Manchester United’s attacking play last season was scintillating, breathtaking and at times outrageously glorious. Yet a return of one goal in three Premiership outings point to a potential lack of cutting edge for the defending champions.

The amount of flair accumulated at the club over the summer has been recognised by all with Anderson, Nani and Carlos Tevez all joining the club to link up with the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha. The problem is not creating the chances but finishing them.

My analysis of Sir Alex Ferguson’s innovative new tactic is that he is hoping to create a fluidity between the strikers and the midfield with Ronaldo, Rooney et al often rotating positions. In doing so it would pull apart defences who adopt a man-marking strategy and leave holes for others to exploit.

'Van Nistelrooy would be a perfect spearhead but a return for the Dutchman is 100% out of the question following his ignominious departure from Old Trafford and his subsequent success at Real Madrid'


Naturally it won’t work as perfectly against teams who adopt a zonal defensive formation. However, with Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves playing deep the front four players, whether it be in a 2-2 or 3-1 system, have license to create and the theory is the more you create the more you will score.

The problem is, they haven’t scored. Many a neutral was of the opinion that had Ruud van Nistelrooy still been at the club, he would have filled his boots and the scoreline last Sunday would probably not have remained 1-0 to City. Even with Saha on, the result would most likely have been different. For me, Saha was a panic buy who has done a job but his goalscoring record pales into insignificance when compared to the likes of Van Nistelrooy and Andy Cole. In the league Cole netted once in every 2.07 games, Van Nistelrooy one in 1.47 and Saha a paltry one in three.

I believe Ferguson’s ploy is a daring one but I would advocate the use of a spearhead. Van Nistelrooy would be perfect but a return for the Dutchman is 100% out of the question following his ignominious departure from Old Trafford and his subsequent success at Real Madrid. I heard several pundits suggesting a glorious return for Cole, but, although it sounds nice, he is not the player he was. At 35, he is a Championship player.

The two names that have been bandied around the most are those of Nicholas Anelka and Dimitar Berbatov. Le Sulk is openly seeking to follow Sam Allardyce out of the Reebok and Sir Alex definitely has the personality to keep him disciplined. Even so, would he want to take a risk on disrupting the harmony at Old Trafford?

A fee of £12m would be acceptable and Anelka would surely bag 20 goals this season having continually scored in the Premier League with the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Bolton. Berbatov was the subject of a big-money move earlier in the summer but I do not think United’s resources will stretch to forking out another £20million plus for the Bulgarian. Even if they did, I do not believe Berbatov would be the type of player they need. He, like Tevez and Rooney, likes to come deep and create as well as score.

In my opinion United missed a trick by not signing Mark Viduka. He would have been a great signing for them on a free and has demonstrated his ability to score, hold up the ball and bring others into play for many years in the Premier League. Yakubu is another who could have made the trip to United; his eye for goal is undeniable but I do not believe his selfishness on the ball would have suited Sir Alex’s flowing attacking manoeuvres.

Abroad a possible alternative, Luca Toni, went to Bayern Munich. The unlikely possibility is that Fergie does a Wenger, plucks someone from a minor league such as Afonso Alves and hopes his goalscoring prowess converts to the Premier League.

Having said all this I believe no moves, if any, will be made until January when Ferguson has witnessed Rooney and Ronaldo back and Tevez, Nani and Anderson settling to some degree.