admin
LONDON.- After returning to the English Premier League soccer’s top four, Manchester United have once again recruited extensively, but there are concerns about the balance of their squad ahead of the new season.
Manager Louis van Gaal has spent around £77 million, notably bolstering his midfield with the additions of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin, to take his spending since succeeding David Moyes last year to around £230 million.
With Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao having left and Javier Hernandez out of favour, it leaves Wayne Rooney shouldering a heavy burden up front, but former captain Bryan Robson believes the midfield reinforcements can provide the platform for a first sustained title assault since Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013.
“The manager has built the midfield area to a point where we look strong enough to dictate the tempo of games,” said Robson, now a club ambassador.
“Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin look really good signings. They are going to be the powerhouse of United’s midfield and that should hold us in good stead over the season.”
United fans raised on the all-action displays of players like Robson and Roy Keane have long lamented the lack of punch in the team’s midfield, but if anything, the club now have too many midfielders on their hands.
United, who finished fourth last season, deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation in pre-season, but van Gaal has pledged to revert to the 4-3-3 system that belatedly brought the team success in the latter part of the 2014-15 campaign.
It means that Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini (who is suspended for the first three league games) will be competing for only three starting berths.
With the exciting Memphis Depay, a £25 million acquisition from PSV Eindhoven, expected to start on one flank, Ashley Young, Juan Mata, Antonio Valencia and Adnan Januzaj – and potentially reported target Pedro Rodriguez – must vie for a place on the other side of the pitch. – AFP.
Online Reporter