A lot has been said about the midfield, the 'bg hole' that sometimes is our midfield...lack of a playmaker etc. I believe Scholessy's return from retirement helped to address that. Sir Alex knows exactly what the team is lacking and he will strengthen accordingly. The defence did well in a lot of cases, but who did not feel the huge gap left by Vidic? we missed him in defence and in leadwrship, not to slight Evra, but I think we missed the captain himself. Take for example the 1.6 thrashing, .Vidic did not play..I believe he would have left the defeat decent like 1.3..these extra goals eventually impacted on the now famous victory for City 'on goal difference'. I also get the feeling that he would have rallied the troops to protect the 3.1 and later 4.2 lead against Everton. I know that Vidic is very good in the air, who knows, he might have challenged Vincent Kompany's header at the recent derby. One thing I do know is that Vidic was sorely missed, I wish him a speedy return ..hope to see him at the start of the season.

I seen us able to get the goal thru. I don't think a creative midfielder is the issue at the moment. What I am more concern about is our central midfield and defence. We leave a lot of gaps in the midfield for our opponents to run thru. Carrick is just not up to mark in that role. Scholes wants to retire and I agree with him. We can't force Scholes to play anymore, the football game is too intense. Scholes role should be a coach and mentor. I find that we were able to score many many goals but when it came to defending we are really bad, really awful. Rio Ferdinand? He's been really good. But now he's 33 and he is way past his best. He is out of sorts and I notice that he doesn't fight hard to get back to defend the goal. Rio is out manouvred, outplayed and outmatched in every sense. I think Rio should now re-consider a retirement or move to the lucrative asian leagues. I beg to differ on De Gea. Ok, I have to admit, I was hoping for Van Der Sar to be extended but I was shock when I saw United hire a young goalkeeper but extremely talented one. I've seen some superb saves by De Gea, he really have great reflexes. But De Gea sometimes commits simple and basic errors which can be rather unforgiving when united wants to keep its lead on top of the table. I really feel sorry for the lad. I felt De Gea has great talent but it really seem too early for him to play at this high level soccer. He hasn't been given sufficient time to develop. What United needs is an experienced goalkeeper. I understand that United wants to follow the Arsenal formula of hiring youths but we don't have to hire everyone as youths. Goalkeepers have longer shelve life. THey can play up to 42. We can find an experienced goalkeeper in his 30s. But its too late, we already got De Gea so we need to make do what we have. Anyway, De Gea is talented and quick reflexes. I hope he learns quick and he develops confidence and maturity in his game. What De Gea really needs now is confidence and to fix his simple errors then he be the best in the EPL. I think De Gea can do it.

We do not need frontline players. In Rooney, Welbeck and Hernandez we are ok. We lack a creative midfielder, a playmaker, a player that can play both the short and the long game. Is Cleverley our man? Anderson? Maybe? Oh, where is Fletcher? We have no problem with holding midfielders and wide players (however, a wiide player without any LEFT foot I question). Our problems lie at the back where the bleeding has contined and has now become a nightmare!, namely at left and right back and goalkeeper. Evra is great on attack but when there, he neglects his first responsibility which is to defend. We are regularly exposed here down the wide side. Too many changes at right back. Smalling is a central defender and so is Jones The two Brazilians have great commitment but should learn the basics of defence. Just assess Everton's 4th goal and how it came about! This lack of positional defensive play from both fullback areas, makes the central defenders jobs so much more difficult. History at United tells us that the goalkeeper is the king and it is through him that confidence is gven to the back four. I do not believe that De Gea will ever give our back four that extreme confidence of the last defender. Bailey, Schmeichel. the small frenchmen (man he was good, but goofey) and the our modern day hero van der Sa, all speak of "I am the last defender"! I must say that we were a lot better in the middle of defence when Evans switched to the right and Ferdinand to the left. I must admit that I was on Evans' case a lot last year, but since the swop he has grown in leaps and bounds. So, money needs only to be spent on an attacking midfielder. The riot act must be read to the fullbacks and one more season for De Gea to fill his chest out and be THE BOSS of his area!