We lose to many battles, both collective and individual.
What we need is dynamacy, explosiveness, unpredictability and freshness as well as hunger.
This means 1 strong 11 and 1 weak 11 is no good. Every top team probably knew our team before we fielded it last year. If not the players, then the formation was a given.
This approach reduces competition. Giggs, Beckham and Keane all knew that in the big games they were guaranteed a game if everything was normal.(i.e. no disputes), If necessary Fergie would make space for them. It should be that almost every player feels he has to fight for his place. But who in our team really has to fight?
Barthez?
Gary Neville?
Phil Neville?
Brown?
Blanc?
Silvestre?
Keane?
Giggs?
Beckham?
Scholes?
Butt?
Veron?
Ole?
RVN?
Forlan?
My point is none of them have to fight for their place. Ole knows that even if he scores 5 hat tricks, he will not be the no.1 starter over RVN, whilst RVN knows he will always be number one if everything is normal. Butt knows he will always be dropped and he will never be an ever present. Giggs knows he will always start if the conditions demands it and Fortune knows he will only play if Giggs doesnt.
This is not IMO a productive environment. Its no coincidence that our best year was when Giggs felt his place was threatened by Blomqvist, only when he tried was his genius fully revealed - in that mood he can fire us to glory.
Nor was it coincidence that when our striking competition was so hot, when teams didnt know what combination they would come up against, we had our best season. Teddy, Ole, Yorke and Cole were all as effective as each other and could all play together in any combination. Not the case now is it?
Now we have a cemented first 11, meaning we are very predictable, players dont work so hard for their place. When Backham was dropped he knew Fergie was just playing mind games (he should be doing that to Giggs instead really). The first time Beckham became hungrier and fought for his place. But this time you could se that Bex was just angry, he knew what SAF was doing and it was more like punishment - just something you have to endure while SAF plays his mind games. This is no longer a good way to facilitate hunger.
Fergie should look to somehow create more competition, he obviously cant buy competition for every player. But he should at least make them feel more unsafe and get some competition for key players like Giggs. (IMO Duff would be ideal: competition for Giggs, extra option and competition up front also, replace Yorke, boost unpredictability)
In this case, too many world class players has led to too many undroppable players which has led to poor performance compared to other teams with only a core/spine of world class players and a batch of good players fighting tooth and nail for their place. Kinda strange scenario.
To get that killer instinct back, Fergie's gonna have to work hard to get that hunger back and create some real competition for places.
What we need is dynamacy, explosiveness, unpredictability and freshness as well as hunger.
This means 1 strong 11 and 1 weak 11 is no good. Every top team probably knew our team before we fielded it last year. If not the players, then the formation was a given.
This approach reduces competition. Giggs, Beckham and Keane all knew that in the big games they were guaranteed a game if everything was normal.(i.e. no disputes), If necessary Fergie would make space for them. It should be that almost every player feels he has to fight for his place. But who in our team really has to fight?
Barthez?
Gary Neville?
Phil Neville?
Brown?
Blanc?
Silvestre?
Keane?
Giggs?
Beckham?
Scholes?
Butt?
Veron?
Ole?
RVN?
Forlan?
My point is none of them have to fight for their place. Ole knows that even if he scores 5 hat tricks, he will not be the no.1 starter over RVN, whilst RVN knows he will always be number one if everything is normal. Butt knows he will always be dropped and he will never be an ever present. Giggs knows he will always start if the conditions demands it and Fortune knows he will only play if Giggs doesnt.
This is not IMO a productive environment. Its no coincidence that our best year was when Giggs felt his place was threatened by Blomqvist, only when he tried was his genius fully revealed - in that mood he can fire us to glory.
Nor was it coincidence that when our striking competition was so hot, when teams didnt know what combination they would come up against, we had our best season. Teddy, Ole, Yorke and Cole were all as effective as each other and could all play together in any combination. Not the case now is it?
Now we have a cemented first 11, meaning we are very predictable, players dont work so hard for their place. When Backham was dropped he knew Fergie was just playing mind games (he should be doing that to Giggs instead really). The first time Beckham became hungrier and fought for his place. But this time you could se that Bex was just angry, he knew what SAF was doing and it was more like punishment - just something you have to endure while SAF plays his mind games. This is no longer a good way to facilitate hunger.
Fergie should look to somehow create more competition, he obviously cant buy competition for every player. But he should at least make them feel more unsafe and get some competition for key players like Giggs. (IMO Duff would be ideal: competition for Giggs, extra option and competition up front also, replace Yorke, boost unpredictability)
In this case, too many world class players has led to too many undroppable players which has led to poor performance compared to other teams with only a core/spine of world class players and a batch of good players fighting tooth and nail for their place. Kinda strange scenario.
To get that killer instinct back, Fergie's gonna have to work hard to get that hunger back and create some real competition for places.