Premier League Preview: Manchester United

'19 times and that's a fact'

Two and a half months after knocking bitter-rivals Liverpool off their perch, the Champions head into the new season buoyed by a perfect pre-season with little to complain about. Good things come to an end for better things to come along. With the likes of Gary Neville, Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes hanging up their boots and gloves and a young wave of players including Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck and Paul Pogba emerging to the front, it's the beginning of a new era at Old Trafford. Often criticised about merely grinding out results, the young team (averaging 22.5 years) that took the field against Noisy Neighbours Manchester City in the Community Shield showed displays of impeccable football and staged an Oh-my-god comeback.


Strengths: 
1. Money well spent: The Red Devils have done very well in the transfer market. In David de Gea, they have captured a young, yet experienced goal keeper with great potential. Versatile Phil Jones will provide United with great options at the back, and in central midfield if required with his Michael Essien-y style of play. Wing wizard Ashley Young is, in my opinion, United's best signing so far for this season. He will provide United with additional artillery with his unlimited supply of crosses and will also be a great asset to the team in dead-ball situations.

2. New kids on the block: The biggest outcome of United's pre-season has been the emergence of Tom Cleverley (who has a smoking hot girlfriend, btw) and Danny Welbeck (whose girlfriend is not hot enough to be there on the internet, if he has one). They've been SO good in pre-season that Fabio Capello included them in the England squad for the Holland friendly, which sadly never happened. (Damn you, rioters). A large section of the United supporters are so impressed by Tom, that they feel there is no need to sign Wesley Sneijder.

3. Perfect balance and Plenty of Options: United have the perfect balance of experience and youth, of defence and attack. They have world-class replacements for almost every position. They had Dimitar Berbatov, last year's Premier League top-scorer on the bench. Now that's saying something.

4. The Roo factor: Wayne Rooney, wounded with his on and off-field problems, was a shadow of the player that blasted in 38 goals in 2009-2010. But he has a point to prove and he'll be raring to go. And when Roo gets going, you can't really do anything about it.

Orgasmic

Weaknesses:
1. The Centre-back partnership: To be honest, the Vidic-Ferdinand duopoly, that was once solid as a rock and led United to glory on multiple occasions, seems to be coming to an end. There are plenty of options at the back- Vidic, Ferdinand, Johnny Evans, Cris Smalling and Phil Jones. But United are yet to find the perfect combination at the back.

2. The holding-midfielder: The CDM position has turned out to be a problem for Sir Alex. Whatever said and done, Carrick is good, but not world-class, which was evident in both the heartbreaking Wembley clashes last season (City and Barcelona). Fletcher has missed a lot of football lately, and it will take him some time to get into the thick of things.


3. Between the sticks: David de Gea looks a promising prospect and a good long-term investment. But critics often point out his lack of experience in the Premier League, his frail physique and his lack of composure. Edwin van der Sar's gloves will be hard ones to fill and his commanding presence and intimidating physique will surely be missed by United.

Pre-season: 

Manchester United  4 -1 New England Revolution
Manchester United  7 -0 Seattle Sounders
Manchester United  3 -1 Chicago Fire
Manchester United  4 -0 MLS All-Stars
Manchester United  2 -1 FC Barcelona
Manchester United  6 -0 New York Cosmos
Manchester United  3 -2 Manchester City



Transfers:
Players in: Phil Jones (Blackburn, £16.5m), Ashley Young (Aston Villa, £20m), David De Gea (Atletico Madrid, £20m), Pierluigi Gollini (free, Fiorentina)
Players out: Wes Brown, John O'Shea (both Sunderland, undisclosed), Bebe (Besiktas, loan), Gary Neville (retired), Edwin van der Sar (retired), Paul Scholes (retired), Owen Hargreaves (released), Ryan Tunnicliffe, Scott Wootton (both Peterborough, loan), Conor Devlin (released), Joe Dudgeon (Hull City, undisclosed), Nicky Ajose (Peterborough, undisclosed), Robbie Brady (Hull, loan)

2010-2011 position:  1st
Football Finesse prediction: 1st, 2nd
Men to watch: Tom Cleverley, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Ashley Young

Villa-for-real: Give us the money, and Rossi is yours

Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido has indicated that striker Giuseppe Rossi will be sold this summer if the Yellow Submarines get a good offer for him. The front-runners are UEFA Champions' League winners Barcelona. The ex-Man United striker has been rated at between €25 million and €30 million. The Catalan giants are looking to add two new strikers to their squad and make it even stronger, if that's possible.

The Italian striker has scored 51 goals for Villarreal in 127 appearances, out of which 32 came this season in 56 games.

UEFA Champions' League Final: Critical Analysis

"Outclassed, outrun, outplayed."
The Wembley stadium in London witnessed probably the greatest Champions' League performance of all time last night. Barcelona were simply mesmerising with their quick passing, vision and finishing. Manchester United were second best throughout the game, and it was a disappointing finale to their otherwise successful campaign."They were by far the better team", admitted Sir Alex Ferguson and these words were echoed by United skipper Nemanja Vidic.


Where Barcelona won the game

1. Xavi was simply brilliant, and bossed the midfield for the entire 90 minutes.
2. Leo Messi, the best player in the world, was just too hot to handle.
3. Their defence was probably weaker out of the two teams, but it was never really tested.
4. When you have 63% of the possession, it's not that difficult to control the game.
5. SIXTEEN attempts on and off goal suggests that they didn't just keep the ball, they used it to perfection.
6. Their finishing was at the peak, with Villa and Messi scoring from distance.
7. They were vintage Barcelona, and not the team that played against Madrid in the semi-finals.

Where United lost the game

1. The full-backs let them down defensively. Evra went MIA for Pedro's opener.
2. They gave the possession away cheaply, way too cheaply. So unlike United.
3. Valencia, who's usually busy tormenting full-backs, was found making bad tackles in the middle of the field.
4. Too much was expected from Chicharito. He was flagged offside 5 times, and almost disappeared.
5. The Barca midfield was given too much time with the ball, they weren's closed down quickly.
6. Whatever possession they had, they didn't use it efficiently to attack. Proof: ZERO CORNERS

7. Rooney's equaliser was not enough to lift their spirits. The character and resilience they showed throughout the season was not there last night.

Verdict: It was a fitting finale. Barcelona thoroughly deserved it. The best team in Europe beat the second best in Europe. United played better than 2009 but they still have a long way to go before they can match up to Pep Guardiola's team's class.

Here's an interesting thing, our WAGs section on tumblr was won by Barcelona 3-1. Coincidence?