As promised, here is the overview of the first club: Manchester United.
I've chosen United because I think there is a good chance that they won't be adding to their squad at any time in the near future even though I do think they ought to, but more on that later. United have got a rather large squad and, like Chelsea, it contains a fair number of young players bursting with talent. The challenged for Sir Alex is to find a way to use the current squad while still incorporating the youth thereby ensuring development for up and coming stars while still winning.
This is a much more difficult situation than most imagine, but not an unfamiliar one. It wasn't too long ago that Beckham, Giggs and Scholes emerged from the clubs reserves and acquitted themselves rather well, though I'm not sure that any pool of young players could ever be expected to contain as much talent as that group did.
So with a history of giving young players a chance, and a great deal of responsibility, these academy products can expect to play at some stage throughout the season. But does that excuse the club's inactivity during this and previous transfer windows? Many have argued that United are in dire need of a strong midfielder, while some believe Rooney requires a reliable strike partner. Personally I think the team need a new goalkeeper more than anything else though perhaps a closer look at the current squad will show us all where we are wrong.
As of July 1, 2010 this is the first team squad listed on the official club website:
Edwin van der Sar (GK)
Gary Neville (DF)
Patrice Evra (DF)
Owen Hargreaves (MF)
Rio Ferdinand (DF)
Wes Brown (DF)
Michael Owen (FW)
Anderson (MF)
Dimitar Berbatov (FW)
Wayne Rooney (FW)
Ryan Giggs (MF)
Park Ji Sung (MF)
Nemanja Vidic (DF)
Michael Carrick (MF)
Nani (FW)
Paul Scholes (MF)
Danny Welbeck (FW)
Fabio (DF)
Rafael (DF)
John O'Shea (DF)
Jonny Evans (DF)
Darren Fletcher (MF)
Antonio Valencia (MF)
Gabriel Obertan (FW)
Federico Macheda (FW)
Darron Gibson (MF)
Tomasz Kuszczak (GK)
*Ritchie De Laet (DF)
*Cory Evans (MF)
Mame Biram Diouf (FW)
*Tom Cleverley (MF)
*Craig Cathcart (DF)
Ben Amos (GK)
*Joshua King (FW)
*Magnus Wolff Eikrem (MF)
*Joe Dudgeon (DF)
*Oliver Gill (DF)
*Cameron Stewart (MF)
*Oliver Norwood (MF)
Chris Smalling (DF)
Javier Hernandez (FW)
That's rather a large squad, 40 if I'm not mistaken. As I'm sure the more perceptive of you have noticed I've put in brackets the category each player falls into (GK for goalkeeper, DF for defender etc) and have noted the players I don't expect to feature this season with a “*”.
That brings the squad size down to 30, which is not bad actually considering that last season Portsmouth used a grand total of 33 players on their rather convoluted path to administration and subsequent relegation. Now consider that there is strong suggestion that Danny Welbeck, and a few others possibly not demarcated above, will go out on loan and it is easy to see that possibly all of these promoted players will get their chance in the spotlight.
But is it enough? Well, let's consider the most prevalent gripe first and look at the midfield. Many pundits have stated that they don't believe that United's midfield is strong enough when you consider that Hargreaves is still out and Scholes is turning 36 this season, leaving Carrick, Fletcher and Gibson. To be fair, Anderson has been used in central midfield too, as has Giggs while Park could play there too if required.
I think that perhaps in a three man central midfield, similar to the one which Sir Alex favoured during last season, an argument for a goalscoring midfielder could be made, and with that in mind I believe we come to United's first mistake: Not signing Joe Cole.
Cole would have been a wonderful addition to the squad because of his ability, versatility and hard work. He could have been used in central midfield behind Rooney in the 4-5-1 formation that was used extremely successfully against AC Milan and Bayern Munich at Old Trafford, as well as out wide when required. I think he would have added another dimension to the middle by providing more of a threat rather than relying on the wings to service the strikers as United tend to.
Having said that, no one can say that the current system isn't working and perhaps it was more a case of sticking with what you know. I do however think that he would have provided another option.
This does however bring us onto a different topic, but one that is equally important. That being, the formation being played. United have always been known to play a 4-4-2 but with Ronaldo in the squad the shape changed...
to be continued
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