United Rant and Out of Left Field

It’s gonna kinda quiet in this corner over the last little while… but don’t worry I’m not gone. I’ve just split my efforts. Writing a personal blog daily is too much for me at the moment. It’s something I may return to doing later, but for now I’m writing for two different sites alongside other writers. For Canadian national team coverage check out my stuff on Out of Left Field where I’ve been covering all the Canadian friendly action over the last few days and for Manchester United coverage I’ve been writing at United Rant.

Both great blogs with talented authors worth checking out even if you aren’t interested in my stuff.

Cheers!

Away in Honduras

Playing away in Honduras is a situation no Canadian team wants to be up against, but it is the prospect facing Toronto FC tomorrow as they play the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round tie. After a 1-0 win over C.D. Motagua at BMO Field Toronto FC will be looking to finish off the tie with a result in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Toronto FC will be hoping to continue the form they showed in the first leg where their off the ball movement was second to none and they posed a solid attacking threat all match. In the end Toronto were unlucky to only score the one goal, and it may prove too little for Toronto to advance past the opening round.

Toronto will take heart in the fact that Honduran international Georgie Welcome will miss the match due to a trial overseas with Rangers. However Honduran captain and ex-Toronto FC midfielder Amado Guevara still should start as well as Sergio Mendoza and Emilio Izaguirre, both coming off World Cup campaigns with Honduras.

Although Toronto goes in with the 1-0 advantage previous Canadian escapades into Central America have not ended well for club or country. A lack of CONCACAF playing experience is often blamed for lackluster Canadian performances away from domestic competition.

Despite the Montreal Impact only losing once away in the group stage of their foray into the Champions League their campaign is still remembered for the horror stories that took place in Mexico when the Impact conceded four second half goals. Which now serves as yet another failure of a Canadian team away in CONCACAF.

Preki will have to hope the occasion does not get to his players, especially possible debutant Doneil Henry (Henry’s only previous competitive outing for Toronto FC came in this year’s dead rubber against the Vancouver Whitecaps after Toronto had already clinched the Voyageurs Cup).

Henry’s inclusion in the squad raises some potential question marks about the strength of squad that Preki will opt for against Motagua and in the Champions League in general. For the most part Preki treated the Voyageurs Cup matches the same way he would any league match, but his squad selection for the match against Motagua at BMO raised a few eyebrows.

Many Toronto supporters considered the match to be the most important of the season to date, but Preki chose to sit Maicon Santos, the club’s second DP Mista, as well as the in form Dan Gargan. Whether he believes the league to be considerably more important than the Champions League or he is just rotating the squad to maximize results in all competitions is yet to be seen, but after last year’s disappointment against Puerto Rico, Toronto FC supporters will be looking for much more in Honduras.

Getting a result in Honduras tomorrow will not be easy for Toronto FC, but they are no doubt capable of what would surely be a massive boost for a Toronto club that has recently hit a patch of poor form.

Manchester United in Toronto Formation Rehash

I know, right after I say this is going to be primarily a Canadian soccer I post a Manchester United article. But this is a special case. The following is a look at Manchester United’s formation in the match against Celtic in Toronto and how it may apply to the season to come. It’s written by a Canadian Stretford End reader, Scott Westbury. So Enjoy! (and don’t worry I’ll be back with Canadian coverage in the coming week).

Although officially on the big board in Toronto Manchester United lined up in a 4-3-3, or what looked on the team sheet to be a 4-4-2 with Berbatov & Diouf up front with (l-r) a midfield of Giggs, Fletcher, Scholes and Obertan. The actual deployment of the players on the pitch was somewhat different, and resembled more of a  4-2-3-1.

Berbatov operated somewhat alone up front often hugging one of the centre-backs when not in possession. Obertan took on a traditional right wing role. What was interesting though was the positioning of Giggs & Diouf. Giggs almost exclusively operated on the left, as did Diouf. Effectively Sir Alex was overloading the left side.

This also left extra space for Celtic’s Shaun Maloney down the opposition left, who created problems in the United defense with his runs in the first half for Celtic.

Scholes and Fletcher provided holding midfield roles with Scholes never straying far up the pitch unless United were enjoying lengthy possession. At a depth roughly the same as the two fullbacks. Scholes was hitting long accurate balls to either wing.

If Giggs was making the run down the left, Diouf angled into the middle but usually  behind the level of Dimitar Berbatov – this was probably designed to pull the 2^nd centre-back away from Berbatov – allowing him to get in front of his marker.  If Diouf extended down the left with his pace, Giggs slid over into the middle in front of the back 4 for Celtic. The overload of the left side, and the space creation of Berbatov is seen perfectly in the replays of Dimitar’s goal in the first half.

