Anderson : First Impressions

I crawled out of bed earlier than usual to catch Brazil's latest international play and was really irritated that

a) I woke up too early and the game was scheduled to start 4 hours later. For those of you wondering, yes I bloody woke up at 5am.

b) Anderson didn't start the game.

I was wondering if I would have been wasting my time since Anderson might not get a chance to play at all. Thankfully Brazil played like a bunch of drunks and Mexico raced to a 2-0 lead by half time. Dunga was left without much choice but to throw the kitchen sink at Mexico in the second half.

Before I go into my impressions proper, let's recap what I've said about Anderson previously. He's skilful and pacy, and looks clinical but unfortunately rather much like pint-sized player.

Positives
Skilful - There were times he was dancing around the Mexican defenders and midfielders.
Pace - He's definitely pacy. No doubts here.
Size - Wow, I was really fooled here. Those grainy videos on YouTube made him look like a child. After watching him in action, he actually looks pretty well-built, with a pretty solid looking upper body. He's certainly no pushover in a strength contest. Reminds me alot of Rooney with alot more guile.
Vision - Too bad he was surrounded by clowns today. Some of his passing was pretty world class. Able to pick out players in tight situations, but to be fair, Mexico gave them alot of space.
Crossing - This is what impressed me most. He could cross with both legs, and do it accurately. More importantly, he could do on the fly, meaning that he doesn't need to stop the ball to cross. Did I mention he could cross with both legs?

Negative
Maturity - Dribbled into the opponents one too many times for my liking. Going to take a while playing with the team before he understands the way we play. It took us at least 2 years to see Ronaldo become the player he is today, I'm sure we can afford that kind of time for a talent like Anderson.
Lazy - If the ball is within a 5 metre radius, he'd run and chase for it. Any further and you'd see him walking. Doesn't seem to move into space without the ball. He's way too pedestrian for my liking. To be fair to him, the entire Brazilian team played like they have 50 pound weights on them. No one was really making space.
Finishing - I was right, YouTube makes everyone look like clinical finishers. Anderson didn't look clinical today. He had a couple of really good chances but couldn't put them away.

In conclusion, this is the first game I've caught him in action. And I'm too entirely impressed with what I've seen. That being said, he has the intangible skills and althletism to move on to the next level. All he needs is to delevelop his understanding of the game further. Definitely a diamond in the rough. Thankfully we have one of the best in the business in Ferguson to polish this diamond.

There are still another couple of chances I'll (hopefully) catch Brazil in this Copa America, and probably another few more should Brazil make it to the quarters. Anderson should have done enough to win a starting place in the next game. He was possibly one of the better players for Brazil, even if he didn't play particularly well.

Side Note
I can't wait for Alex to join Chelsea. He plays exactly like Rio. In fact the entire Brazilian defence plays like Rio, probably why Brazil lost 2-0. I'm curious to see how well he plays with Terry in the centre.

Considering that Rio looks the part of a world class defender playing beside Vidic for United and with Terry for England. I seriously would like to know if Terry is good enough to make Alex look world class as well.

Smith : Will He Stay Or Will He Go?

Nothing much has been brewing the past week or so. Most of the newsworthy sites have been devoting their time and effort on Theirry Henry's departure (big time bottler) and speculation on the impending collapse of Arsenal.

Admist all the excitement and grief, depending on who you support, apparently a bid in the region of £6million has been accepted by United. Given how hard Newcastle has been chasing Smith this summer, I don't expect them to lie down and play dead, despite it being part of their culture. Portsmouth is apparently in the chase for Smith's signature as well.

However all this is dependent on Smith approving a move North. Smith has shown a stubborn streak and has refused a loan move out of Old Trafford this season. There might be a chance he would scupper the deal and take his chances of fighting for his place in the team.

If anyone cares to remembers, Ole did it once quite a few years back. Spurs and United had agreed on a £5million deal to send Ole to London, but Ole, being the loyal servant he was, rejected the transfer much to the relief of the entire Red Army. As you know, he became an integral part in us winning the Champions League, forever immortalising his name in United lore.

Unfortunately Smith is not Ole. If Fergie can find another striker of pedegree, it would be in Smith's best interest to agree on a move. I personally would hate to see him go, yet at the same time feel he's not exactly what we need up front.

