So here ends the English Premier League season 2009-2010…
What a season this has been! Never before has the EPL experienced such ups & downs as the title swung between United & Chelsea. It was a neck-and-neck race till the end & the better team eventually won it – by beating the (former) Big 4 teams home & away.
However, United fans should not despair. It has been a truly incredible season. We sold Cristiano Ronaldo (The Best Player In The World™) & Carlos Tevez. We lost 9 defenders to injury & had to play with a make-shift defence of midfielders – Carrick, Fletcher & Park! & most importantly, our top-scorer Rooney was injured at the most crucial phase of the season.
Yet against all odds, we won the Carling Cup. We finished 2nd in the Premier League just 1 point away from the leaders. We reached the Quarter-finals of the Champions League! Unbelievable feats! All United fans should take pride on these achievements!
Not to mention that we’ve beaten Liverpool & Manchester City (thrice in extra Fergie time).
The 2009-2010 season brought the best out of so many players.
Veterans Giggs & Scholes showed us time & again that we can still count on their experience.
Van Der Sar has been sublime in guarding our posts – mind you, if VDS weren’t there, we would have been torn into shreds by even the mid-table teams! That’s the secret of the best defence in the EPL!
What to say of Valencia? Brought in to replace Ronaldo, Antonio Valencia transformed himself into the best right winger of the EPL, terrorising opponents with each run.
Ji Sung Park & Patrice Evra also deserve some praise for the consistent form they’ve shown this season. Darren Fletcher, footballing genius – keeping hold of our midfield.
Nani… at the end of 2009, everyone (me included) was claiming for him to sold or swapped at the winter transfer market. & then when he came back from injury against Arsenal, a miracle happened. A new Ronaldo was born – the latent talent in Nani revealed itself & we now have one of the most exciting players of the EPL. I’m really looking forward to him next season!
Wayne Rooney - 34 goals this season. Largely overshadowed by Ronaldo in the previous years, Rooney finally stepped up to spearhead our attack. 2009-2010 is the season where Rooney transformed into the complete striker – incredible pace, lethal headers, penalties & great vision of the game. Then he was injured & never recovered his goal scoring form again. I sorely regret that he didn’t win the golden boot. But still, EPL's Best Player of the Season. Congrats! :D
Own Goal – yeah, our 2nd top scorer bagged 12 goals for us! Record. :P
There were also some negative areas that Man Utd should strive to eliminate.
Although the circumstances played against us, at the end of the day, if you don’t keep a consistent form throughout the season, you don’t deserve to win the league. Sure, the “standard” of the Premier League was much lower this time, but United didn’t turn up on so many games, the most crucial one being against Blackburn.
Most of the time, the problem has been a lack of creative midfielders to feed the strikers. With Anderson injured, everything was left to Carrick & Scholes. Compared to last season, Carrick has been a massive disappointment. Easily losing balls, blank passes – he hasn’t played since March & I see him being sold this summer.
Dimitar Berbatov is a player that divides United fans. With Rooney playing as lone striker, he didn’t get many chances to play & when he was asked to step up in Rooney’s place, he didn’t deliver. I mean if you don’t get playing time, how can you perform at your top level? But the opposite is also true – Berbatov missed so many clear chances this season! In my opinion, Berbatov is a great player (outstanding ball control), but he doesn’t fit in the United’s style of play. As such, it would be best for him to leave United…
2010-2011?
We’ve already bought a defender – Chris Smalling & a very talented young forward - Javier Hernández. As Rooney himself pointed out, we’ll need another 2 world-class strikers. Unfortunately, I have no names in mind… :|
Creative midfielders – Luka Modric, Miloš Krasić, David Silva & Angel Di Maria. Two of them please. :)
Add a goalkeeper, & that’s all we need to strengthen our squad. Everything else will be handled by our upcoming young talents. We already have the Brazilian Pokémon twins, plus Evans, as defenders. In the midfield, there’s already Darron Gibson & Gabriel Obertan. As forwards, Macheda & Diouf.
Despite being maimed for half of the season, we achieved so much. Therefore I am confident that next season, we’ll finally bag that 19th title. Having won 3 EPL titles in a row & a Champions League, Man Utd fans are accustomed to winning. But sometimes, you need to fall so you can learn to pick yourself up. & that’s why we’ll come back stronger. Watch out.
WE WILL NEVER DIE.
Related Links:
A Restless Mind - Man Utd: Best & Worst of 2009/10
Please don't spam & don't swear!
Subscribe to my feed
We never die! and you`ll continue to walk alone ;)
I think Man Utd seriously need a strong midfielder. We never got back another Roy Keane. There's no real consistent driving force midfielder. Carrick trop passif parfoi ek pa asser precise. Fletcher bon, mais mank ene bon support avec li.
Besides I believe Fergie made a big mistake to have vouched for Berbatov instead of Tevez. Man, just imagine Tevez and Rooney together upfront, would be ass-kicking. And i think this has already been demonstrated when the trio Ronaldo-Tevez-Rooney were once playing together.
Else, I think Rio F. is getting slacked.. his recent performances were not to standards.
Ki to dir toi man? :D
Let's hope for the best for Man Utd, season 2010-2011
//K_Wasseem
@K_Wasseem
A 4-3-3 would be awesome! With Nani, Rooney & a 3rd striker - Hernandez or a new striker/left winger.
That would mean in addition to Fletcher, we would need another holding midfielder & a creative midfielder that will support the forward 3.
Hopefully, SAF can find the next Roy Keane. I like James Milner. :)
Man utd's best player this season has been Patrice Evra for me. His confidence and his behaviour on the field says it all. He has been the most combative of all our players, and for one period he was the sole 1st team defender fit! And performance-wise he is the best left-back in the world as of today.
On transfers, I would love to see Hugo Lloris and David Silva join our ranks. A goalkeeper who can prove to be the best of his generation and a midfielder whose creativity would greatly help Rooney upfront.
For me Berbatov is seen as disappointing because of his huge price tag. But besides Rooney, he's the classiest player in the squad. His problem is that he really cannot connect with Rooney...and we all know who we'd prefer in team if we had to choose between Rooney and Berbatov.
Post a Comment
Some html tags like <b>, <i>, <a> are allowed & emos can be used. ;)
Copy your comment before posting in case something fails.
Comments are moderated, may take a while to appear.