Obertan makes the break out of the United third and Berbatov drifts off to the right, creating space for Obertan to dribble, push out to Diouf, and you can see Berba’s run into the box clearly.

This is something Berbatov is extremely adept at doing – making space for other players in attack. We’ve all seen him ‘drift’ in and out of games on the television – and he does it in person too. What he’s really doing is making space, and practicing the fine art of ‘getting lost’ from the centrebacks. As they find him again, it stretches the defensive structure

By getting Diouf or Giggs into the hole United is exploiting a positional flaw at the heart of the EPL, and British football/soccer in general – the man in the ‘hole’, or the false ‘nine’. Withdrawing this player to a level in between the defenders but behind the midfield has been a nightmare for all 4-4-2 based teams. Eric Cantona exploited this space perfectly in the past for us – what was 4-4-2 on a team sheet was truly more of a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1 (Paul Merson did this for Arsenal too, and was never utilized at an international level for it). England has never dealt with this alignment well either, and the answer’s typically been to push up the backline, thereby reducing the pace such players (Herr Ozil for example) have to operate. This would be a decent answer, but is a glass house with relaxed offside-laws and doesn’t bode well if your central defenders lack pace (Hullo John Terry – we’ll never know how much England missed Rio I think). We have the 2^nd half of the England-Germany contest as evidence of this.

Rooney has filled this role in the past for us, and Berbatov looks like he can do it as well, albeit differently. Berbatov doesn’t seem to sink back into midfield, but instead offers lateral movement that creates space. Obertan’s goal against Kansas City’s MLS squad shows it beautifully. The run up is all Johnny Evans, but what springs Obertan is NOT Evan’s run or Obertan’s speed – it’s the subtle drift of Berbatov away from the pass that opens the seem to spring Obertan free.

United’s changes in the second half clearly allowed them to get into more of fluid 4-2-3-1 as seen to the left, with the front four constantly rotating and moving through the various positions. United’s last two goals show the rotation perfectly, and on Cleverly’s deflection you can see the movement and rotation that was going on throughout the second half.

This hearkens back to the 2008-2009 season where Tevez, Giggs, Ronaldo, Park and Rooney prowled up front for much of the season. Their rotation and movement constantly making it very baffling for opposition defenses.

It looks like Sir Alex is trying to replicate this with the current squad.  One of the problems last year was Berbatov hadn’t settled into a role up front – and Antonio Valencia really is only a right sided players which cuts down on the movement up front. The upside is IF Berbatov can play that lead role and be that front man it could open up space for Rooney to do something that strikes fear into opposition defenders – run AT them. Rooney wasn’t allowed (or couldn’t because of the short comings of Emile Heskey) to do this for England this summer. If he can for United it will be because of Dimitar Berbatov up front who plays that lone striker role much like VanPersie did for Holland, who opened up the game for Snejder, Kuyt & Robben.

A Big Change for the Canadian Stretford End

I’ve started writing for another Manchester United blog called “United Rant” which you can find at unitedrant.co.uk. I’ll be writing most of my United pieces here now which means a bit of a change for the Canadian Stretford End. Yes from time to time I’ll have United pieces here that don’t really fit with United Rant, but most of my Manchester United coverage will be at United. Which means the Canadian Stretford End will become primarily a Canadian soccer blog.

It means I’ll be branching out to cover much more of Canadian soccer than I ever have before on the blog, and hopefully more on the world game in general. I’m going to try and bring back the interviews that the blog had in its earlier days with more a more in depth look at the game up north.

Cheers for reading and Enjoy!!!

4-4-2 vs. 4-5-1… A Case for the 4-4-2?

As Manchester United’s season came down the stretch last year it seemed like every game was up for debate as whether to employ the 4-5-1 or the 4-4-2. Both formations had their advantages and downfalls. In the end United opted for 4-5-1 in European matches, and big Premier League matches home or away, while they played the 4-4-2 in Premier League matches against weaker opposition, normally at home. So far on both of United’s North American Tour matches they’ve played a pretty basic 4-4-2. Which once again raises the question for the coming season, 4-5-1 or 4-4-2?