Heinze
I have no links for this, but according to a reliable source working for the local papers, Gabby Heinze has signed a pre-contract and is bound for Real Madrid in the region of £3.5million. I have no reason to doubt the person who told me, yet at the same time I have no idea what a pre-contract means or why it's so cheap. So don't shoot the messenger.

I would dread to see Heinze leave, especially given the dearth of good and experienced left-backs in the club. The thought of Evra starting next season is enough to send shivers down my spine.

Tevez On Year's Loan?

I'm trying really hard to contain my excitement here. As everyone knows, I'm a ridiculously huge Carlos Tevez fan, and have been following his career for the last few years since he was a prodigious teen.

Nothing has been cast in stone yet. Apparently discussions have taken place to bring Tevez to Old Trafford for a year's loan.

Just the prospect of Tevez wear the red of Manchester United is already giving me a hard on. I'm pretty sure I'm going to watch some Paris Hilton porn later.

Perhaps it's just as well, I'd be away for a week without any news. If this deal doesn't go thru, I'd be disappointed as hell. And I suspect there's a really high chance of it not happening, especially since the source of the news has only appeared in the Daily Mail.

In other news, it looks like a Heinze departure is imminent. The fee is £7 million and the destination is Real Madrid.

Ferguson In Rare Interview With Local Manchester Radio Station

As you may have already been reading in the sports sections of the various dailies, excerpts from Alex Ferguson's interviews with local Manchester station, Key 103 have been making their rounds. The topics vary from cooking to his CD collection to ultimately football, giving an insight to his life outside of running Manchester United.

You can download and hear the interview here.

In other news:
Knee Surgery Delays Foster's Return - Edwin Van der Sar looks to remain the no.1 when the new season starts. Pretty bad news for Ben Foster.

No New Contract for Smith - Another bummer for Alan Smith. After all the trials and tribulations he has had to endure since joining us and, more importantly, winning fans and teammates over, it sounds like a bad PR move for the club. Will see how this develops. Moreover this is reported by the Sun, not exactly the seagull you look to when searching for the trawler.

Nani Passes Medical - Nani and Anderson both passed medicals. No doubts in my mind here.

No Work Permit for Anderson - Yet another news bummer today. It's a pretty damn silly rule, given the circumstances. For goodness sake, he's only 19 years old! How many caps does the immigration department want him to have??? He's played for Brazil at numerous levels (just not for the senior side yet). Alternatively, we could actually have some use for Richardson. Since his cousin, Charley Uchea, wants to be a WAG so badly, he can introduce Anderson to her. The marriage will kill off three birds with one stone. Anderson will get a British passport, Charley gets the fame she so undeservedly wants, and Richardson gets some love from United fans. Of course the loser in the deal is Anderson, but we don't really care as along as he get to play. ;)

Goalmouth Scramble - Not entirely United related, but thought this was a pretty thought provoking read. Below are some quotes from Platini and I find it hard to disagree with him:

"If your laws allow a US [citizen] or Saudi to buy a club he can do, but I'm not in favour of that," he said. "Chelsea, Arsenal or West Ham, they are part of the patrimony of England. They are part of the English heritage. It is not just a problem of football, it is a problem of society, of the government and the minister of sport. I like the identity."

Mr Platini's preference is for national leagues to be as national as possible, extending from the owner to the youngest player: "If you have a [club] president from Russia, a coach from Portugal and 15 players from France, why do you play in the Premier League?"

Looks Like There's No Red Letter Day for Anelka

Perhaps it's just as well this report came out. I'm sitting on the fence if he comes over, but it seems United fans all around the globe don't want to see Anelka, dubbed as the 'Incredible Sulk' anywhere near our lockers.

Perhaps it's he's association with Liverpool and Manchester Shitty, that irks people or his immaturity at Real Madrid and Arsenal. I would think his normad lifestyle have seen him settle well at Bolton. Anyway the chances of him coming is practically nil. Just another rumour from the rumour mill.

Personally, I think we do need someone to lead the frontline. Our options upfront look limited with Rooney, the often injured Saha, the aging Ole and Smith, who looked out of his depth playing for England over the weekend. Maybe Rossi would be the person Fergie is looking to to partner Rooney, but he's not an out and out striker. I've caught a number of Parma games and he's usually playing the guy behind the striker (albeit doing a great job).

