Manchester United

From FIFA - Wiki on Neoseeker

Manchester United

Club Name	Manchester United
Nick Name(s)	The Red Devils
Founded	1878
Stadium	Old Trafford
Manager	Sir Alex Ferguson
Division	Barclays Premier League
Main Rivals	Liverpool, Manchester City
	Home Kit
	Away Kit
	3rd Kit

FIFA 09 Background

Manchester United have appeared in every version of the FIFA soccer series, from FIFA Soccer 96 to FIFA 09 playing in the Barclays Premier League. They are given a five star rating, and regarded as one of the games' best all round teams with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in central defense, Patrice Evra at left-back and Edwin Van Der Sar in goal. They also have Portugal captain; Cristiano Ronaldo, who is considered to be one of the best, if not the best player on the game playing on the right wing with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov leading the attack. A possible weak point of the team however can be targeted in right back Gary Neville, who is the weakest rated player in the default back four system. United's default formation is a 4-4-2 system, consisting of two wingers, with right winger Cristiano Ronaldo playing slightly ahead of Nani (or Ryan Giggs in the January update) on the left. Another system that works well is 4-1-2-1-2, which consists of Michael Carrick playing in a defensive midfield role and Paul Scholes or Brazilian youngster; Anderson playing at AMC just behind the front two and Neville being replaced at right-back by either Owen Hargreaves or Wes Brown. With their array of talent and world class players, they have a number of players who could easily be in the starting line-up. Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez is sometimes preferred to start in place of Berbatov due to his more agile and speed focused attributes. Park Ji Sung is another player who can easily get a place in the starting line-up if required. Manchester United also have a number of youngsters who have the potential to develop into top players with Danny Welbeck, Rafael da Silva, his twin brother Fabio da Silva, Ben Foster and Jonny Evans being a select few. Due to the amount of top players they have in their squad, being successful when playing as them on Manager Mode shouldn't be that hard a task. They are one of the biggest clubs in the world, and attracting other big name players can sometimes seem easy, and with a relatively healthy bank balance, providing the funds to sign players won't be a problem.

Default Formation

Current Squad

Pos.	No.	Name	Nation	Information
GK	1	Edwin Van Der Sar	Netherlands
RB	2	Gary Neville	England	(Captain)
LB	3	Patrice Evra	France
DMF	4	Owen Hargreaves	England
CB	5	Rio Ferdinand	England	(Vice Captain)
CB	6	Wes Brown	England
ST	7	Michael Owen	England
CAM	8	Anderson	Brazil
CF	9	Dimitar Berbatov	Bulgaria
CF	10	Wayne Rooney	England
LM	11	Ryan Giggs	Wales	(Vice Captain)
GK	12	Ben Foster	England
RM	13	Park Ji Sung	Korea Republic
LM	14	Zoran Tosic	Serbia
CB	15	Nemanja Vidic	Serbia
CMF	16	Michael Carrick	England
RM	17	Nani	Portugal
CMF	18	Paul Scholes	England
CF	19	Danny Welbeck	England
LB	20	Fabio da Silva	Brazil
RB	21	Rafael da Silva	Brazil
CB	22	John O'Shea	Republic of Ireland
CB	23	Jonny Evans	Northern Ireland
CMF	24	Darren Fletcher	Scotland
CMF	28	Darron Gibson	Republic of Ireland
GK	29	Tomasz Kuszczak	Poland
DMF	34	Rodrigo Possebon	Italy
GK	40	Ben Amos	England
CF	41	Federico Macheda	Italy
DF	42	Richard Eckersley	England‎
SS	43	Antonio Bryan	England‎
MF	44	Daniel Drinkwater	England‎
MF	46	Magnus Eikrem	Norway
DF	56	Ritchie De Laet	Belgium

Who To Buy/Sell

Manchester United have a rather healthy bank balance, so providing the funds to snap up players shouldn't be a problem in most cases. The one real improvement that is needed is definitely at the right-back position. The default right-back; Gary Neville can be sluggish, and with age getting the better of him, he lacks in a lot of areas. Man United have certain players who could fill in there, such as Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves or young Rafael da Silva, but Brown is also prone to finding it difficult keeping up with fast paced attacks, Hargreaves is more of a central midfielder and Rafael needs to develop properly over a few seasons before being stepped up as first choice right back. A player who should definitely be considered is Real Madrid defender, Sergio Ramos. At just 21 years of age on FIFA 09, he is strong, fantastic in the air and great tackling ability, and is more than suitable replacement for the older Gary Neville. Ramo's is by far one of the best right-backs on the game, and would be an integral part of any team.

Now when it comes to players to sell, the obvious choices would be older stars Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Although the latter two still have a couple more seasons in them, age is getting the better of them, and can't really up with Utd's fast paced style of play. A young player who would definitely fit right in with that is Aston Villa's; Ashley Young. He is undoubtedly an asset to any team and with his ungodly speed and agility, would make a brilliant replacement for Scholes if Anderson isn't your choice of player.

Another player to consider selling would be 2nd choice goalkeeper; Tomasz Kuszczak. Edwin Van Der Sar is formiddle in goal for Manchester United, and with Ben Foster a goalkeeper with a lot of potential, Kuszczak would be nothing more than a back-up player. He is prone to making costly mistakes, so letting him go is recommended.

Wes Brown: As mentioned before, Wes Brown can be slow and sluggish when up against agile and pacey attackers. Selling him could beneficial as he is worth a decent amount which can go towards purchasing a much better replacement.

Young fringe players at the club who, although loaning them out will gain them some first team experience and develop them a little, will again be nothing more than back-up players. These include Ritchie De Laet, Richard Eckersley, Magnus Eikrem and Ben Amos who will all sell for a small fee.