5th: Dimitar Berbatov:

In a season that ultimately ended in disappointment for our Bulgarian prince which saw him lose his place in the team in the last few months of the season and amazingly left completely out of the squad for the Champions League final, we should not forget the contribution he made for Manchester United’s success this season. When the certain Wayne Rooney saga seemed to drag our team down for the first half of the campaign, it was Berbatov who took center stage and carried the team through very difficult periods of the season, in a season which saw him take home three match balls and the Premier League golden boot for being the joint top goal scorer in the league. Even when he was reduced to the bench during the denouement of the season he still made crucial contributions from the sidelines with a last minute winner against Bolton and a game-changing performance against West Ham to secure a historic comeback. His misses and abysmal performance against City  in the F.A cup semi-finals and the fact that he was left completely out of the biggest game of the seasons has put his United career in doubt. With only one year left in his current deal and with Danny  Welbeck returning from an impressive loan spell at Sunderland next season I’m not to sure on whether or not our magic no.9 will be back in the famous red shirt again in August. However, the 2010/2011 season will always be the one where Dimitar Berbatov proved himself to be a Manchester United player.

Best Game: Difficult choice considering the man bagged three hat-tricks, but his virtuoso performance against Blackburn back in November was simply breathtaking. He equaled a Premier League record and joined the likes of former Manchester United legend Andy Cole and the Premierships all time top scorer Alan Shearer becoming only the 4th player to score five goals in one game in the Premiership era. His third goal was particularly outstanding. Special mention has to go to his match-winning performance against Liverpool where he scored his first hat-trick of the season to down the scousers!

4th: Javier Hernandez:

The man who took Berbatov’s place in the team is no other then our Mexican sensation ‘Chicharito’. Hernandez would no doubt be higher up in the rankings had he been started more often in the first half of the season. During the first few months of the campaign our little maestro became known as a ‘super-sub’ and was compared with to United legend Ole Gunner Solskjaer who was also known as a ‘super-sub’. However, his partnership with Wayne Rooney during the second of the campaign showed the world he could do it from the start rather then just the bench. He became the first United striker since Ruud Van Nistelrooy to score twenty goals in his debut season at the club. His record of 20 goals in 45 games is made even more impressive considering he only started 27 of those games. His goals included some very important strike, examples being his two openers against Chelsea in the Champions and Premier League, his winners against Stoke, West Brom and Everton and his equalizer against Blackpool. He also managed an incredible feat of scoring in the Community Shield, Carling Cup, F.A Cup, Champions League and Premier League all in the same season. All this helped earn him the ‘Fans Player Of The Year’ at the United awards night.

Best Game: With crucial games coming up it was no surprise that Chicharito was given a run out against Wigan at the DW stadium back in late February. However, it arguable turned out to be one of the most important games of the season as the ‘little pea’ bagged a brace and the first glimpse of the Rooney-Hernandez partnership was seen. He impressed Fergie so much that he started 13 out of the following 19 games, including the Champions League Final against Barcelona.

3rd: Edwin Van Der Sar 

His last season at United and in professional was arguable his greatest of all. Chants of “Edwin, Van Der Sar – Edwin, Edwin, Van Der Sar” became more and more frequent as the season wore on and petitions were made to try and convince the big man to stay on for one more year. Alas, it ultimately did fail, but VDS was an integral part in our success this season with some outstanding and important saves. He even managed an assist against Aston Villa to match PFA Player Of The Year – winger Gareth Bale total. Unfortunately he could not go out on a high with a Champions League medal, but that shouldn’t detract from what has been a great career for the Dutchman and he will always be in our hearts for helping us secure the 19th title. David De Gea is going to have some huge gloves to fill.

Best Match: He had a few brilliant performances this season, but his one man show act against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the F.A Cup showed the gunners what can be achieved with a top class keeper. His double save against Koscielny being the highlight.

