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So United have finally signed Rio Ferdinand for yet another Bank-Busting, Record Breaker of a fee in the Premiership at around £30m!
The man who held England together at the back for so-long has finally decided to put pen-to-paper on a £70,000-a-week deal and help fix those gaping holes that became un-missable during what was a dismal 10 months for all the prawn-eating spectators of Old Trafford and indeed, the rest of the world.
So this one signing will turn Manchester United's defence around and fire them into so much success during the next 12 years that Fergie will be chewing Silver rather than Wrigley's???
Even though we know that's not the case, many United fans around the globe are hotly-anticipated the kick-off to the new season with that match against West Brom, and are also expecting Rio's arrival to finally seal all holes and broken parts in the back-line and send us through to the Treble and beyond....
One thing every football fan needs to take note on is the fact that one player cannot change a whole team of another 10 men!
Sure, he may be able to influence some of the younger lads, and help-out some of his team-mates next to him during play, but not even a World Cup Winner like Ronaldo could turn a team like Oxford into the dominant side in English football - let alone the rest of Europe!
By jumping to immediate conclusions like this after one small step is only going to make things worse for themselves.
Come the end of the season we could end-up empty handed for the second year running, and maybe Liverpool will pip Arsenal to the title this year too! You have to remember that although he did prove himself in the Wordl Cup for England, and has come a long-way from his early days at West Ham, he's still just ONE player, and may not even effect the United side in the slightest way!
The same kind-of thing happened last season, remember....
Juan-Sebastian Veron arrived for a Record Breaking (untill now) fee of £28.1m, and according to the fans back then, we were going to win EVERYTHING just because of this Argentine internationals arrival.
But what did he do?? Nothing much.
A few early goals at the start, a brilliant free kick then, and more importantly, almost everytime he was played in the midfield United were a complete mess!
The truth is that we didn't need him, and his arrival only unsettled Paul Scholes, and apparently caused David Beckham a few concerns...
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the only other recognised signing Ferguson made and he DID have a great impact because he was NEEDED in the United attack, where-as Veron wasn't. Van Nistelrooy's goals alone helped us to head-up towards the top, and come very close to going all the way in Europe.
I think that after a great early start and the goal-scoring consistancy he showed after that, we began to rely on him too much and started to play un-like the dominant force in the Premiership United have been known-as for the last decade or so.
This is a problem I fear could possibly come-along with Rio Ferdinand in at the back. After the performances we all saw him pull-off in the summer the likes of Gary Neville and even Laurant Blanc ay try to rely on him getting them out of those sticky-situations on a large number of occasions, doubling his work-rate, and tiring him out too early - just like what happened with Van Nistelrooy.
And even if the defence alone is now strong-enough to sustain a good Title Challenge for the season, there still are other problems amongst the team as a whole. The midfield quartet or Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Captain Keane may be built to perfection, to what about the frontline?
After the £2m sale of Dwight Yorke to Blackburn there are now only 3 recognisable strikers at Old Trafford.
After Andy Cole departure we saw for ourselves that Van the Man was still in need of a regular strike-partner to help the goals come in.
Scholes was moved into an awkward role to help this, but that never really worked. Solskjaer's been at the club for a good few years now, but we all know he's best when coming-on from the bench for the last 5 minutes or so. And as for Diego Forlan, he's still yet to really prove himself.
You may have seen his potential from his days at Indipendiente, but aside from a stunning first goal for Uruguay and a good start in preason, what else has he done to impress us and EARN the full-responsibillity of that no.9 jersey and the slot alongside Van Nistelrooy!???
The new Squad Numbers have now been issued amongst the United players, and that no.9 shirt once worm by the likes of Andy Cole and Brian McClair in recent years is STILL available.
But as far as we know, Sir Alex Ferguson current has no plans to bring-in a new striker - although some papers are saying 'DiCanio for £1.7m'.
In order win a match you need to have scored the most goals within 90 minutes. This is something you simply cannot do on a regular basis with only one striker, or a partnership that will not work.
So United really do need to make one more signing in order to function properly as a team, and challenge for honours during the next 10 months.
If Fergie can get together a solid backline and a strong attack to go along with the dynamic midfield, then Silverware and Glory surely WILL be back on the cards for the 2002/03 season!
