Last season’s underachievers,
Manchester United certainly had a truly shambolic season. Under David Moyes (and
a bit of Ryan Giggs) they managed to somehow finish 7th, a massive
drop as they won the league the year before. This outraged United fans and
change is now on the horizon, as new manager Louis Van Gaal is looking to
rocket Manchester United back to the top of the Premiership and with his
policies and training methods, there is no reason why they can’t.
Transfers
Manchester United did themselves
no favours in the transfer market last year. They got rid of nobody worth
noting but did bring in unimpressive midfielder Marouane Fellaini, a Belgian
who was no longer wanted at Everton due to a change in playing styles and a
player that Manchester United probably wished they never invested in.
This season has seen a change in
transfer policies. Despite losing key player Patrice Evra, Manchester United
have had a pretty solid transfer window selling or releasing any players no
longer needed and bringing in top quality players in Luke Shaw and Ander
Herrera.
Luckily for Manchester United fans, this spending will most likely
continue and I expect Manchester United to bring in a few more faces and
perhaps finalise the selling of Fellaini to Napoli.
Predicted Lineup
Manchester United don’t have the
squad they once had when they were title winners. Gone are the days of the world-class
defence that kept United in tight games and gone is the world-class experienced
midfield. Now Manchester United are left with a shockingly bad defence apart
from Luke Shaw, a good but inexperienced midfield, but luckily for the Red
Devils, their world class attack remains and the goals Rooney and Van Persie
get week in week out are the reason Manchester United didn’t have an even more
embarrassing season last time out.
Squad Depth
The depth in the United side is
strange, there is a lot of depth, but none of it is actually good. Players like
Lindergaard, Anderson, Nani, Fellaini, Cleverley and Welbeck will most likely
be surplus to requirements and with no European competitions for United to
compete in, a lot of these players will most likely be sold or loaned out.
Final Predicted Finish: 5th.
Even though Manchester United
are constantly improving, I just can’t see them finishing in the top 4 this
season. They don’t have a quality defence and that could prove costly and see
them concede many goals. I think that it could be left to Van Persie and Rooney
to score the goals to get them into Europe again.
Predicted Key Player: David
De Gea.
De Gea was one of Manchester
United’s best players last campaign and I thoroughly expect him to be one of
the best this campaign as well. He will certainly have a lot of shots to save
and I expect him to pull off more and more top saves and he could be the key to
see Manchester United return to Europe sooner rather than later.
By @nathan_said
good
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