Today Manchester United scored in a big way by signing striker Dimitar Berbatov, formally of Tottenham, for a staggering €38m.
Berbatov, who has 10 goals in 27 games in the Champions League, joins United soon after it's leader Louis Saha left for Everton FC. He will fill this void in a big way with his strong leadership abilities that he showed on both Tottenham and Bayer Leverkusen.
The team will also benefit from his striker abilities up front, by being able to work with fellow offensive players Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. These three are all great players with some of the most exciting skills in European soccer, however it might turn out to be to much of a start studded front. It will be a task to get these three to balance their egos to make the team cohesive. Ronaldo is going to have to step out of his comfort zone and make a few more passes to let Berbatov step up into a central striker position.
Another Manchester team made a big move on Monday by also snatching up superstar forward. Manchester City FC seems to be making a run for the top of League by picking up Robinho from Real Madrid CF. Although it looked for a minute as though Chelsea FC had their foot in the door to make the trade instead, City outlasted and picked up the up and coming Brazilian. In the 2007-2008 season alone, Robinho scored in almost half of the 33 matches he played in to become on of the leading scorers of his Real Madrid team.
Robinho is not the only recent addition to the City team. City has also recently added defender Pablo Zabaleta, from RCD Espanyol, and Shaun Wright-Phillips, Chelsea FC. It seems like Manchester United is not the only one who's stocking up their team.
But which Manchester is better off...Manchester United or Manchester City?
United has made the better addition in my mind. Although Robinho has done well the past couple of seasons, he's nothing compared to the Rooney/Berbatov/Ronaldo mix. These three combine for a dominant offense for the United team, who will most definitely blast though other team's defenses (as long as they work TOGETHER).
They're 3 via 1 against City's new recruit Zabaleta, and Robinho can't score as long as United's offense is controlling the ball.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
September 3rd, 2008 - The Battle of the Manchester's
Posted by Ally Weber at 9:37 PM
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3 comments:
While United is the better team at the moment, Man City's future is bright with the new ownership. Signing one of the brightest young stars in the game and keeping him away from Chelsea was a good start. The question is whether he will be able to handle the physical nature of the EPL. If players are swayed by the money (typically they are), the new group's absurd offerings will have players flocking to them, just as they did to Chelsea when Abromavich began throwing his money around. They're even trying to shatter the transfer fee record to get Ronaldo in the future. Even if he doesn't go there, the question is will he stick to his wish and leave for Madrid when his contract is up. If that happens. Either scenario would leave Man U panicking and Chelsea and City would be battling for the league title in a couple years. It seems like nowadays you have to buy your titles so Man U better keep up with the spending if they want to stay at the top.
ASSIGNMENT FOR TUESDAY--
Where does Ronaldinho go from here? Is he the best player in the world? Perhaps just the most popular? Explain the Ronaldinho phenomenon and, if necessary, deconstruct his myth.
Yeah, I think saying that Man City's future is bright with the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, in essence, taking the reigns of the team is a bit of an understatement.
As a Chelsea fan, I like the fact that there's more competition for players. Maybe now, Abramovich (who's the baddest m.f.ing owner in all of sports - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Abramovich#.22Private_army.22 - which says that the money he made the money he used to invest in the oil business by selling things on the black market and stealing government property) will be challenged to break the transfer record for players of similar talent/impact as Shevchenko.
Anyways, it's kind of sad for teams like Boro, West Ham and Blackburn, who seem to spend their money on quality players and have a strong fanbase, now have no chance to qualify for the Champions League or contend for the Premier League title.
With that being said, however, I really don't like salary caps because I think they promote mediocrity (spelling?). And it would be especially terrible if, for example, Man United were to take up the role of the Knicks and fall into the Coca Cola divisions.
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