Rio Ferdinand cannot do enough to secure this.
The man who held England together at the back for so-long has finally decided to put pen-to-paper on a £70,000-a-week deal and help fix those gaping holes that became un-missable during what was a dismal 10 months for all the prawn-eating spectators of Old Trafford and indeed, the rest of the world.
So this one signing will turn Manchester United's defence around and fire them into so much success during the next 12 years that Fergie will be chewing Silver rather than Wrigley's???
Even though we know that's not the case, many United fans around the globe are hotly-anticipated the kick-off to the new season with that match against West Brom, and are also expecting Rio's arrival to finally seal all holes and broken parts in the back-line and send us through to the Treble and beyond....
One thing every football fan needs to take note on is the fact that one player cannot change a whole team of another 10 men!
Sure, he may be able to influence some of the younger lads, and help-out some of his team-mates next to him during play, but not even a World Cup Winner like Ronaldo could turn a team like Oxford into the dominant side in English football - let alone the rest of Europe!
By jumping to immediate conclusions like this after one small step is only going to make things worse for themselves.
Come the end of the season we could end-up empty handed for the second year running, and maybe Liverpool will pip Arsenal to the title this year too! You have to remember that although he did prove himself in the Wordl Cup for England, and has come a long-way from his early days at West Ham, he's still just ONE player, and may not even effect the United side in the slightest way!
The same kind-of thing happened last season, remember....
Juan-Sebastian Veron arrived for a Record Breaking (untill now) fee of £28.1m, and according to the fans back then, we were going to win EVERYTHING just because of this Argentine internationals arrival.
But what did he do?? Nothing much.
A few early goals at the start, a brilliant free kick then, and more importantly, almost everytime he was played in the midfield United were a complete mess!
The truth is that we didn't need him, and his arrival only unsettled Paul Scholes, and apparently caused David Beckham a few concerns...
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the only other recognised signing Ferguson made and he DID have a great impact because he was NEEDED in the United attack, where-as Veron wasn't. Van Nistelrooy's goals alone helped us to head-up towards the top, and come very close to going all the way in Europe.
I think that after a great early start and the goal-scoring consistancy he showed after that, we began to rely on him too much and started to play un-like the dominant force in the Premiership United have been known-as for the last decade or so.
This is a problem I fear could possibly come-along with Rio Ferdinand in at the back. After the performances we all saw him pull-off in the summer the likes of Gary Neville and even Laurant Blanc ay try to rely on him getting them out of those sticky-situations on a large number of occasions, doubling his work-rate, and tiring him out too early - just like what happened with Van Nistelrooy.
And even if the defence alone is now strong-enough to sustain a good Title Challenge for the season, there still are other problems amongst the team as a whole. The midfield quartet or Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Captain Keane may be built to perfection, to what about the frontline?
After the £2m sale of Dwight Yorke to Blackburn there are now only 3 recognisable strikers at Old Trafford.
After Andy Cole departure we saw for ourselves that Van the Man was still in need of a regular strike-partner to help the goals come in.
Scholes was moved into an awkward role to help this, but that never really worked. Solskjaer's been at the club for a good few years now, but we all know he's best when coming-on from the bench for the last 5 minutes or so. And as for Diego Forlan, he's still yet to really prove himself.
You may have seen his potential from his days at Indipendiente, but aside from a stunning first goal for Uruguay and a good start in preason, what else has he done to impress us and EARN the full-responsibillity of that no.9 jersey and the slot alongside Van Nistelrooy!???
The new Squad Numbers have now been issued amongst the United players, and that no.9 shirt once worm by the likes of Andy Cole and Brian McClair in recent years is STILL available.
But as far as we know, Sir Alex Ferguson current has no plans to bring-in a new striker - although some papers are saying 'DiCanio for £1.7m'.
In order win a match you need to have scored the most goals within 90 minutes. This is something you simply cannot do on a regular basis with only one striker, or a partnership that will not work.
So United really do need to make one more signing in order to function properly as a team, and challenge for honours during the next 10 months.
If Fergie can get together a solid backline and a strong attack to go along with the dynamic midfield, then Silverware and Glory surely WILL be back on the cards for the 2002/03 season!
Rio Ferdinand cannot do enough to secure this.
I'm sure that Forlan will start alongside Van Nistelrooy for the first few games, mainly due to how well he has been doing in pre-season.
