for instance, the defensive roll we have
R.Ferdinand - £30 million, potential england captain
Vidic - as good as Rio but only cost 8 million
Evra - we have a history of good left backs, any recently as good as Evra?
GNeville - strong performer, does it week in week out when not injured long term
Neville hasn't been great for many years now, good, but not great. He has however looked woeful since coming back, I'd much rather go and buy someone like Rafinha, or simply give Rafael a go in the matches Brown doesn't play.
Ferdinand is probably the best CB in the World now. I can't remember a single mistake last season and was epic in Europe where we only conceeded 2 goals - one of which he didn't play in (Roma, where we had our kids out) and in the final which was a massive double deflection against Chelsea in the final.
Vidic is epic in the air, but hasn't convinced me yet this season barring the game against Blackburn. He's not as good as Ferdinand, but alternately, I wouldn't trade him for any other CB in the world (bar another Ferdinand).
Evra is the quickest we've ever had, but Irwin was something else. If ever you needed someone to rely on, dependable Dennis was always there. A leader both on and off the pitch, Evra doesn't have those qualities, but what he does have is pace, ability to beat a man and composure to cut a ball back to someone else when forward. He has also developed his defensive game immeasurably over the last 2 seasons and has me entirely convinced. For me, the best LB in Europe with Clichy being the only one close to coming second.
Plus we have Wes Brown, some youngersters and our Brazilians! Stronger than Stam Silvestre May, Berg, Neville imo
I'd say that we are superior defensively.
Then we have the midfield, worth some staggering amount of cash;
Hardgreaves - £18milion Great midfield driver
Carrick - £18 million not keen but as a squad player he's better than someone like Kleberson
Anderson - £18 million proespect to be awesome
Scholes - not as good as he was:/
Giggs - again not as good as he was,
Ronaldo - best player in world (TM)? better than giggs in his prime.
Nani - £12million, good young, better than other squad players we;ve had like Cruyf, Blomqvist
Park - workeraholic not great player but as good as C/Blomq
Fletcher - i dont like him, but again better than like Djemba etc
Carrick a squad player?! He's probably our best midfielder. Phenomenal passer, great interceptor, very good in tackles, calm on the ball and physically has the stamina to last every game of the season. Amazing. To compare him as just being better than Kleberson is outrageous.
Giggs and Scholes are past it, but that's to be expected. Giggs has been great so far this season though.
Hargreaves is superb, but I'd never start him over Carrick, neiter will Ferguson from the looks of it, which is why he's played both RB and RW. Very handy in Europe, after all, we bought him to win the European Cup and it worked!
Ronaldo is the best player in the world and is better than Giggs in his prime. Will he offer as much over a career as Giggs... I doubt it.
Nani was £17m, not £12m. Blomqvist was a hell of a player who was blighted by injury. He's one of the few players Man Utd fans like to believe was bad but was actually great. I don't think he offers much though, he's too namby pamby, not direct enough, lacks any consistency and is almost at the level Ronaldo was when we signed him, which obviously isn't a compliment.
Park is fantastic, has the best movement in the entire squad, always the first onto any rebound, will play anywhere and play his heart out, goes into tackles with the mentality that he's 6" taller and 3st heavier, the longer we can keep him, the better for the club. To say he's not a great player is ridiculous, as a passer he's amazing - have you ever watched him for South Korea? His performances for them, where he is the creative playmaker are mindboggling at times, he's also one of the major reasons we made the Champions League final. He would get into ANY Champions League squad and is one of the players at Man Utd you don't want to play against because his movement is so unpredictable whilst managing to get where his team-mates want him.
Fletcher full of confidence would start in any team outside the top 4 in the EPL. Great passer, stamina that's endless, wins the ball and is now looking to be our 'fox in the box'. He's only 24 too. My best mate is a Boro fan and he's been desperate for them to sign him for 3 seasons now.
overall best man utd midfield squad ever?
You'd have to say it's certainly the most dynamic, but we've never really had an extended poor midfield. However, we still don't have, and probably never will, have a replacement for Roy Keane, he was *that* good.
Strike Force
Rooney - £30million the future of english football (TM) he's good
Tevez - £30million the argentine Wayne Rooney
Berbatov - £30million (im gonna get slated) as mercurial with the ball as Eric?
Rooney is inconsistent, massively injury prone and works too hard at times to be a threat. 4 out of 5 games teams would be happy to play against him because he's no threat when he's in our defence, but on that 1 game he'll terrorise any team in the Universe.
Tevez is more consistent and a better holder and short passer of the ball than Rooney. He also has a better temprament and given 10 one on ones I'd gamble on him to score more of them than Wayne Rooney. Tevez' performance against Barcelona is probably the finest I've ever seen in a United shirt, surpassing Sir Roy of Keanes Juventus performance.
Berbatov has the best first touch I think I've ever seen. He is also the sulkiest player I've ever seen. He's lazy to the extreme and has about as much pace as Mario Jardel, but his passing and vision are incredible. He has more assets than Cantona did, but he's not the inspiration or leader Cantona was, nor will he be.
you could say RVN + Rooney+ Saha + old ole but as a 3 or 4 was that as good at the time as our combination now?
It's more interchangeable with the attack than any we've ever had, and causes more problems. I'd assume we're the hardest strike force to defend against in the EPL and possibly in Europe (if we were to go all out and play our game - a la Roma - rather than worry about other teams coming at us - a la Barcelona).
We also have Campbell who looks a really good prospect with incredible acceleration and 2 feet as well as Manucho who is athletic and a force in the air.
As a single striking unit we have had better, especially in '99 with Cole, Yorke, Sheringham and Solskjaer, so I wouldn't say it's our best ever, but our midfield and attack are a combined force.
So man for man, some classic players may be older but we now have more effective ones and more quality cover in key positions. Sure our opponent quality has increased but that doesnt mean we should discount the overall quality we have in our team?
Any thoughts on that or am i alone?
Overall, possibly stronger, especially given the age of our team, but I'd still take Schmeichel, Cantona, Solskjaer, Sheringham, Cole, Stam and Keane in their prime without any second thoughts.
I honestly think Liverpools midfield is better. Trying to give an neutral opinion is hard but I think its true;
Babel / Masc / Gerrard / Riera
Subs; Alonso, Lucas.
I would only swop Ronaldo.
Erm, no. Not even close.
I don't want to do player for player, but the only one coming out on top for you is Gerrard.