Well, the summer's long and alot of things will happen between now and August. After splashing out some considerable dough, I wouldn't be surprised if someone gets sold to booster the kitty to sign a striker.

Owen Hargreaves £17.5m, Scott Parker £7m. Hmmm.....

Fleeced!
I don't know about the majority reading this blog, but I really think there is nothing much separating Hargreaves and Park in terms of ability. Even age-wise, they are the same. Only 2 things stand out between the pair, Park's been more injury prone and Hargreaves costs a lot more.

In terms of ability, they could very well be on par. In all honesty, I would've loved to see Parker in Red instead. He's a tested and proven performer in the EPL and more of a box to box midfielder. Moreover from the games I've caught of them both, Parker probably shows more leadership qualities than Hargreaves ever had. Unfortunately, it's West Ham who got him on the cheap at £7m.

Malaysia Ta Boleh!
Just a disclaimer before I get a blanket party from the Malaysians reading this entry. It's a tongue in cheek comment and no malice intented, and certainly not intended to cause any disharmony amongst neighbours.

According to The Times, Manchester United has scrapped plans for the game in Malaysia on the 27th of July. This is kinda sad news for us, as Kentona and I had intended to take time off for a frivolous adventure up north to catch our heroes playing live.

Transfer Rumours
Anelka Next on United's List - Can't say I'm totally against this. Its depends on which Anelka comes over. If it's the Arsenal Anelka, I'd welcome him with open arms. If it's the Real Madrid/Liverpool Anelka, he can continue rotting at wherever he is now.

Spurs Move for Smith - Why is every irritating piece of news this off-season involving Spurs? WHY???

More Details on Our New Signings
Last but not least, MEN has an interesting bit on our new signings. Not exactly earth-shattering, but an interesting read nonetheless.

A Glimpse of What We're Getting in Anderson and Nani

Spent the last couple of hours scouring youtube.com for clips of Anderson since I'm absolutely clueless on how he plays, what his strengths and weaknesses are and frankly, I've come away none too impressed (will elaborate further later). Nani, on the other hand, is a known entity, and I've spent the last year convincing myself that he's the right guy on the left side for us (what a mouthful). It's going to take time to convince myself that Anderson is worth his weight in gold.

Anyway, I think this video's one of the best on youtube.com. It comprises of combined clips of both Anderson and Nani, and more importantly, it has the least crappy music. The rest all had some very angry hip-hop music. The downside is that it's too bloody long at almost 10 minutes, and the Nani portions only start around the 7th minute. Too bad I don't have the know-how to make my own crappy clips to post on youtube.com.

Anyway, enjoy this rather long montage.



Now that you've seen the video, here's what I think of the two newest signings:

Anderson
He's insanely skilful and super fast. Looks like a clinical finisher as well, but that remains to be seen. Since we haven't seen his ratio of misses yet, we can't really establish what a good finisher he is. I'm sure the clips of Andy Cole will all show he's a fabulous finisher as well, but we all know otherwise.

Also where he plays for us will also determine the number of goals he's going to bang in for us. Seems like he's the likely heir to Scholes midfield throne. The thing here is I've yet to see how well he involves the other players around him, and how well he finds them. If he's indeed going to be Scholesy eventual replacement, he's going to have to show alot more of those playmaking skills, rather than just using speed and skill to get past the defence.

The other thing here that is glaring to me is his stature. Looks like a really small but speedy guy. I hope he can stand up to the defenders in the Premiership. It's going to be a whole different ballpark in the EPL, where the defenders aim to maim. I'm not sure he can handle the punishment dished out week in week out. Already he's been a victim of some horrible tackling in the Portguese league, and had broken his leg in a challenge in Oct.

Nani
Looks like a speedy and skilful player (notice the similarities?). He's touted to be the long term replacement for Giggs and I think he looks the part. From what I've seen this season, he's a more mature version of Ronaldo when he first joined us. He's also a big strong lad, able to take physical punishment like Ronaldo. I'm really high on Nani.

The most glaring weakness so far is that he's still very under-developed as a player. He's unable to involve teammates, but if he's anything like Ronaldo, he's going to improve in that area when given the time. The other thing that utterly gets to me is his goal celebrations. All the summersaults and extravagant unneccessaries have to go. I can envisage him hurting himself big time celebrating one of those goals. I suppose, on the bright side, there would be the Tony Adams comparisons, sad but funny.....and always a good conversation topic.