Are Scholes and Giggs holding Manchester United back?
Last night, Manchester United won under difficult conditions against decent opposition, stood up to the countless petty fouls and whimsical diving and are on their way back to face Chelsea at Old Trafford with all the players fit (Ronaldo should be fine, hopefully).
It’s all good news then - except the fact that questions must be asked about two of Manchester United’s most celebrated stars of the past decade: Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
Let me clarify from the start that this has nothing to do with what these two have done for Manchester United for all these years. Their accomplishments cannot be diminished, nor can their contributions be ignored - these two are giants in Manchester United’s history and legends without seeking the limelight.
However, this is also Manchester United that we’re talking about - a club that lays claim to being the best in the world, a club that must improve every year, not because they are competing with other clubs but because they must be better than they were the last time around. It is an impossible ambition, but for Manchester United it is the only one.
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs is doing a far more difficult job than people realise. He’s a free-flowing winger playing in a tight support striker’s role. He doesn’t have the typical attacking midfielder’s knack of breaking into the box just at the right time (like Paul Scholes), he lacks the natural striker’s instinct to put half chances away, and in his support striker role he doesn’t have the space he used to have on the wings to take on opponents and beat them with skill and pace. Even Ronaldo, for all his skills, uses pace as a major part of his arsenal and Giggsy lacks that explosive burst and without the space, he’s stuck.
It’s a big ask to ask your captain to sacrifice himself and play in such a role to which he’s obviously not suited to and a role in which he’s genuinely playing for the team at the risk of facing the wrath of the fans for not performing at the heights that they have come to expect of Ryan Giggs. For his courage, determination and selflessness, Giggsy must be commended.
The only reason Giggs is playing in that role though, is because Rooney, Saha and Anderson are not 100% fit. With Saha fit, he takes the striker role and Tevez slots in behind him / alongside him. Ditto for a Tevez / Rooney partnership if Rooney is fully fit, and once Anderson has a dozen games on the trot for Manchester United under his belt he will be another prime candidate for that position (and offer United better penetration in attack as well as more pace).
In a Manchester United weakened by injuries, Ryan Giggs is a hero for playing the second striker role. In a fully-fit squad though, Ryan Giggs has no business in that position, and thus he falls back to the wings. On the right, we have the irreplaceable Ronaldo and like it or not, he’s more important to Manchester United on the pitch than Giggsy. On the left, we have the blossoming partnership of Nani and Evra, and after a difficult initiation (Nani has been thrown in at the far end of the pool so far as his debut for Manchester United is concerned and he’s come out stronger, better and more confident) Nani looks good and improving on the left. Would he keep Giggs on the bench?
At this point, I have to say yes. As much as Giggsy’s experience is valuable, we have other people capable of filling in his role as leader and captain (Rio), on taking corners (Nani, Carrick), on free kicks (Ronnie and Hargo, although Ronnie needs to get his act together) and as a creative influence on the pitch (Everyone apart from Vidic and EVDS).
The question to ask is - what does Ryan Giggs provide on the left flank (or as a support striker) that any other player can not do better in that position? If you rate Giggs ahead of Nani, then there is the question of pace (and what that does to United’s left flank - Nani’s presence means that Evra has to overlap less and therefore can defend better) and of Manchester United’s future - giving Nani games now ensures that by the time next season rolls on we’ll have an excellent left-winger on the books capable of tearing apart opposition defences. Playing Giggsy only holds back Nani’s development at this point.
There’s one thing I skipped - Giggsy’s suitability as a support striker in an injury-hit Manchester United squad. There’s a big reason why we’re playing the 4-4-1 or 4-5-1 system, and that’s Paul Scholes. Unless you have a Rooney playing in Giggsy’s current role, Fergie can’t afford to play 2 strikers with Scholes and not have his midfield overrun. And considering the form Manchester United are in, Fergie is banking on what he knows has the best chance of working - experience - and therefore Giggs stays. Although it’s not as if we have a star striker just waiting in the sidelines.
