Sir Alex Ferguson's Tactical Dilemma with Manchester United

Eddie Johnson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:31:52 -0400

The departure of Cristiano Ronaldo leaves a huge hole in the Manchester United team. In a recent interview, Sir Alex Ferguson admitted as much when he said, "There’s no doubt he’s a huge loss. I think it’s a challenge for us. It won’t be the same without Ronaldo. It can’t be."

Ronaldo's incredible asset was that he was effectively two players in one: A pacy dangerous winger and a potent striker. This allowed United to play a fluid 4-3-3 with Rooney, Tevez, and Ronaldo interchanging effectively the roles of strikers and wingers.

In essence, there was no designated striker in many games, but the player playing as the frontman varied on the situation of a match or the opposition.

Valencia and Obertan are more traditional wingers and will not provide the same goal threat as Ronaldo, and Ferguson admitted himself that Owen will not be first pick, but used in the squad rotation system.

This presents United with a big dilemma on how they will line up next season.

Will Ferguson revert back to a 4-4-2, with Rooney and Berbatov up front?

And what role will Wayne Rooney play? The main front man with Berbatov in behind, or as a left winger, which allowed Ronaldo the freedom to be at his most devastating?

One thing is for certain: Rooney needs to take on the mantle as the focal point of the United team like Ronaldo did so well.

Perhaps a more predictable lineup for United will be Ferguson continuing with the 4-3-3 formation, with Valencia playing right wing, Rooney interchanging between forward and winger, and Berbatov/Owen as the main front man.

This could also be tweaked slightly for big games, with Park providing extra defensive support on the left hand side of midfield. In effect, the system would be changed to a 4-5-1, with Rooney as the lone front man.

One suspects that Carrick and Darren Fletcher (and Hargreaves when he returns) will be the main stays of the United midfield, providing defensive protection as well as the drive going forward. United will also look to Anderson and Giggs to provide some creative edge in midfield.

Even with departure of Ronaldo, the United team does have a lot of flexibility in the way it can play with the players it has. Given a particular game, it could easily play a 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or a 4-5-1.

But the main problem will be to replace the brilliance of Ronaldo.

For example, does United have someone who could head the ball as good as Ronaldo in attack? It is a big challenge for Ferguson, as he admitted.

Make no mistake, Ronaldo was a great player for United, and it will need a lot of its players to step up to replace his presence.

Not only is it Rooney's job, but also the likes of Nani and Anderson, who have been on the fringes of the United squad and have an opening to make a name for themselves. The same goes for Macheda, Tosic, and Welbeck who will get more opportunities this season.

In Ferguson, though, United has a trump card. Because if anyone can motivate a team after the loss of a talisman and motivate young players to step up, it is Alex Ferguson.

Manchester United's Midfield: A Concern?

Eddie Johnson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:51:17 -0400

In the last weeks or so Manchester United have been linked with several wingers and strikers as various people wonder what exactly Sir Alex has up his sleeve as he tries to replace Cristiano Ronaldo and, to a lesser extent, Carlos Tevez.

As it turns out Fergie has opted for Michael Owen and the success of this move will be judged by the amount of silverware that can be won.

It is rather interesting however that United have not been linked with too many central midfielders. Even though they have numbers a plenty in that particular department, anyone who saw the Champions League final can tell you that Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets were on a different planet to Carrick, Anderson and Giggs.

United lacked that steel in midfield that Hargreaves would have provided. However can Ferguson afford to pin his hopes on Hargreaves, who has been injured regularly the last few seasons?

Hargreaves is the only one of his kind at Old Trafford in a squad otherwise that boasts at least two players per position. He adds pace, ability, movement and work rate while Fletcher adds only couple of those qualities to the side.

Carrick has been United's No.1 midfielder the last three years but once again is he as good as the players that some of United's competition have? His short comings were magnified against the superiority of Barcelona but even a close analysis of his performances against those closer to home suggest that he maybe nothing more than a player who is effective against lower opposition.

Apart from "that" night against Roma has Carrick really taken a game and stamped his authority on it, the way that Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Iniesta, Mascherano, Essien etc. do most weeks.

As for the other options that United have, Scholes and Giggs can no longer be asked to produce on the big occasions. Certainly they will do well in the odd big game but the legends are at the twilight of their careers and no where near good enough to trouble Europe's finest.

Anderson had a superb debut season and showed flashes last year but has gone backwards. He is still 21 however, and has time to learn and will become a good player eventually. Once again though, is he the man who can produce instantly.

All this leaves Man Utd with Carrick as their main midfielder with a crocked Hargreaves second closely followed by Fletcher. The rest include two players coming to the end of their careers and a highly talented youngster who is still learning however.

The case then can be made that United do lack a world class midfielder. Time and again the United midfield was over run by the better teams and someone with skill and steel and the ability to score a few would be an ideal buy.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Eddie Johnson

Sir Alex Ferguson's Tactical Dilemma with Manchester United

Manchester United's Midfield: A Concern?