2nd: Luis Nani

Like Berbatov his season ended on somewhat of a sour note losing his place in the team to Antonio Valencia and losing a large chunk of his confidence after a dreadful performance against Liverpool which saw him go off on a stretcher from a dreadful challenge from Jamie Carragher. However, up to March it must not be forgotten that Luis Nani was by far our best player. Game after game he either provided an assist or scored one himself, he didn’t get a third of the plaudits that his Tottenham and Arsenal counterparts Gareth Bale and Samir Nasri received despite being far more effective then the duo combined in the Premier League with 9 goals and 18 assists. For most of the campaign himself and Rafael formed a frightening partnership down the right of United’s attack and defense. His performances and efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by his fellow Man United team-mates as they voted him the “Players-Player of the Year” a few weeks ago. Had his form not had curtailed during the final weeks of the season there be doubt that Nani would be my no.1. Next season will be the most important in the man from Portugal’s career as with Ashley Young seemingly set to join the club soon and Antonio Valencia a fixture on the right he has to prove he actually can be just as good on the left as he is on the right. I have a funny feeling that he will.

Best Match: Even though the match is only remembered for Wayne Rooney’s spectacular overhead kick, Nani was by far our most dangerous player on the day drifting all around the pitch causing tons of trouble to Manchester City’s defense and earned an assist and scored a wonderful goal which will always rather unfortunately be in the shadow of Rooney’s goal.

1st: Nemanja Vidic

A collective sigh a relief went around Old Trafford last year when after all the speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid, Nemanja Vidic finally signed a new contract. He was made United captain before the start of the season and what a captain he has been. Without doubt our most consistent performer of the season, our Serbian defender was always a stand out performer at the heart of the defense. He also managed five goals through the campaign including a rocket against Aston Villa back in February. Whether alongside Rio Ferdinand or Chris Smalling he never failed to deliver and could hang his head high in the Champions League Final after he threw his body on the line time and time again as our boys tried to hold back the brilliance of Barcelona. Lifting the Champions League trophy would have been more then a fitting end to his debut season as captain. However, he will always be remembered as the captain who led us to our historic 19th title.

Best Match: Without doubt the most difficult choice of the lot as he has had so many outstanding performances. His performance against the likes of Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal at Old Trafford all spring to mind, but ultimately I went with his performance against Chelsea last month. He scored what turned out to be the winning goal and halted a late Chelsea surge to help see out the game and virtually seal the title.

The lads have embedded well into the squad

With Manchester City having a seamlessly bottomless pit of cash many scoffed at Fergie repeated statements that there was no value in the market as admittance that United no longer had the money to sign the best player. David Silva, Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko all joined our neighbors all making their own personal jibes towards United. The supposed humiliation was complete when United signed unknown winger Bebe from Portugal for around the same fee as Dutch star Rafael Van Der Vaart joined Tottenham for the minimal fee of 8 million.

While Bebe is still a very much ‘wait and see’ case. Fergie has had the last laugh on his signings Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling.

When United announced signed Hernandez I wasn’t the most excited about his impending arrival after seeing the disaster that was Manucho. Then in the hope of a French defeat in the World Cup I tuned into the Mexico vs France match in group A. An hour had gone before something sensational happened, Hernandez was put through and I watch with amazement as he went around Lloris with ease and tapped in it the net to the joy of Mexico and Irish fans everywhere. I was further impressed when Hernandez smashed the back of the net to score against Argentina. After those two goals I was convinced he wasn’t going to be another false dawn.

Javier Hernandez has then become a fans favorite with his kissing of the badge, scoring of important goals and just the natural feel good factor he has brought to the club. All for the price of 6 million pounds.

While Javier Hernandez burst onto the scene at United, Chris Smalling has been slowly growing in stature at the club. Like Hernandez, Chris was signed right under everyone noses and to be honest I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when it was announced we had sign the Fulham starlet. It must have affected Chris because he’s form suffered for the rest of his days at Fulham and I worried did we spend 10 million too much on an average defender, when we have Johnny Evans around who had been impressing at the time.

However, Chris impressed in displays against Rangers and Scunthorpe, but many suggested that was not a true challenge and we couldn’t take too much out of it. I agreed, but it looked like we had signed a decent player. Then came Chris Smalling’s biggest test, against Stoke City and their giant striker Kenwye Jones. Although Hernandez scored, I was left amazed at how well Chris had performed. Chris then went on to put in sterling performances against big sides like Man City and Marseille and come out with clean sheets in both. Today both Chris Smalling and Hernandez were pivotal in our 4-0 victory over Wigan, which has left me questioning….which was the better buy?

