: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:23 am
Ande wrote:
Many at the game today would have disagreed with you, he has had 5 years in charge and yes he has brought back silverware but i think he lacks the forward mentality that SAF has to go on and win the game if not by his squad choices, he builds around his defense rather than investing evenly if not centered around forwards as we now have a good backline.
I think this is very incorrect, apart from Torres, Mascherano and Skrtel he has made some very bad choices ala Babel, Lucas, Cavalieri, Degen and Voronin.
Id like to see Nemeth at some point this season to give us abit of speed and agility.
I'm not sure what you mean, yes United have a fantastic array of attacking talent, but they're built on an extremely strong foundation at the back. I read an article on Benitez once, and his philosophy was that we have 11 attackers on the field, and 11 defenders on the field. So basically, every player was just as key with the ball, as they were without it, demanding work rate off the ball to press the opposition and make the pitch as small as possible for them, whilst making the pitch as big as possible for us with the ball. Now, I think the philosophy is right in ways, but the problem is for me, there should be a percentage in the way the side attacks and defends against certain sides, I feel we've not gone 100% attack when we've needed to. Also, I feel at times, his choice of player effects this, by selecting somebody like Kuyt on the wing, we have a player who offers something around 60:40 in attack and defence, whereas somebody like Babel would offer about 80:20 in attack and defence, admittedly Babel has been poor, but still, you get my point.
Cavalieri is a back up 'keeper, we can't really judge him as he's only back up to Reina, he has next-to-nothing to do. Voronin and Degen were poor signings, but they were on a free and could be sold at a profit in the summer, well, Voronin could be sold at a profit. Lucas and Babel have been signed as potential players for the future, they both have massive pedigree and I admit, he's made a wrong judgment as they haven't settled to the league, but they are young'ish players who could still prove to be good signings, I feel, especially Babel. I'd like to see Nemeth played, too, and I feel Rafa would, he's been injured practically all season, though, so it's not really working in his favour, he's injured now actually.
I think we need Benitez to stay, I think we need the continuity, I just don't want another man to come in, completely re-build the squad, again, and for us to have to go through the whole building process. Rafa has built most of our side, it's very strong and we have a solid first XI, it's just getting those extra bits of quality to last the season we're lacking, I think Rafa knows this, it's just having the money to sign those extra bits of quality, instead of signing players like Degen and Voronin on free transfers.
