Why did United miss out on Lucas Moura?

Lucas Moura, one of Brazil's most promising youngsters, recently signed for Paris St. Germain.  His transfer fee stands at a whopping 45 Million euros; making him the most expensive teenager of all time.  There is no doubting the potential of Lucas, but should United have attempted to match the transfer fee?

Maybe.

Sir Alex declared that he was astounded that a teenager could cost that much money, stating that football had gone mad.  He has also previously cited City and PSG's ability to outspend everybody as a problem in the game.  Is he being a bit hypocritical - given that United have spend big money on players like Veron, Berbatov, etc. previously?

Yes and no.

Yes - A transfer fee converter reveals that Rooney's (who was 19 at the time he signed for United) transfer fee would be equivalent to ~60 million in today's transfer market.  So, when Sir Alex claims he cannot understand how PSG could spend massive money on the young Lucas, he is clearly being a touch disingenuous.

No - And this is what other fans do not understand.  No United fan believes that big-money signings have not been a big part of United's success.  All we are saying is that United is different in that the big signings supplement an already established set of players that united have developed.  Let's look at some examples -

1.  While Van Nistelrooy (19 million) was a big part of United's success in 2002-2003, there were already established United players present - Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, the Nevilles, etc.

2.  While the likes of Berbatov (30 million) helped United win the premier league, United already had developed Ronaldo, had Giggs and Scholes from the golden generation and had Fletcher, OShea, Evans, etc. from within the club.

This is what makes United different from Chelsea - who do not develop their own players and from Arsenal - who win nothing.


So back to the Moura thing.  Why have United missed out on him? I think a lot of United fans have said that it's because of the Glazers.  However, the evidence does not support this claim - United have spent big money on Anderson, Nani, Hargreaves and Berba since the Glazers took over.  It has also been revealed that United had agreed fees for both Moura and Hazard - which is the part of the transfer for which the Glazers are immediately accountable - the approval of transfer fee.

So, having ruled out the Glazers, we are left with SAF, Gill (the chief executive) and agents.  It is my opinion, that is is the combination of those three that has lead to our inability in the transfer market.  It is widely accepted that the role that agents play has gotten out of hand.  Agents continue to demand incredible bonuses for brokering deals and it seems like this will only continue to get worse.  SAF's fault is his stubbornness.  While he is willing to approve large transfer fees, he balks at the idea of paying 5 million to an agent - yes, he is probably ethically correct - but he has to live and operate within the times.  And the times are - the more marketable the player - the more his agent is going to make.  Gill is a decent enough fellow (despite what the MUST people will tell you), but he must improve his negotiation skills if United are going to succeed in the transfer market.


Now we are left with the whole RVP saga.  I certainly hope that RVP signs - but, I must admit, I remain very pessimistic about it all.

United - City review - What was Fergie thinking?

Three weeks ago, United were eight points clear of City.  Cue the collapse - losses to Wigan and City combined with a draw, at home to Everton, and the Manchester clubs are now even on points.  City, however, have a far superior goal difference.  The game was a tense affair; let's examine the tactical breakdown.

Starting line-ups - United set up in the expected 4-3-3 and Fergie brought back Park from the wilderness.  Smalling replaced Evans at center back with Phil Jones as the wing-back.  Giggsy and Nani were on either wing with Rooney up-top by himself.  There has been much ridicule of Fergie for his decision to not pick Valencia.  Although, I admit, I was very surprised when the line-ups were announced, I can see what the legendary scotsman was thinking.  The United players were asked to force City wide - with the realization that Rio and Smalling would beat Tevez and Aguero in the air.   This meant that United played very narrow and for this reason, Valencia was dropped to the bench.  Valencia is most effective when flying down the wing and continuously stretches the play.  Therefore, having him in the team would allow City to play through the middle and Fergie wanted to eliminate that possibility.  With that idea, he played Nani on the right - with the knowledge that Nani would continuously cut inside and therefore give City the ability to only attack through the wings.  And it almost worked.