And because Solskjaer is pretty used to the Subs Bench.
Forlan still isn't quite 'no.9 material' if you know what I mean...
He's not a Kluivert or Vieri, or even an Henry. Not yet anyway.
That's the kind of player we'll need to partner Van Nistelrooy, but this is a great chance for some learning experience for Forlan.
And because Solskjaer is pretty used to the Subs Bench.
Forlan still isn't quite 'no.9 material' if you know what I mean...
He's not a Kluivert or Vieri, or even an Henry. Not yet anyway.
That's the kind of player we'll need to partner Van Nistelrooy, but this is a great chance for some learning experience for Forlan.
The papers have made up the speculation about Di Canio leaving and Glenn Roeder has said that no inquiries have been made about him so he should be at West Ham at the start of the season.
I just think that they have not given the number 9 shirt to Solskjaer as a lot of people will probably have his name and number on older shirts and Forlan hasn't quite proved himself to be worthy of it yet.
I just think that they have not given the number 9 shirt to Solskjaer as a lot of people will probably have his name and number on older shirts and Forlan hasn't quite proved himself to be worthy of it yet.
I read this morning that Manchester United have renewed there interest in DiCanio after his reluctance to sign a new two year deal at West Ham. United have enquired again about his availability and one possibility is using DiCanio for one year to keep the No.9 shirt 'warm' ready for a new signing for next season.
I also agree that Bojan Djordjic will be amongst the next players to break in to the first team.
I also agree that Bojan Djordjic will be amongst the next players to break in to the first team.
It's been said before that every club needs at least 4/5 top-class strikers in order to progress and even succeed in the big European Competitions.
United current have only 3 - Forlan, Van Nistelrooy and Solskjaer.
We do need someone else - especially after loosing Yorke and Cole - two players who CAN score goals, even if they didn't quite live-up to expectations last season.
And I think Bojan Djordjic is the most-likely youngster to break into the First Team in the near future. He featured in quite a few squads last season, and even scored a few goals in the pre-season Friendlies of 2001.
He could play in the attack, but he can also play out on the left-wing - as a back-up player for Giggs.
But Forlan does seem to be doing VERY well in pre-season!
Maybe THAT World Cup goal really has helped him... :)
He's not only scoring goals, he looks a lot more confident on the ball.
Maybe he should start alongside Ruud on Day 1 against West Brom to boost his confidence even further!
Lets see what happens in the Amsterdam Tournament on Friday also.
United current have only 3 - Forlan, Van Nistelrooy and Solskjaer.
We do need someone else - especially after loosing Yorke and Cole - two players who CAN score goals, even if they didn't quite live-up to expectations last season.
And I think Bojan Djordjic is the most-likely youngster to break into the First Team in the near future. He featured in quite a few squads last season, and even scored a few goals in the pre-season Friendlies of 2001.
He could play in the attack, but he can also play out on the left-wing - as a back-up player for Giggs.
But Forlan does seem to be doing VERY well in pre-season!
Maybe THAT World Cup goal really has helped him... :)
He's not only scoring goals, he looks a lot more confident on the ball.
Maybe he should start alongside Ruud on Day 1 against West Brom to boost his confidence even further!
Lets see what happens in the Amsterdam Tournament on Friday also.
That is weird...
No number 9 shirt that is.
Perhaps its a sign that United will sign another striker. Although they said there would be no more big money signings after the Rio deal. Few rumours flying about that Veron could still return to Lazio in a swap deal for Crespo...sod knows eh?
Perhaps Michael Stewart may break into the first team? Been a while since one of the "kids" made a real breakthrough like when becks and co. came through...
I dont think Yorke leaving makes much difference to our attack. After all he never played last season anyways...
Still a few weeks till the champions league deadline so still hopeful of another striker being signed.
No number 9 shirt that is.
Perhaps its a sign that United will sign another striker. Although they said there would be no more big money signings after the Rio deal. Few rumours flying about that Veron could still return to Lazio in a swap deal for Crespo...sod knows eh?
Perhaps Michael Stewart may break into the first team? Been a while since one of the "kids" made a real breakthrough like when becks and co. came through...
I dont think Yorke leaving makes much difference to our attack. After all he never played last season anyways...
