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There comes a time in every manager's life when he has to make a huge descision that could determine the fate of his side come the end of the season. Whether it's dropping one player for another, dealings in the transfer market, or even having to decide it's time to go against his will and resign from his job as manager at the club he loves so dearly.
With the exception of the final-scores in their last 3 league games, you cannot honestly say that Manchester United have made a 'great' start to this new season and their fresh, new 'Title Challenge'. Things may be going-well now, but it didn't start that way, and who knows how long this 'good spell' will last?
The 200/02 season was intially supposed to be Sir Alex Ferguson's final year in-charge at Old Trafford after a career as Manchester United manager that has lasted over a decade already, and has bought the club more success than they could have ever been able to handle - in such a short space of time too.
Some may call him a 'Footballing Genious'. Others a fool for not going-ahead with his plans and instead deciding to stay-on and go-out with a bang. But since he's decided to stay-on the trophy cabinet at Old Trafford is still no different to what it used to be.
Perhaps he should have left when he had first intended? Perhaps not? Who know??
According to the critics and the fans alike, one of the biggest mistakes Fergie has made in recent years has been the £28.1m signing of Argentine international superstar midfielder Juan-Sébastian Veron from Lazio, last summer.
Veron may be a World Class talent in his own right, and he may also have put-on some superb performances for United in Europe, while also scoring the first goal in a hard-earnt win for United against Arsenal on Saturday, but Juan-Séba has never really been able to fit into Ferguson's plans, for one reason or another.
Paul Scholes is the main cause of problem here, as ever-since Day 1 of Veron's career as a United player these 2 international heros have been battled it out for first-place as United's one-and-only central attacking-midfielder alongside Captain Keane, with Giggs and Beckham.
After paying so-much for this Argentinian wonder while knowing what he can do with the ball at his feet, Alex Ferguson just knew that he HAD to fit Veron into his team's formation, one-way, or-another. But in doing so he also managed to break-up the world-famous 'United Quartet' across the midifled, frocing ginger-haired Scholesy into a 'supporting-striker' role behind Ruud van Nistelrooy as a consolation. And not only did things begin to look bad for United's No.18, but the Manchester United team as-a-whole began to drop-points needlessly, and almost "hand-over" the Premiership to their bitter rivals Arsenal.
Even today, now that Scholes is back in the midfield playing well, while van Nistelrooy is now partnered by either Diego Forlan or Ole Solskjaer, Veron isn't quite doing perhaps as-well-as he should be for an at-the-time record-signing.
With Roy Keane absent through injury and numorous suspensions, while Nicky Butt is also stuck on the treatment table too, for some strange reason Sir Alex Ferguson has seen Juan-Sébastian Veron (the attackng-mastermind) as the ideal replacement for both Keano and Butt in the defensive-midfield role, protecting the backline.
And, as you may expect, things haven't gone down too-well with anyone really - especially Veron who's been made to look-like a muppet in the Premiership - highly-regarded as the world's greatets stage.
After seeing Veron fail in that midfield role you can now only agree with the fact that he is an attacking-midfielder ONLY, and that he will be after Paul Scholes' place for as-long-as he remains content on playing at Old Trafford for.
There is only one space. The team-sheet ain't big-enough for the both of 'em!
One of them will have to go...!
The question though is "Who?"??
As Sir Alex Ferguson, this is a situation you would not be able to simply run-away from. One of these guys will at some point have to go. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may tell you otherwise, but no play on around £60,000 with a passion for football can be happy sitting on the bench week-in, week-out - especially in this weather!
But how do you decide which one must go if they both seem content on staying at the club and fighting 'till the end? Sure, it may seem fine like that now, but what about when they're both playing the best football of their lives, and you have to choose only ONE of them??
The obvious choice would have to be Paul Scholes, as the one to stay.