The Gaffer of the Man Utd 24 blog recently tackled the issue and pointed out some of the benefits of each, citing that although the 4-5-1 was the favoured formation of Sir Alex last season with a fully fit Macheda and Chicharito coming into the fold playing a 4-5-1 may not offer enough opportunities to the United’s full array of strikers. This isn’t yet a Manchester City sized problem with nineteen potential starting forwards, but with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen as well as the previously mentioned Kiko Macheda and Chicharito plus possible addition of Danny Welbeck if he is not sent out on loan thats a pretty serious load of forwards. If United were to opt for a 4-5-1 for the majority of the season that takes a potential year of first team development away from Macheda and Chicharito.

On the other side the 4-5-1 brought Manchester United some huge results that the 4-4-2 might not have. The key to United’s 4-5-1 was a high-octane, high pressure midfielder, playing high up the pitch. Both Darren Fletcher and Ji-Sung Park filled this role very well last season. This gave more room to the wingers while helping Rooney and co. capitalize quickly on mistakes through counter attacks. The 4-4-2 often slows down these attacks, and instead of having a quick ball winner high up the pitch like a Fletcher or a Park there is another forward who in the case of Berbatov or Michael Owen is not great defensively and doesn’t provide that same pressure. This slows down the United attack into a pin point passing mode.

While in the 4-4-2 this pin point passing is key. Because the pressure high up the pitch isn’t there, and the attack in general is slower United will have to break down eight, nine and ten men defenses all playing in one third of the pitch. The 4-4-2 changes the focus of the game from the centre third to United’s attacking third. This takes away any opportunity for a counter, but allows United to get the ball into the opponents final third more easily/often which may lead to more chances depending on how well the opposition defends.

The beauty of the 4-5-1 is it leaves United much more defensively sound, while taking away the problem of breaking down teams that play ten men behind the ball since most of the game is played in the midfield. What the 4-4-2 does allow for though is more dangerous, attacking players in the opposition third. From there it is all about moving the ball quickly, taking players on 1v1 and finding openings. United has often been successful breaking down stern defenses, but they’ve also been left frustrated on many an occasion. The 4-4-2 is where a player with a bit of trickery like Nani or a player who can move the ball across the pitch in an instant like Scholes, become very important. Another key element to breaking down teams who “park the bus” is with a bit of pace, and based on what was on display at the World Cup, Manchester United have a player with that and more in Chicharito.

If United do opt for a 4-4-2 Chicharito may see a lot of playing time. One partnership which could be very effective would be a Berbatov-Chicharito duo. With Berbatov’s ability to hold up the ball and lay it off, the speedy Mexican may be able to run on to Berbatov’s deft flicks and create openings in the opponents back line. Of course this partnership leaves Wayne Rooney out of the equation, something that Sir Alex surely would never do by choice, but as United learned the hard way last season a plan B is key.

Even a Rooney-Chicharito partnership could flourish into something with Rooney providing the creativity and drive forward, while Chicharito could exploit these pockets of space. Then of course we come to the ever complicated Rooney-Berbatov partnership. As I said earlier, I do believe it can work, just maybe not in an orthodox 4-4-2.

Fergie will most likely employ both the 4-5-1 and 4-4-2 in the season to come. The 4-5-1 has produced the results over the past year, but with Nani hitting top form, Macheda returning from injury, Chicharito joining the club and Berbatov looking solid in pre-season, there is a lot of potential with the 4-4-2. Whatever Sir Alex choses this season one certainty is that the 4-4-2 vs. 4-5-1 debate will rage on.

He Comes from Serbia… And He’s Staying in Manchester

After endless speculation about Nemanja Vidic’s future with Manchester United, he has finally resigned on a long year deal. Manchester United’s 2008-2009 player of the season had a poor season hampered by injury in 2010-2011 and after he was mysteriously omitted from the squad playing Leeds in the FA Cup while previously being named to the starting XI forty-five minutes earlier the rumours about a possible transfer started to gain steam. For a team that struggled defensively at times last season, it is a big boost to have Nemanja Vidic signed on for the season.

With Vidic confirmed as a Manchester United player for next season, and Ferdinand’s recovery from injury going well  United supporters will be hoping for that partnership to be renewed. The 2008-2009 title winning team was build on defensive stability, Vidic was a key part of that. The team was by no means exceptional going forward, and often struggled to score more than one goal in a match, but it was the back four that truly won that title. When Vidic is at his best he plays with a certain arrogance that very few other centre backs in the world do. He is dominant in the air, he is good in the tackle, and is one of the strongest players in the Premier League.