As for City, Mancini set up in an attacking 4-2-3-1 with Barry and Yaya playing in holding positions, and Tevez, Aguero, Nasri and Silva playing in interchangeable forward positions.  Mancini has been ostracized for perceived defensive tactics, but in this game, it was clear that he was trying to win the game outright.  The italian matched the United midfield by setting up Barry and Toure against Scholes and Carrick respectively.  For the first few minutes, Park found himself in space as the extra-man, but shortly, Lescott was picking up his runs and the korean forward was invisible the rest of the game.  Zabaleta's runs beyond Giggsy were absolutely breath-taking.  The argentine defender, possibly buoyed by the presence of Maradona, played with incredibly passion and speed and caused Evra all sorts of problems.

For the first 10 minutes or so, United controlled the game.  But, at no point did it seem that United would  score.  It was almost as if they had set up to play out a 0-0 which is in itself disappointing.  The entire first half was a tactical battle played out in midfield - Carrick and Barry stood out for their respective teams - mostly because of their defensive play.  And then came the goal.  City's captain, Vincent Kompany, had been sent off the last time the two sides met.  His retribution was powering a header past DeGea that it may have won City the title.  Most of the media blamed Smalling for the goal.  However, I think the blame lies on the shoulders of the older, more experienced, Rio Ferdinand.  Rio was guilty of getting in Smalling's way; which allowed Kompany to out-jump the ex-Fulham defender.  As the half-time whistle blew, I was convinced that Fergie would take Park off and put Valencia on.  That did not happen.

Kompany scores possibly the most important goal in City's history.

As I have mentioned earlier, I can sort of see why Fergie benched Valencia.  I have absolutely no explanation for why he came on in the 79th minute.  Valencia is joint-leader in the assist table with David Silva - despite the fact that he has played in 8 less games than the Spanish forward.  He is undoubtedly United's most lethal attacking option.  If your team needs a goal, you would think that he would the first sub onto the field? Fergie gave Valencia just over ten minutes to impact the game.  Even as a United fan, I cannot comprehend what the reasoning was for that decision.

While I have defended the decision to bench Valencia, I cannot defend the decision to start both Scholes and Giggs.  Don't get me wrong, they are two of my favorite players.  But, surely, at 37 and 38 years of age, they do not have the legs to compete against one of the most powerful midfields in Europe? Besides, by playing Giggs and Nani on the wings, Scholes' greatest asset - his distribution into space - was completely nullified.

But, anyway, credit also goes to Manchester City.  There were multiple occasions where they counter-attacked and could have scored more goals.  Apparently, getting past  Patrice Evra is the easiest thing in football these days.  In particular, Yaya Toure was a monster carrying the ball forward - and helped City control the midfield.  Yaya has flourished into one of the top midfielders in the world, and at 28, is reaching the levels that Barcelona expected of him.

Battle of the managers - Sorry, Sir Alex, but the Italian just jobbed you.

There was also the off-the-field battle between Fergie and Mancini, which I admit seemed to have been started by the old Glaswegian legend.  Sir Alex' temper is well-publicized and it was certainly on-show while he berated Mancini for 'complaining'.  Sir Alex - how many times have we watched you remonstrating with the referee?

With this loss and the subsequent two games, I certainly expect City to win the title.  If both teams win their respective games, it will be the first time that the title will have been won on goal-difference; and that would be pretty amazing.  Mancini's pressure-deflecting tactics are working wonders, and surely the Italian should be (along with Brendan Rogers) a strong candidate for manager of the year.  For those of you who have recently started watching football, this would be only the second time, in the premier league era, that a team other than United, Arsenal or Chelsea has won the league.  The only other time was Blackburn - under the tutelage of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish.  And Mancini deserves some serious credit.  This is also the first time in about 5 years that City has done the league double over United.  Noisy neighbors indeed.

As for United - it's time to revert back to 4-4-2 and hope that City has an off-day against Newcastle.

Next up - preview of the FA cup final and the big league games at the weekend.