For a start, he's been at the club for most of his life now, and he knows all his fellow team-mates and the majority of the Premiership and English Football very-well, indeed. Not only is he quite versitile around the midfield/attacking area but he can score goals too - and can he ever hit them from long-range!! Another aspect of the "Ginger Prince"'s game is in his determination, and fighting-spirit that really gives him the will-to-win. He may not be the best tackler around, and he does get given more than his fair-share of yellow cards while also getting sent-off at times, but he never - EVER - seems to give-up when the score is against his team.
He's also proven himself to be well-worthy of a regular place in the England team after some strong performances with some goals to go with that. Remember his hat-trick in the pre-France '98 Poland game for example... He was everywhere that Alan Shearer should've been in that match, and played a big-part in getting England through to the finals, aswell-as in the '99/2000, and in the build-up to this summer's tournament in Japan and South Korea too.
The again... When you have a South American Superstar in your team, why on Earth would you want another boring-old "Johnny Briggs" in your team when you could have some real flair and natural-talent injected that would really get the fans going??
He may have cost a fork-load of money, and he may have a bigger reputation than any-other United player may ever have (yes, even David Beckham!), but Juan-Sébastain Veron has never really proven himself to the world and public.
But despit all that, Fergie didn't spend nearly £30m on him for nothing! He knew - and we all knew - that there is something special about 'Senior Veron'. We've seen what he can do with the ball at his feet Italy for both Parma and Lazio, aswell-as against England (and others) for his home nation Argentina.
We've seen shades of "Veron" during the last year-or-so, but it's still not-enough. And by giving him the time he deserves, we can only expect the "great things" we are all expecting from him to finally arrive!
But he won't just need time, he'll need a good, long-run in the first-team - something Ferguson tried to give him last season that only seemed to backfire by disrupting the rest of the team. But in saying that... Can you remember how well Veron was doing in the Premiership during his first 2 or 3 months at United? If I remember correctly, wasn't he scoring goals on quite a regular-basis, while providing some good through-balls for van Nistelrooy and co.??
Only time will tell if Veron will begin bring his Champions' League performances back-to-life in the Premiership and other domestic competitions, in-order-to help United achieve the success they used to - with Scholes in the team.
After re-reading through all that, I'm now more confused than ever!!
How on Earth would anyone be able to choose between a South American Superstar and a highly-determined, goal-scoring, home-grown midfield genious??
I may not know the answer to that but I do know one thing...
Sir Alex Ferguson had better make the right descisions, or else we could see United slumping back-down the table, all-over-again! Thankfully though, I have faith in his descisions after seeing him work over the years. Yes, even if he did give Massimo Taibi and Willian Prunier their chances at the Theatre of Dreams....!
You may not be the gum-chewing Scotsman making the descisions, but who would you choose to be the one to go? It's not like they wouldn't sell or anything, we've already had both Lazio and Inter Milan after Veron and Scholes - apparently.
But can you honestly say you can draw-a-line between them??
One of them will have to go... Eventually.
With the exception of the final-scores in their last 3 league games, you cannot honestly say that Manchester United have made a 'great' start to this new season and their fresh, new 'Title Challenge'. Things may be going-well now, but it didn't start that way, and who knows how long this 'good spell' will last?
The 200/02 season was intially supposed to be Sir Alex Ferguson's final year in-charge at Old Trafford after a career as Manchester United manager that has lasted over a decade already, and has bought the club more success than they could have ever been able to handle - in such a short space of time too.
Some may call him a 'Footballing Genious'. Others a fool for not going-ahead with his plans and instead deciding to stay-on and go-out with a bang. But since he's decided to stay-on the trophy cabinet at Old Trafford is still no different to what it used to be.
Perhaps he should have left when he had first intended? Perhaps not? Who know??
According to the critics and the fans alike, one of the biggest mistakes Fergie has made in recent years has been the £28.1m signing of Argentine international superstar midfielder Juan-Sébastian Veron from Lazio, last summer.