With Vidic back for the season United’s centre back pool is looking stronger than ever. Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic will obviously be first choice, but behind them Johnny Evans, Wes Brown and hopefully Chris Smalling will all be able to fill in. So all I can say is well done to David Gill (you won’t hear me say this very often throughout the season, but that’s another story) and Sir Alex for getting Nemanja Vidic signed on.

The Enigma that is Dimitar Berbatov

Manchester United are touring North America without star forward Wayne Rooney, a situation which United struggled in last season against the likes of Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Dimitar Berbatov showed he just wasn’t ready to lead the line by himself. Despite the clear technical ability Berbatov has he has yet to live up to the thirty million pound price tag that was (probably unfairly) attached to him ever since his move from Tottenham to Old Trafford. He has shown flashes, but never maintained consistently good form for a prolonged period and never against the top teams when the pressure is on. Two games into Manchester United’s North American Tour Berbatov is showing a few more flashes of brilliance, but as a United supporter one can only hope that these flashes will turn into something a little more when the real season kicks off.

Last season Dimitar Berbatov started on the bench for most European or big Premier League games, with Sir Alex opting to play Rooney at the top of a 4-5-1. Berbatov would often be brought off the bench, but one thing Berbatov has never been and probably never will be is an impact substitute. Last night in Man. United’s 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union Berbatov did come off the bench and open the game up for United, but that was a rare circumstance. United will not play many games at that slow of a pace this season, and United will not play many “Philadelphia Unions” this season. Natural finishers like Solskjaer or players with pace and energy like Tevez often make good impact substitutions, whereas slow, methodical players like Berbatov don’t capitalize on the tired opposition they are up against. Berbatov has been misused as a substitute many times in the past, but he just is not suited for the role.

The next way Berbatov has been used is in a 4-4-2, a system which Berbatov was more successful in last season. When Berbatov is playing with another forward he is given the chance to hold the ball up, lay it off to the other forward and help be a part of the build up. The problem is Manchester United’s 4-4-2 is a lot faster, and relies more on quick counter attacks than the one Berbatov played in with Robbie Keane at Spurs. Berbatov is not a fast player, he often slows down the United attacks when he holds up the ball. Sure his first touch and skill on the ball is incredible, but  when he slows the play down the entire United attack stops functioning. Wayne Rooney, Nani, Antonio Valencia, Ryan Giggs all of these players are forward thinking players who like to get the ball into the attacking third quickly. So although Berbatov’s goal scoring record with United playing in a 4-4-2 last season was good, there is an argument there that he hurt Manchester United’s attack.

The final way Berbatov has been used at United and by far the least effective is as the lone striker in a 4-5-1. Last season was all about Rooney’s 4-5-1 which was fast, effective and used a lot of width. In comparison when Berbatov led the line a 4-5-1, the attack slowed right down, the wingers were forced to cut in to pick up the ball making it look more like a 4-3-3 and very few goals were scored with Berbatov in the 4-5-1.

Based on the evidence above and the evidence we’ve seen from Berbatov on the pitch he is not really a Manchester United player. The type of player Sir Alex was trying to buy when he bought Berbatov, a player who would bring the best out of Rooney, was clearly not the player Sir Alex got. With all that being said though, United have Berbatov who is an incredible talent so not to find a way to use him would be a waster.

Against Celtic in Toronto, Berbatov looked good playing in a 4-4-2 with the young forward Mame Birame Diouf. Diouf did most of the running and pressuring while Berbatov got into advanced positions in the attacking third and spread the ball out effectively. He also find himself with space in the box on several opportunities and one of these chances led to a well taken goal. United supporters will remember the old Wayne Rooney who would never stop running and would often run so much he would get lost in the big games, this is not a Rooney that United supporters want to see again. It is alright for Diouf to play a role that helps free up Berbatov, but Sir Alex will not want Wayne Rooney to sacrifice himself as a major goal scoring threat to help give Berbatov the space and chances he needs.

However using three players to help open up space for Berbatov might work, especially in European competitions where the games are tighter. This World Cup we saw the 4-2-3-1 on display with three of the semi-finalists in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands all employing a 4-2-3-1. At times last season Manchester United’s 4-5-1 looked a bit like a 4-2-3-1 with a player like Ji-Sung Park as the player “in the hole” (the centre forward/midfielder in the 3). This is where Berbatov could be effective. If the two wingers in the attacking three stay wide keeping their men to the outside and Rooney could continue to pressure higher up the pitch there could be a big hole in the middle for Berbatov to show his magic. With Berbatov a little further back and not at the highest level of the attack, Berbatov holding the ball would not slow down the attack, because the two wingers and Rooney would still be running forward. It would then be the job of either Berbatov or the two central midfielders to get the ball forward to them. This gives Berbatov his space while not compromising the pace of attack at all.