Well look at stats:

Appearances:

Hernandez 29 appearances (14 starts)

Smalling 21 appearances (14 starts)

Goals/Clean Sheets:

Hernandez 13 goals

Smalling 10 clean sheets

Both have made the same amount of starts and Hernandez has managed 13 goals and United have kept 10 clean sheets when Smalling has started or come on from the bench. So the stats tell you how impressive they have been.

Conclusion: With Evans lack of form and Rio’s niggling injuries then you can’t underestimate how important Smalling has been. He has come in and showed real maturity whether he’s along side Rio, Vida or Evans. However, due to the amount of important goals he has popped up with (e.g Valencia, Stoke, Blackpool, Wolves e.t.c)  he has to just take it for me.

Still though 16 million for two absolute gems shows Fergie’s genius once again and if only we could get another two in the mould of Edwin Van Der Sar and Paul Scholes we would very happy!

Well Done Rafa!

Hello! Firstly I want to apologise for my recent absence from my beloved blog…however, trying to balance schoolwork, friends, exercise and this blog is proving a tad bit difficult.

In between this and my last post United have hit Blackburn for seven, both the Blackpool and Chelsea game were postponed, United continued to show whose boss in their clashes against the Gunners, Chelsea have completely lost the plot, Anderson and Berbatov have regained their form and most favourable United are top of the league!

Anyway enough with the recap, here I’ll be announcing my Player of the Year for United, my Most Improved Player, my Young Player of the year, my Game and Goal of the Year and my Player to look out for in 2011.

Player Watch 2011

Over a month ago and this would have been a straightforward decision….Rafael. The lad has been a revelation since he joined the club and this season he has made the right back spot his own. However, ever since United hammered Blackburn Anderson has been back to his brilliant best even scoring a goal against Valencia and being rewarded a new five year contract. We all know that Rafael has pretty much cemented his place at right back however, Anderson still remains an enigma so based on that Anderson is my United player to watch for in 2011.

Can Ando be the player we all expected him to be in 2011?

Game Of The Year

Last year this would have been an easy choice the 4-3 derby between United and City. However, the four Manchester derby’s this year have produced 8 goals, one more than that epic clash in 2009. There has been plenty of eventful games year…. the 3-2 between United and Bayern Munich back in April which was a cracker of a game, but not so much as a result for United as the Reds were knocked out of Europe on away goals. The 3-1 destruction of Arsenal at the Emirates back in January was great for us United fans but in fairness Arsenal offered little that day. So after plenty of pondering it was pretty obvious what game it had to be… United 3 – 2 Liverpool. Although Liverpool were nowhere near the side they were back in 2008/09 it’s always great to beat the scousers. In a game which saw Liverpool come back from 2-0 to draw level and they looked certain to deny United a deserved three points, but with minutes to spare much discussed striker Dimitar Berbatov rose to head the ball to round of his hat trick to the delight of the Old Trafford crowd. So for a roller coast of a ride the game of the year has to go to United’s 3-2 victory over Liverpool.

Berbatov Shows he's class

Goal Of The Year.

Another difficult decision, not by the lack of quality, but by the sheer amount of it. They were so many great strikes. Nani’s goal against Arsenal where he went pass three Arsenal defenders before dinking it over the helpless Almunia. Then, in the same game there was a brilliant counter attack led by Park, Nani and the eventual scorer Wayne Rooney as the three ripped through the Arsenal defence to leave the Emirates crowd stunned and sent United on their way to another famous victory over the Gunners. Then, they were Nani’s brilliant flick against Bayern Munich to send United two nil up, Nani’s little dink over Gomes to keep United in the title race, Nani’s shot with the outside of the foot the following week to keep United 19th title hopes alive and this season Nani’s brilliant solo run against Bolton which started his own half and finished in the back of the Bolton net. Then they were Chicharito’s audacious backwards header against Stoke, Berbatov’s quite brilliant overhead kick in my game of the year against Liverpool. However, my goal of the year took place in United’s biggest win of the year….the 7-1 victory over Blackburn. Here is the goal:

