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There’s More to United’s Season

This is Sailesh Ganesh from Dallas, USA. I am a new contributor to Red Rants, hoping to keep up with the great quality of the site.

With introductions out of the way, let me talk a bit about our recent results. You might be thinking that this has already been beaten to death, but suffice it to say that we have not seen a period of results like this in the recent past, and it deserves our attention. A few of these points have already been made here, so bear with me with what seems like a repetition, but I feel its worth another look at.

There is no doubt that the loss of Rooney and Ronaldo is hurting us harder than we thought. Of course, few teams can cope with such a loss. Without them, our movement in general in the final third has shown just a little bit of hesitancy. Where Ronaldo and Rooney might have tried something audacious to break the luck, the team now seems to be a bit unsure while finishing. This reminds me of the Arsenal of last year. They were in a similar position, 2 points from 3 games, but went on to string together 6 wins from that point, starting with, ironically, Manchester United. Maybe there’s a similarity there we can hope for.

The positive thing here is that despite the loss of Rooney and Ronaldo, our overall play has been very good. Our possession, build-up and dominance have not been affected one bit by their losses, and I can only imagine us getting better when they come back. If this is Manchester United in crisis, I cannot imagine us in full flow! We have dominated all games we have played, our defense has been very good (though that can partially be attributed to our relentless attacking football) and the new signings (Anderson apart, as yet anyway) have so far shown that they will add value to the club. Tevez and Hargreaves have fit in perfectly and will play pivotal roles this season. Nani still has to learn to deliver a good final ball, and to pass the ball more often. He’ll learn, given time.

But time is not something we have too much of. We need to make up lost ground fast. The form of Giggs might just be hampering us here. There is not much that is wrong with our attacking play at this point, but you can’t help feel that the presence of another player who is a real attacking threat in addition to Nani, Scholes and Tevez will make the opposition defense work that much harder to deny us, and this will most likely give us that little extra in the final third where we can create our own luck rather than hoping it would fall on our lap.

While a finisher such as Rossi would certainly be helpful, there is no point thinking wistfully. The team has to make do with what it has. The best scenario is to have all 11 players performing at their best, instead of us carrying one or two members. The faster Giggs recovers his form, the better it will be for us. Given Giggs’ current form, it might not even be a bad idea to start with Nani and Eagles as wingers for the next couple of games. Eagles, for me, has a lot of potential to make it at this club, and judging by his pre-season form, I wouldn’t think a lot before starting him. Mind you, I am not blaming Giggs for our troubles, he deserves a lot of respect for what he has done. But at the same time, a little time away from the field will perhaps help him regain his form quicker. He could even come on as an impact player towards the end of the game.

Finally, all that is needed at this point is a goal, no matter how freaky it is. A spectacular own goal will do very nicely for me, thank you. I personally don’t care too much about stuffing Spurs at this point. The team needs a win now, more than ever, before it starts affecting the confidence of players and dilutes our attacking play. A scrappy 1-0 win will do for me, just as long as we get back on the winning track.

We can start demolishing teams once we get back to winning.

I totally agree with Red Ranter here – this season is not over yet. It is only three games into the season, and we haven’t even started talking about the FA Cup and Champions League. Yes, it is going to be very difficult, but not impossible. Then again, when has Manchester United ever won the straightforward way? It has always had a way of playing with our emotions before finally winning, but that only makes the victory sweeter! How many different ways have SAF’s men kept us on tenterhooks? Nou Camp, the 5-3 win away against Spurs, after being 3-0 down at HT (2001-02), 1-0 against Liverpool and 4-2 against Everton (last season), heck, even the 3-2 against Milan at home!

Consider this another innovation in making our collective hearts fail. The team does need new challenges after all! It is okay to be pissed off and swear never to support the team again so long as you are back for more the next day. Hang on tight guys, there is a long way to go yet. Save some of this pessimism for later, for I am sure this is not the last of heart stopping moments this season.

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