jake- said...
lepino said...
jake- said...
lepino said...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm
so, top of the league ... unbeaten ... without our most influential player for a good while, not really hit top form yet, players have been injured. if we are top by xmas theres no reason united can't take the title back, i think an early exit from the champions league would come in handy. can't beleive people were writing off the squad at the beginning of the season ...
You're right in saying that people who wrote Man Utd off were stupid, with Ferguson in charge they'll always be around the top of the league, but you have to admit the unbeaten stat does mask some average performances and this Man Utd side isn't as good as the last 3 or 4 seasons (so far, Rooney may improve the team, we'll see)
the unbeaten stat doesnt mask anyanthing at all. united have always been hard to beat. the last team to beat us was chelsea 24 games or so ago believeibe (in all competitions) that isn't luck. i'm not saying for a moment united have been the most glamourous side but they are team who are very compact, efficient and deadly when on form over the last 2-3 years. the team was very comerical when ronaldo rooney and tevez were tearing it up, i accept united have not played as much exciting football since, but they have still been as defesnsivley compact, determined and ruthless as ever which is far more impressive.
what are you comparing this team to jake? obviously the champions league winning side was essence ... but teams go into decline, yet united still maintained a 2nd champions leaugue final spot, premership runners up, carling cup winners etc ... and yet they are still now pushing to win the premier league/champions league once more with the same squad, no-one else does that
Yep they're hard to beat
but they were lucky a couple of times this season, arguably Wolves did enough to at least get something out of the game, you should have had 10 men vs Stoke for most of the game, Villa game was also terrible by Villa to let up that lead. Also been a lot of close draws. As you say is does say something about Man Utd's ability to come back and they're hard to beat
The comparison is mainly down to performance, in recent years team have been scared of Man Utd and like you said, when Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez were on the team sheet the game was already half won. Those players haven't been replaced and the loss off Valencia isn't helping. Teams don't really have as much of a fear factor playing Man Utd at the moment like before, and also the team struggle in more games than they have in recent seasons. Player personnel has dipped in quality a bit and so have the performances. It's not all lost, a few good signings and Valencia, Nani, Rooney, Vidic all playing well could return them to the level of 2007-09