Giggs still has at least till the end of 2009 at Manchester United (and if he can stay fit, perhaps another year after that). But his time as a sure starter for Manchester United has come to an end. With injuries a regular part of the season, it’s unlikely that Giggs will be asked to sit on the bench for too long but when the time comes, I hope Ferguson is strong enough to bench his vice-captain and play the strongest Manchester United XI.
Paul Scholes
While there are people who are willing write Giggsy off, hardly anyone is doing the same to Paul Scholes, and this is where it gets problematic. On the surface, Paul Scholes had hardly put a foot wrong this season. However, there are signs that the master is in decline and there are two big signs screaming at us from central midfield - Scholesy’s movement on the pitch (or lack thereof) and the shredded confidence of Michael Carrick.
Scholes is a smart footballer who plays to his strengths - which is why you’ll hardly see him make a mistake, because he focuses on what he does well, minimizes errors and keeps at it.
The problem is, Scholes is slow as hell in midfield and while he makes up for it through experience and intelligent positioning on the pitch, he rarely moves forward until the whole team is pushing forward, and as a result we lose a lot of forward thrust in midfield. Last season we had Rooney covering the extra ground and although this season Scholesy’s slowed down a bit more. With Giggs playing in Rooney’s role we haven’t had the same impact in the middle of the pitch, and as a result we’ve had a lot of trouble dominating the midfield despite having being far better every single time.
On the other hand, as Scholes is far better creatively than defensively, he’s not going to defend much. This amounts to Scholesy roaming in circles in midfield trying to influence the game with his ‘positioning’ as well as his actual efforts on the ball, and this leaves gaps behind him and ahead of him that need to be filled.
He’s also started letting balls go if they’re too far to get to easily, preferring to let them run to team-mates or allowing the opposition to get possession by falling back and attempting to cover instead of going in and winning the ball. In one way it saves us from giving away unnecessary free-kicks but on the other hand we keep giving the possession away and there’s no room for error for anyone else passing to Scholesy.
All this puts a lot of pressure on other players who have to cover the areas that Scholesy leaves open, and no one has felt that pressure this season more than Michael Carrick.
There was a time last season when Carrick was being tipped as the successor to Paul Scholes with his passing and creative skills tipped to complement Hargo’s no-nonsense defending perfectly. However, we started this season with 3 players in midfield - Scholes playing centre, Giggs supporting the striker but unable to track back effectively to cover Scholes and Carrick left to mop up behind Scholes as well as push forward to create more chances.
Carrick is good, he’s not that good - it was asking too much of him, and coupled with a worrying lack of form, his confidence has dropped and he’s now struggling to have the same impact on the pitch as he was last season. Defensively he’s less prone to sit back and shield and if he has to track back from further up in the midfield it leaves the United defense exposed (not that we should worry too much - rio and vida are playing even better than they were last season).
What if it was Hargreaves playing instead of Carrick? Hargo has that ‘engine’ to run up and down the pitch all day, he’s the sort of player who can, along with Rooney up front, cover Scholes (a major reason behind why Fergie went after Hargo). However, the one pairing I can’t wait to see is the Carrick-Hargreaves pairing - it would effectively free Carrick of much of his defensive duties and give him the creative license to push forward and stamp his authority on Manchester United’s midfield.
Under Scholesy’s shadow, the game moves through him and as Scholesy grows older and slows down, United’s midfield becomes less and less fluid. He’s still a great player, but there has to come a time when Ferguson should explore other options and find out what suits Manchester United best. With Hargreaves due to come back soon, I’d expect him to slot in and replace Carrick, but by the end of the season could it be Carrick replacing Scholes?
Manchester United comes first
It’s easily to be sentimental here but we’ve gone down that route with Roy Keane and seen where that got us. A player’s influence and value off the pitch as a leader can be outweighed by his lack of impact on the pitch, and a player’s status as a leader on the pitch can also have a negative impact on the players alongside him, regardless of how good he plays.
Will a Manchester United side without Giggs and Scholes play better this season? I hope so, because at the moment we’re playing scrappy and the two worrying areas have been the lack of control in central midfield and the few number of goals scored. If changing things can fix these problems, then shouldn’t we be doing it sooner rather than later?
When Hargreaves and Rooney are fully fit (and assuming Fergie plays Tevez with Rooney up front), Ferguson should find out the answer.