My Young Player Of The Year

This is the award for the best player under 21 years old. This was the easiest of all my decisions because there was only one decision I could make….. Rafael Da Silva. The young Brazilian has had an eventful year he’s got into the Brazil squad (a squad that consists Dani Alves and Maicon two of the best right backs in the world ), he was sent off against Bayern Munich in a game where he was outstanding and most importantly he has rightly taken his place as United’s best right back – a place he will surely keep for a long time to come.

Well Done Rafa

Most Improved Player

This goes to the player who has dramatically improved from 2009 and 2010. This was a difficult choice because both players have come on leaps and bounds. I am of course talking about Dimitar Berbatov and Luis Nani. Nani re-ignited his Man United career back in January with that performance against Arsenal. Berba scored against Chelsea in the Community Shield and has never looked back, scoring a hat trick against Liverpool and rising to become United’s and the Premier League’s top scorer for this season – beating his tally for his last two seasons for United. This was a really difficult decision, but taking into account that Berbatov has displaced a man who scored 34 goals last season to become United’s main goalscorer then my pick is Dimitar Berbatov.

Keep Improving Berbatov!

Player Of The Year

Unlike the Ballon d’Or this award goes for the player who has been great all year long and not for a few months. Wayne Rooney was fantastic for the first three or four months. Berbatov has been brilliant for the last three or four months. Paul Scholes has been sensational in patches while Rio Ferdinand has been back to his solid best since his return to the side injury free. If Antonio Valencia hadn’t received that injury in Setember then he surely would have been a contender. They were only three players who I considered for this award. Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Luis Nani. Nemanja has been a rock at the back all year long. Patrice keeps showing us that he’s one of the best if not the best left back in the world. However, my award goes to Nani. The guy has been unreal since the turn of the year scoring ten goals and making assist after assist. He is currently joint top assist maker this season. Here’s a video I made for United’s magic winger.

I’ve been saying it a lot recently, but what a difference a few months can make. Think back to before the Bayern Munich game. Wayne Rooney was on top form, everyone despised Berbatov and no one had heard of a little Mexican called Javier Hernandez.

Fast forward to today, and Hernandez is already a firm fans favourite, Dimitar Berbatov is United’s top scorer and Wayne Rooney is at rock bottom. Managing 1 goal for United since that night in Munich and that was a penalty.

Wayne has also destroyed his relationship with the fans and fellow players by declaring United weren’t good enough. A few days later he apologised and signed a new contract, but the damage from that situation has already been done.

Combine all the controversy with the form of Berbatov and ‘Chicharito’ and we could have a completely new full-time strike force. Berbatov has scored 7 goals this season and Chicharito has scored 6 with 4 of those strikes coming in the last 4 games.

If someone had said to me last season Rooney would have trouble getting into the United team I like many of you would have laughed and called them crazy. However, this once laughable claim grows more realistic each day.

Personally I think Berbatov and Chicharito partnership could prove quite fruitful. Berbatov and Rooney have never really clicked, leaving Berbatov often sat on the bench for the big games. However, from the few games this season I get the feeling that Berba and Chicharito could get a very good partnership going.

I’m not saying that we should sell Rooney. No way, having the three could be fantastic for United’s attack.

In the one game Hernandez and Rooney started together it proved to be a frustrating night against Rangers with the score finishing 0-0. It’s far too early to be claiming that Rooney will become a bench player, but if things keep going like they are now, Rooney’s going to find it increasingly difficult to find his place in a side that he basically said wasn’t good enough. Oh the irony!

So could we be returning to the days of Rooney playing on the left for the biggest occasions? Or maybe even behind the two?

It was announced earlier this week that Gary Neville would no longer be United’s captain on the field, due to the fact that Sir Alex wants someone who is going to play week in week out. He will however, remain official club captain off it.

So who will be United’s next full-time captain on the field? Man Utd aren’t short of leaders, but who will get the prestigious honour of being United’s next captain?