Veron may be a World Class talent in his own right, and he may also have put-on some superb performances for United in Europe, while also scoring the first goal in a hard-earnt win for United against Arsenal on Saturday, but Juan-Séba has never really been able to fit into Ferguson's plans, for one reason or another.
Paul Scholes is the main cause of problem here, as ever-since Day 1 of Veron's career as a United player these 2 international heros have been battled it out for first-place as United's one-and-only central attacking-midfielder alongside Captain Keane, with Giggs and Beckham.
After paying so-much for this Argentinian wonder while knowing what he can do with the ball at his feet, Alex Ferguson just knew that he HAD to fit Veron into his team's formation, one-way, or-another. But in doing so he also managed to break-up the world-famous 'United Quartet' across the midifled, frocing ginger-haired Scholesy into a 'supporting-striker' role behind Ruud van Nistelrooy as a consolation. And not only did things begin to look bad for United's No.18, but the Manchester United team as-a-whole began to drop-points needlessly, and almost "hand-over" the Premiership to their bitter rivals Arsenal.
Even today, now that Scholes is back in the midfield playing well, while van Nistelrooy is now partnered by either Diego Forlan or Ole Solskjaer, Veron isn't quite doing perhaps as-well-as he should be for an at-the-time record-signing.
With Roy Keane absent through injury and numorous suspensions, while Nicky Butt is also stuck on the treatment table too, for some strange reason Sir Alex Ferguson has seen Juan-Sébastian Veron (the attackng-mastermind) as the ideal replacement for both Keano and Butt in the defensive-midfield role, protecting the backline.
And, as you may expect, things haven't gone down too-well with anyone really - especially Veron who's been made to look-like a muppet in the Premiership - highly-regarded as the world's greatets stage.
After seeing Veron fail in that midfield role you can now only agree with the fact that he is an attacking-midfielder ONLY, and that he will be after Paul Scholes' place for as-long-as he remains content on playing at Old Trafford for.
There is only one space. The team-sheet ain't big-enough for the both of 'em!
One of them will have to go...!
The question though is "Who?"??
As Sir Alex Ferguson, this is a situation you would not be able to simply run-away from. One of these guys will at some point have to go. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may tell you otherwise, but no play on around £60,000 with a passion for football can be happy sitting on the bench week-in, week-out - especially in this weather!
But how do you decide which one must go if they both seem content on staying at the club and fighting 'till the end? Sure, it may seem fine like that now, but what about when they're both playing the best football of their lives, and you have to choose only ONE of them??
The obvious choice would have to be Paul Scholes, as the one to stay.
For a start, he's been at the club for most of his life now, and he knows all his fellow team-mates and the majority of the Premiership and English Football very-well, indeed. Not only is he quite versitile around the midfield/attacking area but he can score goals too - and can he ever hit them from long-range!! Another aspect of the "Ginger Prince"'s game is in his determination, and fighting-spirit that really gives him the will-to-win. He may not be the best tackler around, and he does get given more than his fair-share of yellow cards while also getting sent-off at times, but he never - EVER - seems to give-up when the score is against his team.
He's also proven himself to be well-worthy of a regular place in the England team after some strong performances with some goals to go with that. Remember his hat-trick in the pre-France '98 Poland game for example... He was everywhere that Alan Shearer should've been in that match, and played a big-part in getting England through to the finals, aswell-as in the '99/2000, and in the build-up to this summer's tournament in Japan and South Korea too.
The again... When you have a South American Superstar in your team, why on Earth would you want another boring-old "Johnny Briggs" in your team when you could have some real flair and natural-talent injected that would really get the fans going??
He may have cost a fork-load of money, and he may have a bigger reputation than any-other United player may ever have (yes, even David Beckham!), but Juan-Sébastain Veron has never really proven himself to the world and public.
But despit all that, Fergie didn't spend nearly £30m on him for nothing! He knew - and we all knew - that there is something special about 'Senior Veron'. We've seen what he can do with the ball at his feet Italy for both Parma and Lazio, aswell-as against England (and others) for his home nation Argentina.