Still a few weeks till the champions league deadline so still hopeful of another striker being signed.
So United have finally signed Rio Ferdinand for yet another Bank-Busting, Record Breaker of a fee in the Premiership at around £30m!
The man who held England together at the back for so-long has finally decided to put pen-to-paper on a £70,000-a-week deal and help fix those gaping holes that became un-missable during what was a dismal 10 months for all the prawn-eating spectators of Old Trafford and indeed, the rest of the world.
So this one signing will turn Manchester United's defence around and fire them into so much success during the next 12 years that Fergie will be chewing Silver rather than Wrigley's???
Even though we know that's not the case, many United fans around the globe are hotly-anticipated the kick-off to the new season with that match against West Brom, and are also expecting Rio's arrival to finally seal all holes and broken parts in the back-line and send us through to the Treble and beyond....
One thing every football fan needs to take note on is the fact that one player cannot change a whole team of another 10 men!
Sure, he may be able to influence some of the younger lads, and help-out some of his team-mates next to him during play, but not even a World Cup Winner like Ronaldo could turn a team like Oxford into the dominant side in English football - let alone the rest of Europe!
By jumping to immediate conclusions like this after one small step is only going to make things worse for themselves.
Come the end of the season we could end-up empty handed for the second year running, and maybe Liverpool will pip Arsenal to the title this year too! You have to remember that although he did prove himself in the Wordl Cup for England, and has come a long-way from his early days at West Ham, he's still just ONE player, and may not even effect the United side in the slightest way!
The same kind-of thing happened last season, remember....
Juan-Sebastian Veron arrived for a Record Breaking (untill now) fee of £28.1m, and according to the fans back then, we were going to win EVERYTHING just because of this Argentine internationals arrival.
But what did he do?? Nothing much.
A few early goals at the start, a brilliant free kick then, and more importantly, almost everytime he was played in the midfield United were a complete mess!
The truth is that we didn't need him, and his arrival only unsettled Paul Scholes, and apparently caused David Beckham a few concerns...
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the only other recognised signing Ferguson made and he DID have a great impact because he was NEEDED in the United attack, where-as Veron wasn't. Van Nistelrooy's goals alone helped us to head-up towards the top, and come very close to going all the way in Europe.
I think that after a great early start and the goal-scoring consistancy he showed after that, we began to rely on him too much and started to play un-like the dominant force in the Premiership United have been known-as for the last decade or so.
This is a problem I fear could possibly come-along with Rio Ferdinand in at the back. After the performances we all saw him pull-off in the summer the likes of Gary Neville and even Laurant Blanc ay try to rely on him getting them out of those sticky-situations on a large number of occasions, doubling his work-rate, and tiring him out too early - just like what happened with Van Nistelrooy.
And even if the defence alone is now strong-enough to sustain a good Title Challenge for the season, there still are other problems amongst the team as a whole. The midfield quartet or Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Captain Keane may be built to perfection, to what about the frontline?
After the £2m sale of Dwight Yorke to Blackburn there are now only 3 recognisable strikers at Old Trafford.
After Andy Cole departure we saw for ourselves that Van the Man was still in need of a regular strike-partner to help the goals come in.
Scholes was moved into an awkward role to help this, but that never really worked. Solskjaer's been at the club for a good few years now, but we all know he's best when coming-on from the bench for the last 5 minutes or so. And as for Diego Forlan, he's still yet to really prove himself.
You may have seen his potential from his days at Indipendiente, but aside from a stunning first goal for Uruguay and a good start in preason, what else has he done to impress us and EARN the full-responsibillity of that no.9 jersey and the slot alongside Van Nistelrooy!???
The new Squad Numbers have now been issued amongst the United players, and that no.9 shirt once worm by the likes of Andy Cole and Brian McClair in recent years is STILL available.
But as far as we know, Sir Alex Ferguson current has no plans to bring-in a new striker - although some papers are saying 'DiCanio for £1.7m'.
In order win a match you need to have scored the most goals within 90 minutes. This is something you simply cannot do on a regular basis with only one striker, or a partnership that will not work.
So United really do need to make one more signing in order to function properly as a team, and challenge for honours during the next 10 months.
If Fergie can get together a solid backline and a strong attack to go along with the dynamic midfield, then Silverware and Glory surely WILL be back on the cards for the 2002/03 season!