Remember to sign up for Soccerlens' 08/09 Fantasy Football.
Related Items from Soccerlens
- We need more match-winners at Manchester United
- Why Paul Scholes won’t leave Manchester United for Sunderland
- Giggs and Scholes - Best ever for Manchester United?
- Should Manchester United stick with Rossi?
- Giggs turning into Beckham - without the benefits - for Manchester United
INJURIES
force SAF to start scholes+giggs
you gave the answer to yourself
intersting post mate
tbh - im not sure if we will see a carrick-hargo comination in CM simply because fergie will keep playing scholes unless he is injured. the only time you may see carrick and hargreaves on the field together is if he opts for a 3 man CM which i wouldnt be in favour of looking at our attacking options
nice article
You’re having me on right? Pull the other leg mate, its got bells on it. You can’t talk about Scholes & Ronaldo on the same page that you’re complaining about ‘petty fouls’ & ‘whimsical diving’ in the first sentence!
Anyway, i thought this was a very in depth & well thought out article. Are you willing to suggest that Scholes & Giggs be relegated to playing just Carling & FA cup games? I’d like to read your opinion on that one.
One thing you can bank on is SAF’s ruthlessness & i think it should have been worth a mention in this article by comparing his past unpopular actions (with subsequent good results) to this situation. Roy Keane was a good start.
Scholes:
Carrick IS Scholes’ successor. I think we will start seeing more of Carrick/Hargo this season. Scholes will then come off the bench as an impact player. This does not mean that once Hargo is fit that Scholes will get relegated to the bench. I believe SAF’s main focus this season is Europe. For this he needs Hargo. Given hargo’s injury situation, he will be rested a lot, which means Scholes/Carrick will feature a lot as well. But, I believe Scholes will be phased out slowly during this season. Next season should see him mainly as an un-used sub.
Giggs:
Giggs do perform a very important role in the team at the moment. Unfortunately as you correctly pointed out, it’s not really working for him. Problem is, he does not quite have the pace to be a major threat on the wings either. I love Giggs to pieces (I got my Giggs shirt last week Saturday), but I do believe he is past his best. I think everybody want him to beat Sir Bobby’s appearance record before he retires.
SAF did a great job at getting replacements for these 2 legends. Nani for Giggs and Carrick for Scholes. (Anderson will be our man in the hole when we play 451). I think its now just a matter of bleeding the new guys in, and phasing the old ones out.
Giggsy and Scholesy should be backups, not first choice. And I wouldn’t drop Carrick for Scholes at this, and I wouldn’t drop Rooney or Anderson for Giggsy if there was another striker playing in front / alongside them.
SAF’s ruthlessness is legendary, but I was thinking about it this morning when I wrote this that SAF gives his players more than enough time, because of their experience. He threw out Ince when Ince wasn’t a positive influence in the dressing room, he threw out Keano for the same reason, he threw out Becks and Stam because he fell out with them, and he’s thrown out Ruud for both of those reasons.
I think someone will have to remind me of his ruthlessness in a case where it hasn’t been vindictive…
There was a slight, intentional or not, implication within that article that United’s lack of goals, albeit with the all guns blazing, all conquering start we had (that iss what it was againts Reading, Portsmouth and Man City- toothless granted) is somehow down to Scholes and Giggs?? Now I will make no qualms about my fondness for those 2 and I will not rant on about their value to the team but what cannot be denied is the circumstances that they’re being played in- striking department is a bit shot right now what with Saha being so liable to injury and worry, midfield waiting on the Hargreaves/Carrick combo to flourish. Fletcher is not a pick ahead of Scholes, rather a smashing deputy, and in any case he’s injured right now, as is O’ Shea, with Hargreaves’s latest bad luck with injury. Ji Sung Park is still recovering and so we leave ourselves with only Anderson, Eagles and Nani being the likely lads for replacing either Scholes or Giggs in this current line up. Full circle, they are good enough to start: Scholes for the full 90, even at this late stage in his career; Giggs in an ideal world would be used sparingly, 45-60 minutes in his ideal position, he’ll run past all bar top four full-backs,with Nani as the impact sub, but at this moment in time his experience wins over anyone else playing the support striker role so he has to play.