How I came to be a United fan

Ah to be a United fan these days. On the one hand, you have all the success and glory to keep you happy. On the other hand, everyone thinks you are a glory-hunting, bandwagon-jumping, fickle fool who is one 70-year-old's retirement away from becoming a Manchester City fan. So before I even begin to address other football related issues, I think it is imperative to recall my history as a United fan.

Growing up in

India, cricket was my #1 sport of choice. In fact, I was only exposed to Manchester United via my older brother, who had a really cool way of saying the name. One of my first memories of using the words 'Manchester United' is rather embarrassing. I was in the sixth grade, and had just started understanding (read: appreciating) the opposite sex. In a rather cruel analysis of how 'un-curvy' a certain, older ninth grader was, I dismissed her as being short and a 'bit of a Man-chest-er United'. I know - incredibly lame.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I had slowly heard about the Beckham phenomenon and had watched some goals on some highlight shows. However, I was still largely obsessed with cricket as far as watching sport was concerned. All that was about to change as ESPN/Star Sports - the prevalent sporting channels during the late 90s - started broadcasting more football games on TV.

I was flicking through the tele on a random evening and happened to change to the sports channels in the hope of catching some Tendulkar highlights. It was a United-Arsenal game. United were leading 4-1. The ball was cleared to Giggsy at the halfway line and he rather non-chalantly chipped the ball and almost scored, only to be rejected by the bar. A certain Mr. Dwight Yorke managed to put the ball past a hapless David Seaman. United went on to win 6-1. A new fan was born. I could not get enough of United's style of play - 4-4-2 with 2 exceptional and diverse wingers in Giggsy and Becks, Scholesy and Keano commanding the midfield, Yorke and Cole banging in goals for fun. It was orgasmic.

This was the year 2000. I would later find out that United had just won the treble the previous year and were at their scintillating best. Over the next season, I watched every single game and followed United as they won the premier league and devastatingly lost in the semi-final to Deportivo la Coruna. Two games stand out for me - the 5-3 win against Tottenham and the 5-2 win against West Ham. I must admit - my passport picture conveys how I had fashioned my hair after a certain Mr. Ruud van Nistelrooy.

As I moved to the United States in 2002 to pursue my higher education, I found that there was basically no coverage of the premier league. To make matters worse, I had to learn the word 'soccer'. During this time, I followed games on ESPN gamecast. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have to hit refresh and hope that your team is winning. Especially during those years - when Arsenal were beginning to play their very best and Chelsea was starting to buy the very best. At least I got to watch United in the Champions league - although that was not fruitful either - whether you consider the Ronaldo-mediated destruction by Madrid or the Timmy Howard/Mourinho-inspired elimination by porto.

Those were trying times.

Over time, I learned about the illustrious history of Manchester United. I learned about club legends - from Billy Meredith to Sir Bobby Charlton, from George Best to Eric Cantona, from Paddy Crerand and Bill Foulkes to Gary Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, from Sir Matt Busby to Sir Alex Ferguson. I learned about the tragedy of Munich and the lost brilliance of the flowers of Manchester. I learned that Duncan Edwards is eulogized as the greatest player to have ever graced a football pitch. I learned that United experienced European glory and relegation within a 10 year period. I learned that a united legend, Denis Law, cruelly scored the goal that sent United into the second division. I learned about failed managers who tried to emulate Sir Matt Busby. I learned about rivalries with Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Leeds. I learned the phrases "scouse cunt", "manc twat", "man shitty", "salford rags", etc. I learned and I loved it all.

Luckily, soon enough all sorts of illegal websites were broadcasting games and I could finally watch my beloved United once more! I estimate that since 2007, I have missed about 10 United games total - if someone is filming the game, I find a way to watch it. Anyone who knows me knows that nowadays I plan everything around United games - my social life, my experiments, everything.  And someday soon, when I have enough money, I WILL watch a game at the theater of dreams.

So there you have it - a synopsis of my time following United.

I hope you will share how you came to support your own clubs! I'm curious to know how/why we all follow who we do.