Manchester United are an incredible 15 points clear of closest rival Man City, but are they really that much better than the other 20 Premiership teams?
Obviously they are far more consistent than the rest, but surely there must be more to it – or maybe not. Simple things like only having 2 draws and 3 losses this season compared to City’s 8 draws and 4 losses, Chelsea’s 7 draws and 8losses, Spurs 6 draws and 8 losses and Arsenal’s 8draws and 7losses. What I’m getting at is that United just don’t drop many points, and they win plenty with a win ratio at over 83% .
Even in matches against top 5 rivals so far this season, has yielded 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. Again, an impressive record. United have really tightened up there defence lately without conceding a goal since 30th Jan against Southampton, making that 6 clean sheets scoring only 11 goals themselves, but getting maximum points.
Now I think we are getting closer to the bottom as to why the gap between them and the rest is so large – United always seem to find a way to win even when not playing well. They are very solid all over the pitch, know there individual jobs well, respect and work their tails off for eachother, which seems the perfect combination for success. That’s the mark of the greatest teams. It’s not by chance that both Bayern Munich and Barcelona are also miles clear in their respective leagues – the top 3 leagues are non contests this year and are already over with just under 25% of season still left. It’s really remarkable when you think about it, unreal in fact, for such competitive leagues.
So what makes this United side special? Goalkeeper David De Gea is very solid in goal only conceding 31 goals in 30 games and has improved immeasurably over the last 9 months. Left back Patrice Evra is not scared to put his foot in (a touch nasty sometimes) but has a great engine, produces quality crosses and stops wingers from playing. Nemanja Vidic is awesome and for me is in the top 5 defenders in Europe. He has everything going for him; brave, tough and very hard to pass. Nani and Ashley Young produce the flair/quality from out wide giving full backs major problems, to go with a midfield pool of Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa, Anderson, Paul Scholes and Antonio Valencia. This gives them so many different options for Fergie to hand pick which combo to use game by game. In my opinion Michael Carrick is very underrated as he does the simple things well. He keeps the ball moving with long or short passes, never gives the ball away and deceivingly breaks up lots of attacks as well. Next up is England striker Wayne Rooney, who for a star works tirelessly for the team, scores goals, makes clever runs for others and is a constant nuisance for any defender. The crème de crème though has to be 24million summer acquisition Robin Van Persie with 19 goals in 26 appearances, many being when the pressure was at boiling point. Robin is a rare striker that needs 1 or 2 chances to hit net and can produce a goal out of nothing. He is a truly top class striker.
So there you have some of the key players for United, but the team’s engine has to be their great manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who even after 12 Prem, 5FA Cups and 4 League Cups, his desire to win burns as fiercely as ever. He demands his players to produce performances week in and week out, otherwise the dreaded Fergie “Hairdryer” will be left ringing in their ears.
This team simply has a winning habit ingrained into them thus they expect nothing less than 3 points every game, and it all starts from the bottom to the very top. Now back to the original question – Why are United so far clear? Simply put, they have the right formula that has put them a staggering 15 points clear in the league, and will become the English Champions this year.
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