We've seen shades of "Veron" during the last year-or-so, but it's still not-enough. And by giving him the time he deserves, we can only expect the "great things" we are all expecting from him to finally arrive!
But he won't just need time, he'll need a good, long-run in the first-team - something Ferguson tried to give him last season that only seemed to backfire by disrupting the rest of the team. But in saying that... Can you remember how well Veron was doing in the Premiership during his first 2 or 3 months at United? If I remember correctly, wasn't he scoring goals on quite a regular-basis, while providing some good through-balls for van Nistelrooy and co.??
Only time will tell if Veron will begin bring his Champions' League performances back-to-life in the Premiership and other domestic competitions, in-order-to help United achieve the success they used to - with Scholes in the team.
After re-reading through all that, I'm now more confused than ever!!
How on Earth would anyone be able to choose between a South American Superstar and a highly-determined, goal-scoring, home-grown midfield genious??
I may not know the answer to that but I do know one thing...
Sir Alex Ferguson had better make the right descisions, or else we could see United slumping back-down the table, all-over-again! Thankfully though, I have faith in his descisions after seeing him work over the years. Yes, even if he did give Massimo Taibi and Willian Prunier their chances at the Theatre of Dreams....!
You may not be the gum-chewing Scotsman making the descisions, but who would you choose to be the one to go? It's not like they wouldn't sell or anything, we've already had both Lazio and Inter Milan after Veron and Scholes - apparently.
But can you honestly say you can draw-a-line between them??
One of them will have to go... Eventually.
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scholes probably
scholes is always going to be first choice. Although Veron has played exceptional last two games. maybe playing 3 at the back, neville,silvestre,rio. Will give enough room for 5 midfielders and another striker. But O'shea,Blanc and brown wont be on the first team
VenomByte wrote:
"Why not keep both?
Strength in depth."
That's true. But surely they won't both be happy fighting for the same position once a strike-partner is bought for van Nistelrooy?
"Why not keep both?
Strength in depth."
That's true. But surely they won't both be happy fighting for the same position once a strike-partner is bought for van Nistelrooy?
I am sorry if i upset any of you one of my friends doesn't like this site and he loged in under my name and wrote a lot of stuff i do not agree with. So i am very sorry if i upset you.
Retard wrote:
> Man utd are s*s**t and cheaters who just get lucky!
> How old is ferguson 99? or 100? you're all glory hunters.
Who let you out?
> Man utd are s*s**t and cheaters who just get lucky!
> How old is ferguson 99? or 100? you're all glory hunters.
Who let you out?
Don't you find it strange that Phil Neville is suddenly playing well in midfield?
Ah well, as long as he's not expected to defend, it's all good.
Ah well, as long as he's not expected to defend, it's all good.
Solskjær wrote:
> After seeing Veron fail in that midfield role you can now only agree
> with the fact that he is an attacking-midfielder ONLY
Okay, he will never be a Roy Keane or Nicky Butt, but he put in more than his fair share of tackles against Deportivo tonight. Good all round performance from Veron today.
If Fergie sticks to his word, and keeps playing the same team, we will have a multi million pound subs bench when Keane and co are back to full fitness :)
> After seeing Veron fail in that midfield role you can now only agree
> with the fact that he is an attacking-midfielder ONLY
Okay, he will never be a Roy Keane or Nicky Butt, but he put in more than his fair share of tackles against Deportivo tonight. Good all round performance from Veron today.
If Fergie sticks to his word, and keeps playing the same team, we will have a multi million pound subs bench when Keane and co are back to full fitness :)
Venombyte! Is it snowing where you live? WOW!
They could sell Scholes, buy Nesta, because they need strength up back.
Saying that, they did beat both Liverpool and Arsenal last week, so they are quite strong at the moment.
Saying that, they did beat both Liverpool and Arsenal last week, so they are quite strong at the moment.
Why not keep both?
Strength in depth.
Strength in depth.
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