Your Ideal United Side?

The August/September ruthlessness in the United attacking line may have eluded them in recent weeks but the ability to grind out results is still ever-present in the current United crop. With new faces such as Jones, Young and De Gea; the squad is still in the rebuilding process so, what would take it from ‘rebuilding to complete.’ Firstly, what is our best eleven? Some will disagree with this but here is mine:

De Gea
Smalling – Rio – Vidic – Evra
Nani – Carrick – Cleverley – Young
Rooney – Hernandez

As you can see from the team above, there is just something missing. The central midfield is lacking that bite and aggression. The creativity is obviously there (remember when we used to score eight?) but after Young’s injury, his performances have been slowly dwindling. The front two are in my eyes the best partnership in the league with Rooney leading the line. Vidic and Rio on their day are just unbeatable which leaves Jones subsequently on the bench. Smalling in my eyes is a top right-back and with his pace, he can deal with most, if not all wingers in that department.

 If you were to start the season again, what would be your ideal side? Looking at the team, I wouldn’t change much and in the upcoming January transfer window, I’d probably only buy one player but as Fergie has already indicated, there is just no point. Would you rather wait until the summer to buy someone that can really change things or buy someone who just isn’t good enough in January?

Sticking with 4-4-2 just to compare with the other side, here is my ‘Ideal United Side:’

Goalkeeper

David de Gea is a young keeper with plenty of potential and the stats show he is one of the best in the league. Even with the media firmly thinking David is a potential flop, his recent performances have been exceptional. The only down point in David’s game is his aerial ability with him fumbling 60% of aerial balls. David’s reflexes and shot-stopping abilities are top-notch and many United fans are excited about the Spaniard. David is certainly a 21^st century keeper with his distribution winning plenty of plaudits. David’s tactical instincts and terrific range of passing is a fantastic asset to have; it’ll only be a matter of time before David contributes in terms of assists.

Full Backs

Both Chris Smalling and Patrice Evra are already first-team choices at United and with Rafael spending more time in the physio’s room than on the pitch, I can’t see anyone replacing Smalling. Evra has been part of the United back four since his arrival in ’06 and with nearly 200 appearances under his belt; Evra has been acclaimed as one of the best left-backs in the world. Smalling, arriving last season from Fulham, has taken every opportunity with both hands and has now been one of United’s most consistent performers. Even without much experience, Smalling has taken to Premier League football like a duck to water and he certainly doesn’t need replacing.

Centre Backs

Ferdinand and Vidic, a centre back partnership that has played a big part in the countless trophies United have won in recent years. Both with vast club and international experience, the partnership has taken a knock this season with both picking up injuries along the way. The constant switch in the centre-back partnership this year has been a question mark with United conceding a few more goals than expected but when both Rio and Vidic feature, they solidify the nature of the team which then allows the attacking emphasis of the side to shine through. Vidic, who arguably is the best centre back in the world, would fit in any side whereas Rio has lost a yard of pace through the constant injuries but Phil Jones aka God wouldn’t be a bad replacement.

Wingers

So here is the first change to the side but then again, who wouldn’t want to see the return of Ronaldo? Cristiano Ronaldo is still one of the best players in the world at this current time and his Portuguese counterpart in Nani just edges Ashley Young due to his much larger contribution. Ronaldo, who has had plenty of Premier League experience with United, would just walk back into the side and like Nani could play either on the right or the left. Sadly, this’ll probably never happen but you can always dream right?

Central Midfield

Two obscure choices I know but I wanted Premier League experience running through the side. The tenacious Cheik Tiote would help out the two centre backs and then let the attacking players play in front of him. Even though he is more likely to miss several games per season through suspension, Tiote is a fantastic player and I’d like to see him in a United shirt soon just simply because of his no-nonsense style of play.

Now, I know David Silva plays for Manchester City but can you remember back in ’08 when we were heavily linked with the Spaniard? What a signing he would have been. His ability to pick out the striker, his close control and he even puts a corner past the first man. Now at City, David is their focal point and without him, City’s title chances will be significantly slimmer. Silva is certainly out of question but Tiote would be a realistic acquisition and for me he’d be ideal. The central midfield is certainly an area that will be addressed but from what I’ve seen from Cleverley, he can certainly do a great job and as I’ve always been an admirer of Michael Carrick, I’m not too fussed if we don’t see a signing this winter.

Strikers

What would be the point in stopping this formidable partnership? Already with 18 goals between them this season (even with Hernandez missing several games through injury) it is obvious that these two clearly like playing alongside each other. Rooney, who likes to drop deep, can add an extra body in midfield and in the current side he is certainly is the focal point. Hernandez, who likes to play on the shoulder, is a defenders worst nightmare. With the pace from both wings, Hernandez’s pace and constant movement is too much to handle for defenders. I don’t see a problem with the strikers; I just think it is a matter of time before United start scoring for fun. With Berbatov and Owen picking up injuries as well as Macheda and Diouf obviously not good enough to step up to the first team, maybe one should be brought in but again it is down to if the right player is available.

That ‘ideal side’ would certainly win the league in my eyes and it would be great to know what your ideal side would be. (I’m pretty confident Tiote won’t feature.)

Thanks for reading,

Brad.