Friday, August 10, 2012

FPLZ 2012/13 Season Preview: Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United players wearing the famous "picnic kit".
You can download the full analyzed squad data here.
Password: http://p-fplz.blogspot.com/

Last Season: Close But Not Enough
So Sir Alex Ferguson almost made a miracle by taking one of his weakest United to almost win the Premier League title. It was only almost though, as the Red Devils somehow stumbled their 8-point lead over local rivals Manchester City during the last few matches of Premier League last season, as their central midfield crisis penalized them.

This Summer: An Asian for An Asian
The Red Devils acquired yet another Asian after landing Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund in their attempt to further dominate the Asian market. Nonetheless, Park Ji-Sung was picked up by QPR soon enough, and the count of Asians in Manchester United remains to be one.

Nick Powell is the only other signing that arrived at Old Trafford, while Tomasz Kuszczak, Michael Owen, Ritchie De Laet and Paul Pogba are all leaving. Fabio da Silva meanwhile has parted way with his twin brother to join QPR on loan.

Upcoming Season: The Charge for 20th
Manchester United continue to be one of the favourites to win the Premier League title, especially when they have gotten themselves a world class midfielder which they have wanted for a long time. They will still be Manchester City's biggest obstacle to become the champion once more in my opinion.

Rooney's stats last
season.
Key Man: Rooney (FI: 0.778)
Hail Wazza Roo. Despite not winning the Premiership, Wayne Rooney (£12.0m) has recorded his best Premier League season so far, scoring 27 goals. It was also his best fantasy season as well, though it is only 6 points better than his previous best (2009/10).

With 230 points already it is hard to expect him to break the record again this term. Nonetheless, with United's rock solid offensive lineup which is now further enhanced with Kagawa's arrival, to match last year's standard of performance is a reasonable expectation on the English ace. Van Persie's possibility of joining Manchester United may hurt his fantasy points though.

Complicated Battle: Nani (FI: 0.617), Valencia (FI: 0.631), Young (FI: 0.528)
The Red Devils' wingers in comparison.
Manchester United has the best wingers across the Premier League, but that is not really a good news in fantasy terms - they have three equally excellent players competing for two spots!

Luis Nani (£9.0m), Antonio Valencia (£9.0m) and Ashley Young (£8.5m) represent the sweetest dilemma for Sir Alex Ferguson, but my advice for fantasy managers is simple - stay away. Unless any of them starts consistently, it is really not a wise decision to fund about 9% of your initial £100.0m transfer kitty on a player that you are not even certain that he will start.

Good Potential: Kagawa (FI: N/A)
The next Asian football legend is here at Old Trafford, and I see no reason why he cannot achieve success at Manchester.

Shinji Kagawa (£8.5m) is bought to resolve the lack of creativity in midfield and thus fantasy managers can expect him to be one of the Red Devils' focal points in offence. It might be a tough journey for him initially, but once he click with his new teammates he really has a huge fantasy potential.

Nonetheless, rotation might be an issue for him as well, with Danny Welbeck (£8.5m) and Javier Hernandez (£8.0m) both allowing Fergie to line a 4-4-2 formation instead of playing Kagawa in the hole.

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