Much of the talk about replacements in the summer has, understandably, focused on the defence and the addition of a forward and possible midfield cover. Aside from the possible departure of Veron there is a general consensus that no replacements are needed in the core midfield quartet. Underpinning this is a view which I share i.e. that a midfield of Giggs, Keane, Scholes and Beckham is player for player the best in the world. I have a feeling however that Fergie may be considering breaking up this quartet with Scholes the most likely candidates, which is why the rumours of deals involving thuram may have a glimmer of truth to them. And, i think, there is an argument which could be constructed for such a move:
Some time in the late 80's Fergie made the comment that most teams have 3 years of success before they need to be broken up. Liverpool's achievement in the 80's was to buck this trend by gradual change in the team so that a new team evolved every few years whilst maintaining success. Until Utd in the 90's no other team had ever managed this. Thus the team of 94 evolved into the treble winners with only 4 players constant. Whilst we have obviously made significant changes since 99 the heart of the team ( the midfield quartet) has remained unchanged. It was clearly fergie's view that this quartet had gone stale and needed freshening up, hence the Veron buy. And this judgement was surely right. The defining moment for me was the quarter against Bayern at OT when after an hour it was clear that we had no idea how to break down the well organised defensive formation. The problem was the lack of creative variety in midfield.
This year IMO, at our best, we have shown far more imagination and creative flair then at any time since 99, particularly in Europe. The problem has been that we have not displayed it consistently partly due to the lack of a settled midfield formation. And I think this is because Fergie in buying Veron couldn't bite the bullet and play him as part of the midfield 4. He wanted to find a way of keeping the same 4 and adding Veron. This is understandable because ,as stated player 4 player they are superb. What we know is that the midfield 5 does not work. Which means that a straight descision may need to be made Veron or scholes. Given this choice my heart would always say Scholes: he is a red, has rarely let the team down , is unlikely ever to leave voluntarily and therefore offer stability, is a superb player. However, is there not a chance that fergie's view will be that he knows that a straight return to the previous midfield 4 will leave us where we were last year.
This is why I would not be enormously surprised to see Scholes leave despite all the enormous reasons for maintaining him at the heart of the side.
Some time in the late 80's Fergie made the comment that most teams have 3 years of success before they need to be broken up. Liverpool's achievement in the 80's was to buck this trend by gradual change in the team so that a new team evolved every few years whilst maintaining success. Until Utd in the 90's no other team had ever managed this. Thus the team of 94 evolved into the treble winners with only 4 players constant. Whilst we have obviously made significant changes since 99 the heart of the team ( the midfield quartet) has remained unchanged. It was clearly fergie's view that this quartet had gone stale and needed freshening up, hence the Veron buy. And this judgement was surely right. The defining moment for me was the quarter against Bayern at OT when after an hour it was clear that we had no idea how to break down the well organised defensive formation. The problem was the lack of creative variety in midfield.
This year IMO, at our best, we have shown far more imagination and creative flair then at any time since 99, particularly in Europe. The problem has been that we have not displayed it consistently partly due to the lack of a settled midfield formation. And I think this is because Fergie in buying Veron couldn't bite the bullet and play him as part of the midfield 4. He wanted to find a way of keeping the same 4 and adding Veron. This is understandable because ,as stated player 4 player they are superb. What we know is that the midfield 5 does not work. Which means that a straight descision may need to be made Veron or scholes. Given this choice my heart would always say Scholes: he is a red, has rarely let the team down , is unlikely ever to leave voluntarily and therefore offer stability, is a superb player. However, is there not a chance that fergie's view will be that he knows that a straight return to the previous midfield 4 will leave us where we were last year.
This is why I would not be enormously surprised to see Scholes leave despite all the enormous reasons for maintaining him at the heart of the side.