It smacks of an opportunist moment to push an opinion less founded in objective thought, more in personal opinion. In which case the article should have been written last season cos Scholes and Giggs of last season are pretty much the same players this season.
two legends indeed but yeh its time for them to go and i think SAF should join them?
Carrick is yet to show anything like the mettle required of him to ”””replace”””’ Scholes. He is no where near the attacking threat that Scholes was/is.
As for Giggs, he is there for a couple of reasons. One, Nani needs time to settle. Two, we were missing players and having a player able to play in multiple positions well is a life saver (Nani can’t player in the centre of midfield and even if he could it’s probably not a good idea to play a new guy out of position).
The fact is Fergie’s doing the best with what he’s got. We are in a transitionary phase. He’s just spent a bucketload on investment for the future of the club. Those players can’t be expected to fire straight away. Meanwhile it’s clear that Giggs and Schole are past their prime. Add to that just selling your back-up strikers, an as-yet misfiring signing (T-Vez), the suspension of your best player and an injury crisis and he’s got his work cut out for him.
One thing we must concede, though, is that at least part of this could have been avoided. Why did Fergie wait so long to bring in players that can replace Scholes and Giggs? (Djemba Djemba doesn’t count.) The Glazers, his own mistake or just waiting for the right players to come along? At least Fergie definately got the timing right for a transitionary period, as it seems like all the other top clubs are going through one as well. We’d have been (and have been) smoked if we’d had this kind of start in previous seasons. It’s weird to think that the youngsters at Arsenal are the most settled big team at the start of the season.
P.S With the way Scholes is tackling this season, I wouldn’t worry about the others getting game time. He’s going to be suspended at least twice.
I am not so sure about Giggs but Scholes is almost irreplaceable.
It is no coincidence that his return to form helped United lift the title last season. Carrick is groomed as his successor and that lad is improving all the time but he lacks the attacking instinct.
Seriously, I dread the day when Scholes hang up his boots. Not only has United lost a talent, the world will also miss his sublime touches.
Ahmed… nice arguments but… Nani is not and will not in the near future be more valuable than Giggs on the field. And Carrick is not and will not in the near future be more valuable than Scholes.
Giggs has experience galore and still has the pace to outrun most in the league — sure he is not nani fast, but speed only matters that much in FIFA and PES. Also, his passing and tackling is excellent for a midfielder! Give nani two years to learn from watching Giggs and practicing along side with him and when Giggs retires we have a man in nani that will be capable of taking over.
Scholes can and still passes with laser precision and has excellent vision. His tackling is famously bad but (as done so often) provides Man U with a matchwinner from outside the box. He is our golden boy (red gold
)
When we have our full team back Giggs and scholes will make Man U a much better than and teach the young ones as well.
Good arguments but you have nullified them as well. How can we judge Giggs and Scholes if they are all playing incredibly out of position, without the freedom they are accustomed to. This critique is much too early and much too soon. Giggs is way out of poistion and Scholes in trying to play as defensively which is not the strongest part of his game. Either way, both have done a great job so far and I applaud United for getting the result even though we are having injury troubles and we ae not quite on song. It would be better to critique Scholes and Giggs when we have a full strength squad and Fergie actually has choices to make.
As for Nani, this season is a transitional period for him and he should improve his game. Maybe not this season or next but give him a couple and he will have the experience at United he will develop the qualities that are required of English football, then he will be a big hit!
there has been only one game that i have seen Carrick truly go forward last season and that was in the 2nd leg of the Champions league against Roma…Scholes has been slow this season and squad rotation seem soon to be in order..this season one of the biggest problem has been loss of possession and Nani being the biggest culprit..i have yet to see him aggressively try to get past an oppposing player like rono does so often
i think the fact we are short of strikers is limiting fergie to fielding one central striker per game..
I said this about Makelele at Chelsea in dec 2006, and look what happened in the 2nd season.
scholes may be old but his brains thinks faster than any one in the liverpool, chelsea and arsenal and u need some one like that ok and as for giggs is gettin at the end of his career and as soon tevez hit form that will be the end of giggs. Hargreaves is better than gattuso and holdin role and any one thinkin rooney should be on the bench for england fix up. a few years ago u lot were sayin because rooney england is gonna win the world cup.