Rio Ferdinand cannot do enough to secure this.
The man who held England together at the back for so-long has finally decided to put pen-to-paper on a £70,000-a-week deal and help fix those gaping holes that became un-missable during what was a dismal 10 months for all the prawn-eating spectators of Old Trafford and indeed, the rest of the world.
So this one signing will turn Manchester United's defence around and fire them into so much success during the next 12 years that Fergie will be chewing Silver rather than Wrigley's???
Even though we know that's not the case, many United fans around the globe are hotly-anticipated the kick-off to the new season with that match against West Brom, and are also expecting Rio's arrival to finally seal all holes and broken parts in the back-line and send us through to the Treble and beyond....
One thing every football fan needs to take note on is the fact that one player cannot change a whole team of another 10 men!
Sure, he may be able to influence some of the younger lads, and help-out some of his team-mates next to him during play, but not even a World Cup Winner like Ronaldo could turn a team like Oxford into the dominant side in English football - let alone the rest of Europe!
By jumping to immediate conclusions like this after one small step is only going to make things worse for themselves.
Come the end of the season we could end-up empty handed for the second year running, and maybe Liverpool will pip Arsenal to the title this year too! You have to remember that although he did prove himself in the Wordl Cup for England, and has come a long-way from his early days at West Ham, he's still just ONE player, and may not even effect the United side in the slightest way!
The same kind-of thing happened last season, remember....
Juan-Sebastian Veron arrived for a Record Breaking (untill now) fee of £28.1m, and according to the fans back then, we were going to win EVERYTHING just because of this Argentine internationals arrival.
But what did he do?? Nothing much.
A few early goals at the start, a brilliant free kick then, and more importantly, almost everytime he was played in the midfield United were a complete mess!
The truth is that we didn't need him, and his arrival only unsettled Paul Scholes, and apparently caused David Beckham a few concerns...
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the only other recognised signing Ferguson made and he DID have a great impact because he was NEEDED in the United attack, where-as Veron wasn't. Van Nistelrooy's goals alone helped us to head-up towards the top, and come very close to going all the way in Europe.
I think that after a great early start and the goal-scoring consistancy he showed after that, we began to rely on him too much and started to play un-like the dominant force in the Premiership United have been known-as for the last decade or so.
This is a problem I fear could possibly come-along with Rio Ferdinand in at the back. After the performances we all saw him pull-off in the summer the likes of Gary Neville and even Laurant Blanc ay try to rely on him getting them out of those sticky-situations on a large number of occasions, doubling his work-rate, and tiring him out too early - just like what happened with Van Nistelrooy.
And even if the defence alone is now strong-enough to sustain a good Title Challenge for the season, there still are other problems amongst the team as a whole. The midfield quartet or Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Captain Keane may be built to perfection, to what about the frontline?
After the £2m sale of Dwight Yorke to Blackburn there are now only 3 recognisable strikers at Old Trafford.
After Andy Cole departure we saw for ourselves that Van the Man was still in need of a regular strike-partner to help the goals come in.
Scholes was moved into an awkward role to help this, but that never really worked. Solskjaer's been at the club for a good few years now, but we all know he's best when coming-on from the bench for the last 5 minutes or so. And as for Diego Forlan, he's still yet to really prove himself.
You may have seen his potential from his days at Indipendiente, but aside from a stunning first goal for Uruguay and a good start in preason, what else has he done to impress us and EARN the full-responsibillity of that no.9 jersey and the slot alongside Van Nistelrooy!???
The new Squad Numbers have now been issued amongst the United players, and that no.9 shirt once worm by the likes of Andy Cole and Brian McClair in recent years is STILL available.
But as far as we know, Sir Alex Ferguson current has no plans to bring-in a new striker - although some papers are saying 'DiCanio for £1.7m'.
In order win a match you need to have scored the most goals within 90 minutes. This is something you simply cannot do on a regular basis with only one striker, or a partnership that will not work.
So United really do need to make one more signing in order to function properly as a team, and challenge for honours during the next 10 months.
If Fergie can get together a solid backline and a strong attack to go along with the dynamic midfield, then Silverware and Glory surely WILL be back on the cards for the 2002/03 season!
Rio Ferdinand cannot do enough to secure this.