Thank God Preseason Is Over

This preseason has been just one disappointment built upon another, finally climaxing with yet another inept show upfront. However there are some bright sparks, albeit too few to get really excited over. By and large, judging from our performances, we’re going to struggle mightily if we’re going anywhere close to repeating our achievements last season.

Let me start off with what preseason means to me.

1. It gives me a chance to see our new acquisitions (which to date hasn’t happened).
2. It gives me a chance to see how our youngsters are doing.
3. It gives the team a chance to shake off the rustiness and get back into shape.

New Players
While we’ve not brought in any new players, I was excited at the prospect of seeing Manucho and how he’d gel with his new teammates. Unfortunately I came away sorely disappointed. The only glimpse I got was from the first preseason game against Aberdeen, and he was sitting in the stands. Apparently he’s still to get his work permit, which frankly is shocking to me. Either someone at the club or the immigration department is sitting on their arses and milling around.

Youngsters
I don’t even know where to begin here. We’re just terrible…..just terrible.

I know a lot of people with the club are very optimistic of Frazier Campbell, Daniel Gibson and Lee Martin. I keep hearing endless praises of what they have done last season with their respective clubs, while on loan. When I caught them in the first preseason game, I was underwhelmed. I kept thinking to myself that maybe I’m being too harsh. But after watching every single preseason game, I’m pretty damn sure these kids are not going to make it to the first team. If they ever do, then we’re in deep shit…and I mean seriously knee-deep in shit.

Campbell just doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the Premiership. Other than speed, he’s shown absolutely nothing to justify him being selected ahead of Saha. At this point I must assume we’re wrapping Saha in cotton wool to save him from injuries in preseason since he’s not featured at all, neither is he on the block.

Lee Martin is a year older and still hasn’t shown that he knows how to play the game. He tends to over dribble and is still unable to pass the ball. I’m frankly very disappointed with him, especially after seeing him last season. Yet another case of being good enough for other clubs, just not good enough to make the cut at United.

Daniel Gibson has played in every single preseason game and I’m frankly not sure why. Other than that one spectacular goal against the reserves of Posh, he’s shown absolutely nothing. He’s anonymous most of the time and when you finally do notice him, he’s either giving the ball away or fouling someone. Kinda reminds you of another anonymous character in midfield doesn’t it?

There were many others that played but didn’t register any impact. Just too many to mention. These three stood out coz they played more.

But all is not lost. There were at least a few youngsters who brightened up my day.

I was mightily impressed with the Brazilian youngsters we brought in. Rodrigo Possebon is a player. Initially I wasn’t too impressed with him when he came on against the Chiefs, but against Posh and Juve, he stamped his authority in midfield. He has a good long range shot and more importantly is a good passer in the Paul Scholes’ mould. In a couple of years, when Scholes retires, I’m looking forward to see him step up the plate alongside Anderson. They could very well be the backbone of the Brazilian midfield in time to come.

Rafael da Silva just blew me away. He is as exotic as his pornstar-sounding name. If there is one young player who will be a future star, he’s the one. And from what little I saw from his twin brother, Fabio, we’re going to be rocking with Brazilian flair. As of now, they are still very young and it will take time before they are ready for prime time.

The Team Going Forward
Back to reality. We struggled without Ronaldo, plain and simple. Against subpar opponents, we controlled the midfield, had loads of possession and basically shut them out. But we struggled to find the net and it’s worrying. Drawing all our games 0-0 will only give 38 points, not enough to mount a serious defense to our title.

While I’m not too keen on Berbatov at the rumoured price, I do believe we need him. Unless Manucho turns out to be a goal machine, we look pretty much screwed. Maybe we can tempt Ole back for a supersub appearance every now and then, afterall he showed a lot more than what all our current strikers put together in that 20 minutes against Espanyol.

In short, we’re looking at a difficult season ahead, especially with the heavier expectations of last season’s achievements.