Dec 29, 2003 06:17 PM
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(Updated Dec 29, 2003 06:17 PM)
Manchester United. One of the strongest and most successful clubs in Europe. Ever since the start of the English Premier League, Man U have made mincemeat of their opposition. The very first year of the premier league saw Eric Cantona, the French great and Peter Schmeichel, the great danish goalkeeper (probably the best the premier league has ever seen) in Man U colours.
Manchester United were the champions in the first year of the English Premier league. They won again the next year. and they have been winning consistently since then. There have been years in between when Man U has failed to win the premier league, but their worst finish has been third!
That speaks volumes about their talent. Not all talent in Man U is bought. A lot of talent, namely David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes, Nicky B. (just to name a few) are home grown talent of Man U.
I think most of their success would have to be attributed to their manager Sir Alex Ferguson. He has been instrumental in their being a very successful side and whatever praise I lavish on him would be less. He however has been known to lose his temper very easily and throw things at his players (not too long back he had a blow up with David Beckham).
Man U has always been a team very slick on passing. Their creativity knows no bounds. Their captain Roy keene has been extremely inspirational on the field and thats why Sir Alex prefers playing him even if he is 50% fit!
Profile of current squad :
In goal is Tim Howard (U.S.). He is probably the best goal keeper in the English premier league. He is very successful at saving penalty kicks and has extremely sharp reflexes.
In defense is Rio ferdinand (England), gary neville (England), mikhail silvestre (France), Wes Brown (England) and john o'shea (England) forming a very formidable defense.
The mid field is extremely strong with the likes of their inspirational captain roy keane (Republic of Ireland), Paul Scholes (England and probably the best in the country), the very very talented Ryan Giggs (Wales), the young prodigy who plays like his namesake Christiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Kleberson (Brazil), Phil Neville (England) who doubles up as a defender and Nicky B. (England) whose performances in the World Cup earned his applause. Losing David Beckham to Real Madrid was a great blow, but they seem to have moved on well.
The forward line of Man U is lethal, spear-headed by Rud Van Nisterooy (Netherland) who has a great strike rate, Diego Forlan (Uruguay) who scores some very important goals and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Norway)
I see Man U doing very well this season, not only in the English Premier league but also in the UEFA Champions league (in which their record is phenomenal). All in all a tremendous team, one of the top three in Europe.
