Wanted: A New Euro Goal King …
It’s seven months since Ruud Van Nistelrooy said a final farewell to Manchester and began a new adventure in Madrid. United’s supreme goalmachine knew he had no place in the club’s future once Sir Alex made him a bench monkey for the 2005 Carling Cup Final. The split between player and manager was acrimonious and ugly.
Sir Alex was derided for the sale, especially as he was unable to conjure a like-for-like replacement. As the season began, United were left with just Rooney and Saha up front and a host of reserves who were no more than hospital out-patients.
Pundits put the final touches to Sir Alex’s football obituary and waited. They are still waiting. To general surprise, United have outgunned all-comers, notching more than 80 goals in all competitions with contributions from 17 players. Ruud’s name, once roared in defiance during a pre-season friendly at Preston, is now a whisper as new heroes have emerged, notably Ronaldo and Vidic.
Sir Alex knows better than to gloat in public but his sense of satisfaction must be enormous. United have thrived in the Dutchman’s absence contrary to expectations and have avoided the blight that a succesful RVN would have visited upon a failing United.
The manager must hope that this is still the case after the two matches against Lille in the Champions League. It is in European matches where Van Nistelrooy stood out as a striker of the highest calibre. United’s record marksman in Europe was a reliable source of goals and a player with an enviable chances to goals ratio too.
When United take on Lille next week in their first match, Sir Alex will demand that his team be disciplined at the back and alert in midfield. Above all, he will need his strikers to take the available chances like the Ruud Van Nistelrooy of old.
Here, AbsolutelyUNITED offers its form guide to the strikers who would be United’s new Euro-goal king …
Wayne ROONEY :
Running into form at just the right time with five goals in his last five games, the young magician seems finally to have overcome the slow start to the season brought on by injury, World Cup excess and suspension.
The cracking goal against Portsmouth and the delightful lob against Watford recalled the Rooney of old. The manager wants more of the same.
“If Wayne can reach the kind of form he achieved this time last year we have got an even better chance,” Ferguson said. “He was devastating last year and there are glimpses of that coming back now. Scoring against Arsenal, his double against Portsmouth and another one against Watford - these are all signs that he is getting back.”
Worringly for Sir Alex, Rooney appears to lose his goals compass whenever United entertain European opposition. The young lion announced his arrival as a United player of stature, with a delicious hatrick on his European debut in 2004 but has since contributed nothing to United’s goal register. Some observers have blamed Rooney’s restrained performances on his tactical redeployment to the left wing for European matches but the player’s drought mirrors a similar goals famine at international level too.
Great players are recognised for their exploits in the most important of matches. Rooney, still only 21 years of age, will have to show that he is more than a domestic terror of inadequate defences if United are to flourish.
Henrik LARSSON:
The ageing Swede has made a mockery of the notion that foreign players need time to find their best form when new to English football and looks taylor-made as a United front man of the highest order. A clever player with a proud track record, Larsson has more than justified the risk taken by the manager to bring in a 35 year old without Premiership experience.
The Swede has weighed in with goals too, admitedly against the Premiership’s weaker outfits. In the game at Arsenal however, he was, like one or two other stars, a peripheral figure. Nevertheless, the goal he scored against Watford was a peach and Larsson’s general approach play and link-up with Rooney in particular, has earned the manager’s trust. The greatest tribute to his excellence is that Larsson now starts in the first eleven when it was assumed that he would be more of an impact player coming from the bench late on to change a game.
It only seems like yesterday that Larsson was being unveiled as United’s newest signing. Now, he has one month left at Old Tarfford before a scheduled return to Helsingborg.
Captain Gary Neville, is one team mate who would prefer otherwise. “”Henrik has been fantastic for us,” Neville declared. “It’s not just him filling a position, it is his work-rate, attitude and movement. Forwards win you football matches. They are crucially important to any team. I just hope we can keep him for as long as possible.”
Louis SAHA:
The rise of Henrik Larsson has coincided with the long-feared injury to this most fragile of strikers. The Frenchman’s time on the treatment table after taking a knock in training was a personal disaster. Until then, Saha had amply justified the manager’s gamble in making him the point of United’s attack upon RVN’s departure.
Fast, good in the air with a prodigious work rate, Saha has proven himself as a United player this term. However, the suspicion persists that he is a nervy player and lacks the singlemindness to be ranked among the most deadly of strikers. Although Saha got United out of jail with a fabulous goal in Lisbon, his performance at Celtic was a low point in an otherwise excellent season. After that game, Celtic’s Neil Lennon offered the tidbit that Gary Neville told him Saha would miss a crucial late penalty because “his head has gone.” If true, the captain’s comment could not have been more damning for a top striker.
The manager may start with Saha in the FA Cup on Saturday but is more likely to turn to Larsson for the contest with the French challengers. Four months ago, Saha was indispensable to United’s quest for glory. Now, he’s a substitute. How quickly times change in football.
Ole Gunnar SOLSKJAER:
Just being available for selection is an act of heroism on the part of this United stalwart. That he has chipped in already with nine goals this season is further proof of his legendary status at the club.
Solskjaer wont get a look-in if Ferguson is able to call on all of his strikers but a glorious ability to hit the target when shooting, makes him a useful substitute. This was never more true than in the third round FA Cup tie against Aston Villa last month. Solskjaer’s powerful strike from distance forced the Midlander’s keeper Kiraly into an error that dumped his side out of the Cup.
Alan SMITH:
Old Trafford’s forgotten man. Disobedience in the face of Sir Alex’s wish to send him on loan to Championship challengers Cardiff, looks increasingly like an unwise decision. There is only a slim chance that the feisty Yorkshireman will enjoy any meaningful action during the last three months of the season.
Dong FANGZHOU:
The match with Lille has surely come too soon for the Chinese international who appears to have caught the manager’s eye. If or when he does get a chance to impress in the first team, rumour has it that Dong will run out during a match played on a Saturday lunchtime, so as to maximise his marketing appeal in Asia. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2007
