Sir Alex has apparently claimed that our current Manchester United squad is his strongest ever. Just looking at the size of it, you’d have to agree. Jonathan Stevenson at BBC Sport compares it to two of his previous squads – the Double Winners in 1994 and the Treble Champions in 1999 – and picks his own best XI.
For my own amusement, here’s mine, based on my opinion of each player’s “Unitedness” and pure footballing talent for the years in question:
Schmeichel, G Neville, Irwin, Bruce, Ferdinand, Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs, Cantona, Hughes
Subs: Van der Sar, Solskjaer, Robson, Rooney, Ronaldo
Surprisingly, perhaps, only four players from the current squad get into my best XI and Rooney and Ronaldo only get a place on the bench. But in terms of my criteria of commitment to the shirt, the team, the fans and the club and achievements on the pitch there’s really no way in for the newer or younger players, not until they win trophies.
If they can achieve as much as some of their predecessors over the next few seasons, then the likes of Vidic, Hargreaves, Carrick, Nani, Anderson and Tevez can easily join Rooney and Ronaldo in ousting some of the oldies from my team.
Comments (from original post)
YadaWed, 23 Jan 2008 23:45:01
Vidic Should have been atleast on the bench
with Ronaldo in the best XIWed, 13 Aug 2008 05:11:17
I’d have gone for Paul Parker ahead of Neville, I always think Neville seems to teeter on the edge of calamity whenever he has the ball at his feet.And RVN doesn’t even make your bench?