“Nani is not and will not in the near future be more valuable than Giggs on the field.”
Anyone noticed that we started scoring from corners? When you see Giggsy lining up a corner, you know there’s nothing to get excited about. Let’s hope one the new lads gives Ronaldo reason to practise his free kicks a bit more…
Good article. I agree 100% with your points, and I have been actually saying it week in week out since the start of the season. At first I thought it was injuries that was forcing SAF’s hand. However SAF seems obsessed with playing a 5 man midfield to accomodate Scholes and Giggs, and the end result is lack of penetration in the final 3rd.
I believe also, that SAF is doing the right thing in giving the new arrivals time to bed into the Man Utd system, and all we can do is be patient and see how things progress.
I totally agree with you. Great article.
I do think though that it will be Rooney to take over from Scholes eventually and that the strike force wil be made of Tevez and huntelaar (or some1 like him) in the future, with hargo complementing in mid…
i think nani will be eased into gigg’s position this season and eventually take over from him next season.
i am sorry to say this but i think that next season should be the last for the two legends, just hoping that giggs breaks bobby charlton’s record by then
what do you make of neville’s place in the team?
honestly, ahmed…i don’t know if you watch the games or just read reports and take your cue from that.
nani has made one decent play all season…in all the other games i’ve seen, especially yesterday…he’s been unimpressive. he’s like ronaldo used to be…trying to be fancy and pacy and getting nothing from it. he’s not ready.
scholes and giggs have both been played out of position. if giggs is on the left and scholes plays where giggs has been the results are alot different in the types of form they show.
i dont know why saf insists on putting them in tough spots, scholes needs to play in the forward half and not be asked to defend like carrick or hargo can. giggs needs to play left wing. simple.
rooney
giggs scholes ronaldo
carrick
evra ferdinand vidic brown
I must admit Ahmed, that after reading the headline, I thought; “Here we go, he’s at it again..”.
However, this piece was thought out, well-written and had several decent points to it. Hell, I’ll even admit you might have opened my eyes a bit.
That being said, I’m not totally convinced. I’ll try not to make myself an opinion based on past performances when I say this: I’m getting the feeling that most of the inspiration for this article came directly from the Sporting game. Our first half was dreadful, and no-one except our defence played up to standard. I’ll agree with most on your points on Giggsy, but you seem to forget his creative influence and his ability to make the correct choices with the ball in any given situation, still makes him stand out. But, without a doubt..he should be considered a backup-player for the future.
When it comes to Scholesy, I’ll admit I haven’t been paying attention to his physical range on the pitch. He might have lost some movement, and your point may be valid.. ..I’ll have to check next time. We all know Scholesy can’t tackle. He has never mastered that art of the game at all. Technically, he gets his tackles all wrong; going in with the wrong foot all too late. He closes down his opponents due to his experience and his positional ability, but when he gets up close, he’s a liability. The creative and attacking side of his game however, is absolutely top class. You might argue that a modern midfielder needs to have it all (like Gerrard/Essien/Fabregas etc) but Scholesy’ impact when he came back, was (and still is) extremely important. He’s still better than Carrick in my opinion, and has without a doubt the best passing percentage in the Premier League. (Confirmed by Opta) Add to the fact that he also scores goals, I think it would be wrong to write him off just yet. Against tough opposition like Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Milan etc. I would pick Scholesy ahead of anyone in our midfield. And I mean ANYONE. He’s the heart and soul of our attack, and has been playing the United-way for years.
Of course these players will have to step a side at some point, -they all do. Age catches up with everyone. Writing this in such an article is like stating the obvious. But for now, I think Sir Alex is doing a fine job.
Thank you so much for the new insight! I’ll be sure to watch Giggsy and Scholesy more closely in the following games. I suggest you do the same.
The problem with United’s midfield these recent weeks is that it is too congested.
If you watch the matches carefully, (hell, even if u just use your common sense), the forwards are actually more suited to play in midfield, thus it is their instinct to drop back alittle.
