrated, but it was a commendable attribute, he never hid. Giggs doesn't hide when it comes to playing in a more refined way, but one that is equally as positive. & as well as Fletcher, Carrick & Anderson can play, I'm not convinced any of them have what it takes to influence the centre of the park the way Scholes & Giggs have. But with the squad, we can find places for all of them, without fail, they've done superbly in their own ways.
So how, or who would we turn to? We've got more wingers than you can shake a stick at. They're all now relatively inexperienced & Park aside, genuine wide men. So the middle of the pitch isn't going to get troubled by a clever turn, a drop of a shoulder & a movement that opens a side up by any of them.
I was gagging for Diego or Gourcuff. A shiney Jonny Foriegner with a flash name that can do something unexpected but also has reached a stage in their career where a move to a big side would see them reach a new level. It remains to be seen if they do kick on & become the players I'm expecting, but the fact is they're not coming here so who is the alternative?
Tradtionally, United would throw some cash at a domestic rival & poach the best of the rest as it were. Yorke, Cole, Carrick, Berbatov, Ferdinand etc. Players who have shown a willingness to want to express themselves & capable of fitting the system United have. Passing, moving, the team is greater than the sum of it's parts etc. So if we've exhausted the opportunities for an overseas player to come in, who would you view as a domestic option?
I think we can ignore anyone other than say maybe Modric from Spurs. We've already had their best player anyway. & Modric himself has struggled to get to grips with the physicality of this league. A fine player at International level mind. Arsenal? Fabregas or no one. & he'd cost £40m. Ouch. He also wants to £#%&! off to Barcelona, we might make the money back to replace him? No more £#%&!ing Scousers. End of. Everton have Arteta? Cheapish, good player, playing in a workman like side which he provides the class. Good on free kicks. Good age. Nice hair. No one from City, & Villa central midfield / creative department is basically Ashley Young. & we have enough young wingers already as discussed. The rest of the league... erm.... erm.................... frankly the Premier League, outside of the top 4, and the nouvaeu riche, is dogshit.
Which leads me to my drawn out answer... a man with a head so large it has been thought someone pressed his buttons in a special way & activated a 'comedy' cheat. No matter how large his swede is, he is a cracking player. & a genuine goal threat. & someone Fergie has admired for over a decade. & someone who might... just might, be surplus to requirements at his current club with a new manager, a new attacking wide player (Zhirkov) & a man who finished the season in fine form for them (Malouda) probably ahead of him as he returns from injury. Step forward Mr Joseph John Cole. He should be playing in the centre of the park. His last 3 full seasons at Chelsea have seen him score 9, 11 & 10 from midfield & a fair chunk of that is through the negative Mourinho period & upheaval around him. Never played in his 'correct' position, he's maturing - 27 at the moment, not 28 until late November. We know he can beat a man, he tackles - remember his season at West Ham when he was playing his %@#$&!s off in the middle of the pitch?
Here's a summary for anyone who can't be arsed with all that...: I think we should buy Joe Cole because no one else is available & he's actually a very good player.
|
07-07-2009, 04:33 PM
Similar Threads for: The midfield & impending lack of creativity
