Following his recent trend, Manchester United gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson has signed another pair of young starlets for 17 million pounds who were previously in the same league. To be honest, I know next to nothing about Zoran Tosic and/or Adem Ljajic. What I knew previously was mainly from youtube. Yet that said, I knew next to nothing about the last pair of 17 million pound starlets, Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Nani. Since this dynamic duo of a 22 year-old and a 20 year-old are now eating too much Tapioca pudding for Fergie's taste, he has decided to bring in some youth to the team. Given the new regime is about to begin, it seems like as good a time as any to analyze how these two "men," Nani and Anderson, are progressing.
Nani:
Too often have I heard comparisons between Nani and Cron. Imo, they are worlds apart in their play. Nani seems much more conservative than Cron (at least the old Cron that we fell in love with last year), and will frequently let Evra overlap him on the left or pass to the center without beating his man down the wing. He has had a few cracking goals, a couple of which were important, but besides that I haven't seen much that has impressed me from a boy that is only one year younger than Rooney and Cron. He does not have blistering pace, he is not a great dribbler, and he is certainly not a great passer of the ball. Sometimes I feel his only real asset to the team is his vision down the left side, but half the time he does not have the technique to complete the pass that he sees. He still has a long career ahead of him, so there is no rush except if Giggs retires, but that's never going to happen, so I hope he just keeps progressing.
Anderson:
On the other hand, there has been a lot more promise shown by the young Brazilian. To my knowledge, he is yet to tally a senior goal, but at least he makes his presence felt on the field with his physical play, tough tackling, and accurate passing. Whereas Nani fails to convince me that he can replace Giggs, I have confidence in Anderson to fill the massive hole left by Scholes when he decides to call it quits. And to add insult to injury for the Nani defense, Anderson is two years young than Nani (and three than Roon and Cron for those of you that aren't keeping track).
What are your thoughts on these players? Do you think Fergie should stay the course and continually invest in youth?
i think wat man u is doing is the right idea, as long as u hav the more experienced players carrying the first team, developing young talent is the way to go. arsenal is doing it the wrong way, forcing their young players who r not ready for primetime into the first team too quickly which is y they r running into their current poor form
ReplyDeleteRe: Nani
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be way too harsh on Nani, and you have quickly forgotten how he pulled utd out of a hole on several occasions last season (early in the season against spurs comes to mind). The youngster has shown flashes of greatness but often goes from brilliant to dreadful faster than a cron stepover. This kind of inconsistency has landed him a regular spot right next to the gaffer on the united bench. Problem is, if fergie keeps favoring the consistent hard work of js park over the part time play of nani, it will be very difficult for nani to find the consistency he so desperately needs to take his game to the next level.
Btw saying he is not a great dribbler is like saying CRon does not have a great shot--nani can ONLY dribble and right now CRon can ONLY shoot.
Re: Anderson
Unlike with Nani, you've got Anderson spot on. I feel very comfortable with him as Scholes's long term replacement and the best part is that at age 20 he can only get better from here
On Tosic and Ljajic:
Tosic is an winger with a sweet left foot who has played a number of times for Serbia. He doesn't do much other than service and dead balls with the occasional 20+ yard goal as well-- a very poor man's left-footed Becks if you like. Ljajic, another midfield player, looks more promising to me. He already has the skill to live with anyone in the prem and hopefully if his 17-year-old frame fills out a little he will become a very useful asset to utd
(to scott)
ReplyDeleteArsenal do not command the same spending power as Manchester United, so it's harder to hold on to/buy players.
The players 'forced' to play play due to injuries, Denilson a possible exception (though he has been playing well).
The Arsenal first XI (again aside from Denilson) are all experienced.
I.E. Arsenal aren't doing it the 'wrong' way. They're doing it the ONLY way.
I can go on and on about this. but won't. now.
Nani will never get anywhere near Ronaldo. Maybe a Quaresma.
ps. Park JS > Nani. Park's been on fire.
What about Rafael/Fabio?
in selling hleb and flamini arsenal got around 20 million euros and used all up on nasri when they had a good amount of holes to fill in. also they let gilberto silva go who had the most experience on the team. Also besides denilson, walcott and nasri r both inexperienced and in the starting XI. For a big 4 team who is often involved in at least 3 competitions, depth is just as important as the quality of ur starting 11 so yes arsenal have failed on that account by having 0 experience on their bench.
ReplyDeleteSilvestre!
ReplyDeleteAnderson is unbelievably good.
ReplyDeleteNani sucks.
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ReplyDeletejs park is a poor mans dirk kuyt. all he can do is chase after the ball he just lost in a game and run for no reason. he cudnt do anything agst a team from japan and a team from ecuador. nani is a young cron. if anyone remembers cron when he first came, he was aweful and lost the ball everytime. infact he was prety bad up until 2 years ago maybe when he learned to shoot. nani is very fast and is portugese, what else do u need
ReplyDelete