With Carrick, Scholes, Nani, Ronaldo already in midfield, we really can do without Tevez dropping deep, Evra pushing up, Ferdinand trying to do a Zidane in the middle and Brown trying to be a BEcks.
Yes I know these overlapping fullbacks give us options. But I would love to see Scholesy running the show more! Or perhaps Carrick. I do not wish to see Brown and Evra being the only people whipping crosses in.
Scholes is at his best when he has a Rooney or Saha riding on the shoulders of central defenders. i.e. trying to beat the offside trap. But these days, the targets are not there for him to aim at. Remember the deft lob he executed perfectly in the 1st leg Milan match at O.T? That’s what I’m talking abt. Tevez should be trying to win the balls in the 6-yard box. He is often caught outside of the box. Nobody is in the danger area applying the pressure.
This, in summary, is what I think is wrong with our play these few weeks. But with Rooney back, the focal point should be clear again.
Ahmed - u missed my point. I probably should have said you can’t ‘complain’ about diving etc when you have someone like Ronaldo on your team.
and no i didn’t see the game Ahmed. I was too busy whooping for joy watching Arsenal thrash Sevilla!
Undounded criticism, in the light of the circumstances for both the squad and the players in question, can and will always be dismissed out right. Carrick/Hargreaves will come good, not just yet to the extent that all the “Scholes is old and needs to step aside” moaning can be of any consequence. Giggs situation is plain to see, he’s in the squad on merit, because he’s giving the team something- and that’s even taking into consideration that the boys nani and anderson aren’t fully there yet for left winger and supporting striker/in the hole player positions respectively.
Again, it’s a crtiticism that doesn’t wash, the performances from Scholes and Giggs haven’t been vintage but their replacemenrs wouldn’t have fared better in the meantime.
Both are coming off a season where they were in the Premiership best 11 and won 3 player of the month awards between them. Both were outstanding last season.
We are only a handful of games into the new season and injuries have been a major headache in the attacking areas. New players have not settled in yet (Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves, Tevez)so everything has been a bit up in the air.
Form is transient, class is permanent.
Sorry mate, but the article completely over analyses the situation and is premature. Give it to Chrismas at least before worrying about it.
NANI IS A AMAZING PLAYER HE IS A BIT SHORT ON HAVING THE CONFIDENT TO BEAT OTHER PLAYER AND WHEN THAT HAPPENED CAN U IMAGINE NANI TERRORIST THE RIGHT BACK THEN RONALDO TERRORIST LEFT BACK THEN TEVEZ AND ROONEY PLAYING 0NE-TWO AND ANDERSON ATTACKING FROM THE MIDDLE WHILE HARGREAVES LOOKS AFTER THE BACK 4 AND EVRA RUNNING UP AND DOWN AND GARY NEVILLE AT EVERY CHANCE AND NOTHING IS GONNA BEAT VIDIC AND FERDINAND AND WHEN THEY DO VAN DER SAR IS THERE. COME ON VIDIC WILL BULLY TORRES AND DROGBA AND ANDERSON IS GONNA MAKE FABREGAS LOOK STUPID. ADN BEN FOSTER DONT FOR GET.
Completely agree with the points 26 and 27. I think your looking for excuses for Man Us performances Ahmed. Lining up a four man midfield of Ronnie, Carrick, Hargreaves and Nani, as you suggest, would limit your teams fluidity and place complete dependence on Ronaldo and Rooney producing moments of brilliance, which would only take you so far. Any decent team with a good left back and DCM would stifle that team. Scholes and Giggs make your team tick, their the oil in your engine and you need both of them until Nani and Anderson mature.
Carrick will never ever be able to fill scholes shoes. Your complaints about Scholes (not getting in he box, lacking pace) all apply to Carrick.
To be fair you back up your argument and make alot of interesting points, but all it shows is how much Man U need these two to perform.
Surely there is one other option - play Scholes in the hole. You’re right, he’s clearly struggling to get back, and can’t provide the driving force on the break. I think you’re spot on with this being one of the key reasons we’re lacking the burst on the counter we had last year. The other is the formation - last season we had at least 2 up front leading the line, and 2 on the wings, all shooting forward. This does two things, one pulls the defense apart covering wide areas leaving gaps in the middle, and gives the centre backs two people to mark, causing confusion.
