Please Stop Saying United are in decline

[bluemoon32]

Well so far this summer, we are getting better and they are getting worse.

Manchester United (or Rag twats, if you prefer)
- Ronaldo
- Tevez

Manchester City
+ Barry
+ Santa Cruz
+ Tevez

Yes, they still have quality all around the park, but compare the two starting line ups, and hand on heart tell me that player for player they are still streets ahead of us. They are successful because they have incredible depth (and even that is decreasing all the time).

Van Der Sar v Given
Neville v Richards
Ferdinand v Onuoha
Vidic v Dunne
Evra v Bridge
Fletcher v Barry
Scholes v De Jong
Park v Wright-Phillips
Anderson v Ireland
Berbatov v Robinho
Rooney v Tevez

I'd argue about Neville but the rest are correct, at this moment in time Utd are streets ahead of us defensively, hopefully that will change with a couple of additions for us this summer though.
Obviously they will strengthen too though & Carrick is also missing from the team above.
These are exciting times for us & i'd rather just concern myself with what's happening at our club, rather than what's happening at the swamp.

 

[simonk]

Can people please stop saying "United are on the decline" etc.

They've just won the league and lost the Champions League final.

They've lost a couple of senior players but history has proven that they will replace them.

They're not on the decline and probably won't ever be, for the forseeable future.

I wish people would stop going on about it as it's a bit embarrassing.

We're on the up...focus on that, not their perceived decline.

Rant over.

but they are a selling club, whilst we on the other hand, are a buying club!

 

[bluemoondays]

Decline, possibly, a lot depends on their summer signings - looking at their squad in how many previous years would Fergie have kept 35+ year olds (or a 39 year old keeper) unless he HAD to. Giggs & scholes are still skillful but can they turn it on for 90 minutes a game for 60+ games over a season, not a chance. In previous years they would have been pensioned off/forced out and replaced with equal quality at their prime, ditto for VDS and Neville.

Their players who are top 4 standard
Rooney, Vidic, Rio, Evra

Good players (top 7 standard - but even 2 of these are getting past it)
Carrick, Giggs, Scholes, Hargreaves (if he ever recovers), Berbatov (if he feels like it), Anderson (not sure, is this guy average PL?)

Average PL players
Nearly all the rest of the squad - O'Shea, Brown, Fletcher, Neville, Nani, VDSaar, the unproven kids.

One of the reasons the scum dominated was because of their quality forwards forcing lower teams to defend in numbers, looking at them now I think they are beatable by a fair few sides if they are prepared to have a go. It depends how many teams will be willing to have a go or will just go to play them with a 10 man defence, in which case they will probably scrape their 1-0's just because of a couple of players who can unpick those sort of defences.

The front line is a lot weaker without Tranny's pace and goalscoring skills or Tevez's hustling, their midfield is half pensioners and half average PL players, only their back 4(3) still looks very strong. Are Carrick, Hargreaves(Anderson?) and Fletcher any better than Barry, Ireland, De Jong - I wouldn't say so! If they get a run of bad games and some poor performances then Rooney is a red card waiting to happen.

They used to be able to field a top class side and have quality sat on the bench, now if they field a top-class side their bench is looking decidedly average. They are 1 or 2 long term injuries to key players away from looking like Everton, Villa, City. Imagine how they would cope if Rooney got a cruciate ligament injury now?

I'll caveat this post with saying that baconface still has to buy players but everyone they want to buy will be inflated because of a) they are Manure and b) everyone knows they just got £80m in. Maybe he can pull another rabbbit out of the hat but at this moment in time they are looking the weakest I have seen them for years

 

[Anonymous]

Decline, possibly, a lot depends on their summer signings - looking at their squad in how many previous years would Fergie have kept 35+ year olds (or a 39 year old keeper) unless he HAD to. Giggs & scholes are still skillful but can they turn it on for 90 minutes a game for 60+ games over a season, not a chance. In previous years they would have been pensioned off/forced out and replaced with equal quality at their prime, ditto for VDS and Neville.

Their players who are top 4 standard
Rooney, Vidic, Rio, Evra

Good players (top 7 standard - but even 2 of these are getting past it)
Carrick, Giggs, Scholes, Hargreaves (if he ever recovers), Berbatov (if he feels like it), Anderson (not sure, is this guy average PL?)

Average PL players
Nearly all the rest of the squad - O'Shea, Brown, Fletcher, Neville, Nani, VDSaar, the unproven kids.

One of the reasons the scum dominated was because of their quality forwards forcing lower teams to defend in numbers, looking at them now I think they are beatable by a fair few sides if they are prepared to have a go. It depends how many teams will be willing to have a go or will just go to play them with a 10 man defence, in which case they will probably scrape their 1-0's just because of a couple of players who can unpick those sort of defences.

The front line is a lot weaker without Tranny's pace and goalscoring skills or Tevez's hustling, their midfield is half pensioners and half average PL players, only their back 4(3) still looks very strong. Are Carrick, Hargreaves(Anderson?) and Fletcher any better than Barry, Ireland, De Jong - I wouldn't say so! If they get a run of bad games and some poor performances then Rooney is a red card waiting to happen.

They used to be able to field a top class side and have quality sat on the bench, now if they field a top-class side their bench is looking decidedly average. They are 1 or 2 long term injuries to key players away from looking like Everton, Villa, City. Imagine how they would cope if Rooney got a cruciate ligament injury now?

I'll caveat this post with saying that baconface still has to buy players but everyone they want to buy will be inflated because of a) they are Manure and b) everyone knows they just got £80m in. Maybe he can pull another rabbbit out of the hat but at this moment in time they are looking the weakest I have seen them for years

I agree 100%...
But how dare you analyse the situation and come to the "delusional" conclusion that they're no longer looking streets ahead of us....;-)
To be a "proper" City fan you apparently have to be an unthinking media drone and come out with blanket statements about the rest of football "laughing" at us to even suggest such "crap."

I don't give a shit what the "rest of football" thinks.We're currently giving a bit of a wake-up call to the "rest of football"...including the rags.

 

[mancboy123]

Its the attitude instilled in us by the media. That the top 4 are untouchable and that the average players they field are world beaters which ensures the comfy, cosy position they inhabit.

I mean they all go on about theyd like someone to break the top four but god help a team that actually goes and does it, when everton did it, it was because liverpool were bad, not that they deserved it, when villa went close last season, its cos arsenal werent playing well and then NORMAL order was restored.

Its nonsense and it just takes a few clubs such as us, everton, villa, spurs etc to go hold on maybe the top four isnt the natural order, we do have better teams than them, they are beatable and the whole thing gets blown wide open and without that nice little pot of cash from the champs league the playing field gets even more level.

The top four (bar maybe chelsea) have been living on the never never for quite some time and as soon as that falls away then there is no natural order of things. The media want you to believe that all these players want to play for a "top 4" club for the prestige but i tell you what soon as that money dries off and torres, mascherano, vidic, rooney, lampard, drogba, van persie are offered contracts with less wages they will be off and then the whole playing field is level.

 

[stonerblue]

Yeah, why would i take the piss out of them when i could start threads about our own players being shit/greedy/past it, or, 'not good enough for where we're going'.