Dimitar Berbatov has proved to the Manchester United supporters that he is a talented striker and he could be effective the question is just how. Above is one idea of what must be hundreds running through Sir Alex’s head. However casting Berbatov aside entirely would surely be a waste.

Simeon Jackson to Norwich with High Expectations

Canadian striker Simeon Jackson completed his transfer from League two bound Gillingham to Championship bound Norwich City last week. Simeon Jackson has always been the great hope for Canadian forwards in the future. He was highly touted by Canadian supporters through the youth ranks and as he racked up the goals playing with Rushden and Diamonds, and more recently Gillingham, but at twenty-three now Jackson is no longer a striker for the future. He needs to start producing now as he enters the prime of his career and as Canada pins their goal scoring hopes for World Cup 2014 qualifying on his shoulders.

The worry for many is that he might not get the same opportunities at Norwich in the Championship as he did in the lower leagues of English football. We’ve seen plenty of Canadians with lots of potential waste away sitting on the bench for English clubs, hopefully Jackson’s name will not be added to the list. However making the jump was a risk Jackson needed to take, a League One striker is not going to take an average team to a birth in the World Cup, no matter how much he is scoring with his club.

Norwich played a 4-4-2 with Chris Martin and Grant Holt up front last season as they gained promotion from League One. Martin scored twenty-three goals in all competitions, while captain Holt scored an impressive thirty and was voted supporter’s player of the season. So in order for Jackson to get consistent starts next season he will have to break up this duo. He will probably start as an impact player off the bench, a role he did well in with Canada at the 2009 Gold Cup. The difference being this time he will have to score goals.

Since scoring in his debut for Canada against Cyprus Jackson has played nine more times for Canada often having an impact off the bench, but he has yet to score again. The championship is a strange league, back to back promotions are far from unheard of and back to back relegations are just as possible so coming off a dominating season in League One Norwich City will want to start fast in the Champions and possibly chase after a playoff spot. If Jackson doesn’t get hot early and start finding the back of the net his opportunities could thin out very quickly with two proven strikers already ahead of him in the depth chart.

Canada unfortunately doesn’t have that same depth up front that Norwich City has so they will need Jackson to find some form playing high level football over the next two years in order to be ready for qualifying come 2012. Canada’s only real other options aside from Jackson are Rob Friend, Ali Gerba, Stephen Ademolu and Gavin McCallum. Aside from Jackson, Rob Friend is the only one currently playing at a level with his club that is anywhere near international class.

People still talk about Jackson as a player for the future. He will be twenty-five years old when World Cup qualifying roles around, and there is no one else who can match his goal scoring record at club level aside from Friend. Jackson’s time has to be now or else Canada may have more difficulty than ever finding the back of the net over the next two or three years.

Little Manchester in Toronto

Toronto has a little Italy district, little Portugal, Chinatown and many more ethnic districts, but this weekend Toronto’s “little Manchester” was alive and rocking. It all kicked off Thursday with a meet and greet down at the Manchester United Supporters Club of Canada’s pub, the Main Event. Where ex-players Dennis Irwin and Paddy Crerand were greeted by hundreds of United supporters. With the giant “Love United Hate Glazer” banner sent over from Manchester for the occasion and fans from all over the world in the pub the atmosphere was fantastic. Irwin and Crerand were gracious and signed autographs late into the night after a question and answer period. All in all a successful night.

After a restless sleep Thursday night I woke up ready to go for Friday. The game against Celtic was to be my second live United match after watching them lose 4-1 to the Scouse in the 08-09 season. I went down to the Main Event at around two and the party had already kicked off. Various news channels came in through out the day to get footage of us belting out “the Pride of all Europe”. One of the highlights being after a rendition of “My Old Man” (for those who are unfamiliar with the lyrics just search it on google…) the reporter just stood there shocked and after a momentary silence she said “I can’t put that on TV!” which lead to louder renditions. After trading various United stories we headed down to the Rogers Centre.

Despite being in the United end the atmosphere needed a bit of help when we got there which we duly provided. Throughout the game the only real chant that took off through out the whole stadium was a simple “United! United!”. However throughout pockets in the United end we went through the entire repertoire of Man. United’s songbook as we sang about everything from Giggs to City to Cantona to Sir Alex and the Glazers (plus a lot in between). The match itself was quite entertaining as well.

