Before the official kickoff in 15 Aug 2009, Man Utd is in serious trouble in defending their title. With Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez had left the club on 1 July, i think there is a bigger problem waiting for Fergie to solve.
At last count, Fergie Fledglings' are at the wrong end of their ages. Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are most probably having the coming season as their last before hanging their boots. The replacements for Giggs and Scholes are Nani and Anderson, yet they are unable to fit into their seniors' shoes. Gary Neville isnt really missed as there are many defenders to play as right back. Fabio da Silva, Rafael da Silva, John O'Shea and even Jonny Evans are some of the names that will be popping up on the selection list more than Gary Neville. Time to hand over the armband to Rooney.
Edwin van der Sar, in my opinion, is one of the 2 best goalkeepers ever to play for Man Utd. The other is none other than Peter Schmeichel. Again, he is also at the wrong spectum of his career. Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak should be able to fill in the gloves, unlike Fabian Barthez, Tim Howard and Massimo Taibi.
So the only thing now Fergie have to do is buy players from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo. 1/4 of the fee is used to buy Antonio Valencia. Another addition is Michael Owen which i find is a bad investment considered that he is an injury-prone player. For Man Utd to play a 'soak-and-strike' game strategy to complement Owen, i seriously doubt Man Utd will change their traditional 'waves and waves of attack' for Owen.
Having say that, Man Utd is in the midst of transition period. To win a consecutive 4th title in a row seem to be an ambition that can only be seen in 9 months time. Maybe Fergie should have gone on a high last season despite not winning the Champions League. Jose Mourinho to take up the hot seat? We have to wait and see for new developments in the next off-season.
The way i see the transfer market activities over the last few days, only Liverpool manage to keep the core of the team. Prehaps this could be Liverpool's season to win the elusive title since 1990?