Lets have a look at the candidates:

RIO FERDINAND

Rio has had previous experience as captain of Manchester United, he captained them in the Champions League Final in 2008 and World Club Championship in December the same year, he is also the current England captain, well unless Steven Gerrard fights to keep the armband. Rio is a natural born leader and hiss presence on the field is vital as him and Vidic are a defensive rock as a pair. However, ever since Rio was left out of the team against Stoke in December 2008 he has suffered from constant injuries, so would it be a wise choice? He was captain last night against Rangers, but will he keep the armband on Sunday?

Darren Fletcher

Once a player every Man United fan was quick to scrutinise when things were going wrong, Darren has proved his doubters wrong and is one of the first names on the team sheet, loves the big games and has become a leader in the United camp. Like Rio is also captain for his country and although he hasn’t started this season in the best of form, he would be a decent choice to become captain.

Patrice Evra

The outspoken French man has been one of United’s most players in the last three or four seasons, he has been crucial in United’s success and is a fan favourite among the United faithful. Former French captain Pat isn’t afraid to speak out when things aren’t right, which is what a captain should be like in my opinion. Captained United admirably in last seasons Carling Cup in 2009 and was the only United player to feature in every Premier League game last season, starting 37 of them. Would be a great choice.

Nemanja Vidic

“He comes from Serbia, He’ll fucking murder ya” – Perfect chant for the big Serbian. Nemanja captained United for most of United’s game this season, he strikes fear in attackers hearts and is the kind of defender to inspire the rest of the team. He for me would be a great choice, he has captained Serbia in the past and even played peace maker for Serbia to calm down there fans.

You might read through this and think, what about Rooney and Giggs. Well with all the stuff about Rooney’s personal life, making him captain wouldn’t be the smartest move, also Fergie likes his captains to be playing either in the defence or midfield. With Ryan, I personally think we should be looking at players who will be here for seasons to come and not a player who is on the verge of retiring and won’t play ever game.

So personally my choice of captain would be…..drum roll please…… Patrice Evra. Mainly because he is a born leader, he’s not afraid to speak out, he is a true United player and because he is always available and is very rarely injured. If Rio could stay fit I would pick Rio, but he is always injured. With Nemanja I do think he would be a very good captain, but I just feel Evra is more of a leader and is more outspoken. Fletcher would be the dark horse to become captain.

So what do you think? Do you agree with me or do you think I’m talking nonsense and Patrice Evra shouldn’t be captain? Do you think none of these players should be captain and it should be someone I haven’t mentioned?

I guess we’ll find out who is the official captain on Sunday when we should all our leaders on the field against Liverpool. Feel free to comment!

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece on Berbatov, expressing the fact that this season he had to produce somewhere near his best form or else he was out the door. To be honest I didn’t think he was anywhere as bad as people would make ya believe, he has produced some moments of brilliance. Since the start of the season, the eyes of all Manchester fans alike have been watching him, and I’m delighted to say he has so far started to prove all his doubters, I remember screaming “WHERE’S ALL THE DOUBTERS NOW?” after he scored against Everton.

You might read the heading of this article and think, “well that’s easy just play Wayne and Berbatov up front, pointless article” or something among those lines, but we know Fergie likes to play 4-5-1 against the big teams, and with our defensive problems having an extra body in midfield can only help!

Dimitar showed on Saturday that he can operate as a lone striker very well, he was always on show for the ball, he made intelligent runs and stretched the defence and made space for the on-running midfielders and when he got his chance he took it clinically.

Wayne Rooney on the other hand hasn’t been at his best this season yet, he has looked tired and very unconfident. However, if there was ever a game that would fire up Rooney, it’s a match against Liverpool!

With all the stories flying around in the tabloids, I can only imagine that Wayne is bursting to shut them all up and have them start talking about how he scores on the field rather than off it!

Personally I think that Liverpool are there for the taking and we should play Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney up top and go for their necks from the off. However, like I said SAF loves the 4-5-1 formation against the bigger teams so I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Dimitar or Wayne on the bench Sunday!