The slow pace of the pre-season match allowed the more technically gifted players to really shine. Berbatov was very impressive. He scored the opener with a well taken first touch and perfect finish, he went on to assist both Welbeck’s and Cleverly’s goals. Although I’ve said many times on here Berbatov doesn’t really fit the United system, he showed last night he still has a tremendous amount of class. He holds up the ball as well as anyone in the world and his control is impeccable. Berbatov was given the man of the match award an honour he clearly deserved.

Even though he only played the first half, Paul Scholes looked quite sharp. His passing range was as good as ever as he regularly picked out Giggs and Obertan on either wing. The partnership of Scholes and Fletcher worked well last season and was quite effective again last night. Without a doubt Darren Fletcher is better in the tackle than any centre midfielder United has had since Roy Keane left.

A few more quick player notes:

Edwin Van Der Sar – Despite the horrendous purple keeper kit, he put in a solid performance.

Chris Smalling – The kid really impressed in his United debut, despite conceding the penalty which lead to Celtic’s goal. He was very confident and a huge guy, probably about 6’5″ and well over 200 pounds.

Gabriel Obertan – He has a lot of pace, he could turn into something quite special, hopefully he will get a few more chances in the first team this season.

Danny Welbeck – Looked good and scored what ended up as the game winning goal, which is nice to see because some were speculating he may be destined for an exit after what had been a brilliant start to his United career.

Well after two days in Toronto’s Little Manchester my voice is dead and I’m exhausted, but it’s been an incredible experience. Hopefully the 3-1 win over Celtic will be the start to another vintage Manchester United season.

World Cup Diary: United and Some General Thoughts

For Manchester United players this was a World Cup they will probably want to put behind themselves. Wayne Rooney failed to score for a second straight World Cup as England were disappointingly eliminated in the round of 16 at the hands of Germany. Nemanja Vidic conceded a penalty to Germany which was saved as Serbia knocked off the Germans, but beyond that one win Serbia’s World Cup was short as they joined the long list of European under achievers. Patrice Evra had the worst World Cup of all as he captained the French team to a winless World Cup marred by scandal, controversy and training ground bust-ups. The only two United players who can look back on good memories at the World Cup are Park and our new Mexican signing Chicharito.

Ji-Sung Park led South Korea to a spot in the knockout stages, and scored a goal against the Greeks to boot. Although they lost to Uruguay in the Round of 16, the South Koreans should be happy with their performance at the World Cup and a lot of that came down to the play of their captain, Park. The biggest United story at the World Cup was undoubtedly Chicharito. United’s first ever Mexican scored twice with his goals coming against France and Argentina, the second of which was an absolute beauty. He looks to be real quality, a player who could have a major impact playing with Rooney next season.

It’s funny how a World Cup can change things. About a month ago I set out a wish list of players I wanted to see United go after in the offseason. The number one target I suggested was David Silva who unfortunately has gone to Manchester City this morning, the other was another forward. I think we may be able to get through the season on the forwards we have at the moment though. With Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Macheda, Chicharito and maybe even Welbeck fighting for spots up front I think the depth is adequate at least for now. I think we should give the guys we have a shot, if it’s not working by January, sure I don’t mind dipping into the transfer market then, but at the moment I’m content. Even with Luis Fabiano knocking on the United door at the moment, we don’t want to splash money on a player who may turn out to be a bench player later in the season.

So as the World Cup continues my pre-tournament prediction of an Argentina-Brazil final still looks good, as do my predictions of Luis Fabiano for the Golden Boot and Lucio for the Golden Ball. Lucio has been just a joy to watch this World Cup, the way he wins the ball at the back and then will carry it forty-fifty yards forward taking on men in the centre of the park, the confidence there is just outstanding. I also would like to tout my vuvuzela for predicting a Germany over England result in the last sixteen (although I had England winning their group and Germany finishing second in theirs).

Although some of the World Cup has been a little dry, as a spectacle so far I’ve loved it. There have been upsets, watching the South American dominance has been fun and then of course there is this young German team which has been enthralling. People who look towards the World Cup as the best football in the world  who feel let down are looking in the wrong place if it’s pure football  you want to watch the later stages of the Champions League. However what makes the World Cup the greatest sporting competition on the face of the planet is the drama, countries playing each other for national pride in an even that only comes around ever four years. It’s an incredible stage.

That’s all for my ramblings today, sorry for the inconsistent posting I’ve been too busy watching the World Cup to keep up posting, but the blog should be up in full force come the start of the United season, with a bit of a change in direction that should please you Canada supporters out there…