giggs is no longer the winger we used to see, running with pace at defenders, making them turn in circles as he skips past them with ease. killer balls and good vision.

now, yes he still has that vision. but the execution is very very poor. he knows what he should be doing but hes legs are too old to get them to do it. his pace has dropped rapidly, he hardly tries to dribble, knowing he’ll get tackled and get angry stares from his teammates.

you could easily see these traits in towards the end of last season, and surely the first few games of this season. even during the friendly against inter milan, he tried to take the ball down the right wing at HIS full speed. and guess what? luis figo, who’s older than him fyi.. chased him without much effort and stole the ball as if he was a natural defender.. if thats not enough, take a look at the game against portsmouth.. trying to out run matty taylor on the wing.. dint even get there and muntari got the ball.

last season for example, when united were trailing blackburn 0-1. ronaldo weaved his way to the byline and played a delightful cut back to giggs on the penalty spot. and yes you guess it.. he blast the ball with full power against the cross bar.

talking about recent games, against spurs.. he could have easily fed eagles near the end of the game but tried to take it on his own, failed. decided to play the pass to eagles, but a really poor ball which got intercepted.

yes, no doubt giggs was an excellent player whom defenders feared. now its different, we’ve to accept the fact sometime sooner rather than later that he’s clearly past his best and it’s time someone takes the place and makes it his. like nani or anderson..

now, about becks. anytime anyday ask a manger who he’d prefer and they’d say becks.. why? he creates something outta nothing just by putting his right foot on the ball. he might not use the pace he has, but that aint stopping him from delivering balls which defenders have to be alert at all times to prevent them from turning into goals. ask rvn, ole, yorke, cole who they’d fancy and they’d tell you the same.

and about the current united side to be honest, i feel anderson should play on the left side like ronaldinho, robinho does. he has the pace and power to beat defenders and has really good crossing accuracy. to play in the center like kaka does needs more creativity and work rate, but we’ll see..

I think that SAF should use him more from the bench as a means of settling the team.

I for one would love to see Giggs break the appearance record. When he does, I feel that United should make a MASSIVE fuss over it, because the the modern game needs this more than anything else a player has to offer any club.

Everyone knows Giggs is on his way out, the fans do, Alex Ferguson does (hence the signing of Nani) and so does Ryan himself. He is in no way like Beckham. He has remained loyal to Manchester United, he has accepted the part of squad in the past and will do so again this season by his own admission and finally in his heyday was not just about crossing but pace and skill too, two things that Beckham never had.

seroiuly though we need players like ronaldo and giggs to drift infield in order for us to play the way we played last season, besides i have a feeling the evra was brought to compensate for giggs’ lack of pace (it would make no sense to kick out the door heinze otherwise).
so no losses there and giggs should be a starting certainty this season and be challanged for his spot by nani (who’s been brilliant so far) next season and then it would be lights out for my favorite player.

Back to the comments, Giggs is still valuable to the team. But I do agree abt the lack of pace. However, I feel that how the manager uses him is more important that how he has changed as a player. So it doesnt matter how much pace and skills he lost; rather how he can help the team now…

But I love Scholes. Why do you write “Scholes can’t keep up with the pace of the Premier League”.

Scholes decides the pace at which ManU play. He dictates.
For me Scholes = Makalele + Gravesen + Lot more

You bring Hargreaves at an exorbitant price and give him Scholes job. Hargreaves can’t equal a Scholes, not for 100 years to come.