Maybe he could do what Capello did with Wayne and play him in a more of ‘number 10′ role and he could drop off Dimitar? What do you guys think? Should we go 4-4-2 and take the game to Liverpool? Or should we play our usually 4-5-1 formation and pack up the midfield? Don’t be afraid to comment!

Read more: http://soccerlens.com/who-should-play-up-front-against-liverpool/54711/#ixzz0zQsRg8Ji

A lot can be said of Antonio Valencia, humble, shy, hard-working but one word will always spring to mind when you mention he’s name – Consistent.

When Cristiano Ronaldo fulfilled his dream to sign for Real Madrid, I like many United fans started worrying about the new season and how was Sir Alex going to replace him. A lot of names were mentioned from Ribery to Ashley Young, many of them way overpriced which resulted because of the 80 million pounds fee for Cristiano Ronaldo and the 60 + fee Real Madrid paid for Kaka. While I’m sure many of us wanted the big name signing of Ribery there was someone out there that was constantly rumored to Manchester United – Antonio Valencia.

When he did eventually sign for United for a fee around 18 million pounds it did raise a few heads, eyebrows, knees and toes, and when he failed to make a more than impressive start in his first few outings, many of us started doubting the lad. I’ll be honest when he did sign I did fear for the worst. I did not watch a lot of Wigan the previous few seasons and when I did it was when United were playing Wigan. However though I put on my best poker face and went to tell all my friends and family he was going to be brilliant, while I felt in my mind that in a few months time I could be slated for all of this.

However though I shouldn’t have feared. Real Madrid also wanted to sign him, and Real Madrid don’t sign any old mugs, they sign great players and turn most of them into mugs! Also seeing as he is a United player he chose Manchester United over Real Madrid, being that he’s from South America you would think he’d be more suited to Spain and would also want to prove something to Villarreal who let him go. However he signed for us which meant he was committed to playing for United and didn’t see United as a doorstep to a big Spanish club.

How he has proved me so wrong in a year. He’s no Ronaldo sure, but he got seven goals which is a decent tally for a winger, however his main assets is his crossing without a shadow of a doubt. It brought back the years of ‘Golden Balls’ Becks who ever since he left we never really had an out-and-out great crosser of the ball. When the ball goes to Antonio you know what he’s going to do, shimmy to the outside of his defender and provide a great ball, simple but highly effective. Also very difficult to stop given his natural pace, and since he has a very low profile managers never make sure he gets extra attention.

Also Antonio is a team player, and the Manchester United v Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge where he did a number on Ashley Cole for the majority of the game proved that. If you get the chance to watch that game again listen to how many times Ashley Cole name is mentioned, it’s not a lot.

Last season was a good season for Antonio and Nani, often got me thinking who’s the better player?

When Nani clicks into gear he is a force to be reckoned with, but the keyword to highlight there is ‘when‘, because when the ball arrives to Nani’s feet you don’t know whether he’s going to do what he did at Arsenal and rip three or four defenders to shreds before scoring a great goal, or check inside and sky a shot miles over the bar. While he has improved on that last season he still is very unpredictable.

Nani has endured a tough career at Manchester United so far. He has often been cached into the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, and until his Portuguese compatriot left for Madrid have we seen what seems to be the real Nani, a huge talent that once he smoothes out his rough edges is sure to be a powerhouse name in world football.

However for me the winner is Antonio Valencia, if anyone watched the first leg of the last 16 game of the Champions League game where Manchester United took on Ac Milan you would have seen for the first 60 minutes Nani make waste after wasted cross on one of his worse days, enter Valencia just back from injury and a rest from the team and within a few minutes he provides an excellent ball to the head of Wayne Rooney and United are 2-1 up and go on to win 3-2.

That game showed me if given the option to pick Nani or Valencia I would pick Valencia. For me Antonio is a player who will week in, week out get a 7/8 out of ten, Nani however is a player could be a 5/6 out of ten one week to a 9/10 the next. However since Manchester United have both we can enjoy the best of both wings.

We’ll all be expecting more from Nani next season, while for Valencia more of the same please!

What do you think? Who would you have in your team Nani or Valencia?