This season we have both giggs and scholes who, on the break, look to do the same thing, which is hold hte ball in the centre circle, look up, and pick someone to release. Unfortunately when your only options are Ronaldo who is picked up on the right, Nani marked on the left and either Tevez or Rooney being taken by 2 centre backs, you just can’t free them.
Given the situation, if Fergie is insisting on the 4-5-1, then you have to free Scholes of his defensive responsiblities completely. Let him sit in the circle, waiting, saving his energy for getting forward. Giggs adds nothing at the moment, sacrifice him for a more defensive player (ideally Fletcher/Hargreaves when they’re fit) and we should be able to sort out the issue. As I think you’ve mentioned before, the answer for United is either the old 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1, with two defensive mids taking care of all the hard work, and allowing 4 players to focus solely on attack.
At the moment we only have 3, and defenses are not finding it hard to take care of that. (even moreso with today’s emphasis on a holding player in front of the back 4, or in some of our matchces 2 of these, making it either 5 on 3 or 6 on 3!)
Giggs is shocking playing in the support striker roles and hasn’t performed in perhaps 7 months, if not longer, and sentimentality is keeping him in the side. For me Giggs needs a kick up the rear so should be dropped and the captaincy given to Rio - Giggs isn’t, and never has been, captain material.
And please will people stop talking about Carrick being a replacement for Scholes, he isn’t a creative player, doesn’t make the late runs into the box, hasn’t got the touch of Scholes, I think Carrick will be seeing a lot of the bench this season because he was a panic buy when the real target was Hargreaves.
what u say is totaly correct
i feel uniteds starting eleven should be
VDS Neville(brown) ferdinand Vidic Evra
Ronaldo Carrick(anderson) Hargo Nani(giggs)
Rooney Saha(tevez)
and i think we got of the hottest talents coming through in gibson and pique. they shud also get some game time. i am also an admirer of fletcher and his work rate. bring of the bench for last 30 mins.
after reading a lot of comments, all i have to say is whileu guys are putting scholes off the team, u guys will know what united miss without scholes….just wait
Matthew Caruana- your wisdom is simple and sublime, top post mate!
Hmmmmmmmmmmm- Giggs down the right wing with a sublime ball in with the outside of his left boot and Tevez ghosts in for his first goal, Chelski down to 10 and 1-0 going into half-time, ends up 2-0 on the day with a Saha penalty at the the death with Terry getting booed when he went over to applaud the away fans…..
Gigs has lost a yard of pace but is still very much an essential cog in the United engine… Ahmed Bilal, you sure you didn’t just write this article for the traffic it would generate?? The more I think about it, the more it sucks, doesn’t make sense cos today’s Giggs served you no vindication rather humble pie and it just doesn’t tie in with your usual, informed and mature writing style. Hmmmm indeed!
This is back on the agenda with avengence! At the start of the season the expectation would have been that Nani and Anderson would slowly be blooded as cover for Scholes and Giggs but that the latter 2 would be first choice for the forseeable future.
In fairness to Scholes he is not long back following an extensive lay off and needs time to get back to his best. His form was excellent earlier in the season.
In reality what’s happened is that Anderson and Nani, having been given their opportunities, are way ahead of schedule/expectations. Both are playing excellent, exciting football and have been a breath of fresh air.
The challenge for young players is to take their chance and make it impossible for the manager to overlook them. I believe that they have done that.
Scholes and Giggs are United legends and will be part of the squad for another 2 or 3 years but it may be sooner rather than later that Fregie has to relegate them to back-up players, while using their maturity and experience as an influence in the dressing room.
As we see regularly, particularly in the Champions League, it’s a very narrow margin between victory and defeat. The edge that two talented young players like Anderson and Nani can give you versus a potential pedestrian performance by Scholes or Giggs can make all the difference.
Based on recent form it’s difficult not to make the call that the two youngsters bring more to the team right now.
However, there is still room for Giggs and Scholes to participate and make major contributions when called upon.