Unfortunately,
that’s pretty much as good as it got.
The rest of the season, in my opinion anyway, was sub-par. Agreed, there were some great performances
and some comfortable wins, but in the most part, something was missing. I get the feeling that even if we had won the
league, we wouldn’t have quite deserved it.
A 20th title wouldn’t have reflected on how good we were, but
rather on how inconsistent our competitors were. There have been seasons in the past where we
have played a lot better than we did this season and not won the league.
I wonder by
how many points City would have won the league had it not been for Paul Scholes
coming out of retirement. The man is a
legend, pure class, and I had the pleasure of watching him play, and score,
against QPR at Old Trafford in April. “He scores goals galore, he scores goals…”. I’m glad he came back, really I am, but it
also worries me. It worries me because I
think it shows how much we need him, or a player like him. He controls the game so well, and without
him, I honestly don’t think we can compete at the highest level. Should United be this reliant on one player?
No.
I think many
people see Tom Cleverley as a replacement for Scholes, but at the moment,
Cleverley is a talented youngster with a lot of promise, nothing more. His partnership in central midfield with
Anderson at the start of the season looked very good. Unfortunately, both players were unlucky with
injuries this season, and who knows how different things could have been for them,
and United, had they managed to stay fit.
Staying in central midfield, it was great to see Carrick starting to
look like the player he was before the 2009 Champions League Final, and I hope
he carries that into next season.
My main
concerns with United this season was our lack of creativity, and how lacklustre
we looked in some of our performances (Blackburn and Wigan come to mind). Apart from Valencia, who deserves a lot of
credit for a great season, I don’t think our attacking players had a year to
remember. Some might argue with me and
say that Rooney scored a lot of goals, and he did, but there were times in the
season when his passing was very poor and his movement was almost non-existent.
Young and
Nani looked good at times, but both were largely inconsistent. I’m especially disappointed with Nani, particularly
after he was so good last season, when he was voted United’s player of the
season. The judges are still out as far
as Young is concerned. Yes he is good
when he cuts in from the left, but what else can he do? On a completely unrelated note, since Scholes
is staying another season, I think Young should give him the No.18 jersey back.
Welbeck
impressed me at times with his movement and work rate, but there is a lot of
room for improvement in terms of his finishing, although he did score some
really good goals. I think that if he
gets more time on the pitch, we should have a quality striker in 2 years’ time. I really like Chicharito, the man is a lethal
finisher, but he also disappointed me this season. I’m hoping it’s just a case of “Second Season
Syndrome”, and that he will be back to his best next year.
I terms of
defence, I’m really looking forward to the return of Vidic! I think our defence
lacked some “bite” without him. Rio
looks to be getting on a bit, Evra got caught out of position too often, and
the Da Silva’s (Rafael in particular) have gone another season without
solidifying their places in the team.
In Smalling
and Jones I think we have two defenders who will represent United for many years
to come. I can’t believe I’m saying
this, but Evans didn’t do too badly either! I’m still not convinced, and I still get a bit
nervous every time I see his name on the team sheet. I just can’t shake the feeling that he has
that one mistake per game in him.
De Gea has,
deservedly, made the No.1 jersey his own.
I, like many United fans, was very worried about our goalkeeper
situation during the first half of the season, but I think he has made the step
up. He still needs to improve under the
high ball, but man does he pull off some amazing saves!!! If it wasn’t for him, I think we would have
conceded about 7 against Athletic Bilbao, at home!!!
So all that
being said, I think the 2011/2012 season was a big disappointment. No trophies to speak of (and no, the
Community Shield doesn’t count). A league
title thrown away by losing to Wigan and drawing to Everton, after being two
goals up, TWICE. Knocked out of the
League Cup by Crystal Palace, and knocked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool (F*cking
Scousers, at least we knocked City out).
Finishing behind that massive club Basel and not making it through the
group stages of the Champions League. Losing to City twice, including that
painful 6-1 loss at Old Trafford.
It’s been a
pretty dreary season, no doubt about it…
