A Mixed Ending for a Terrific Season

Time for some random post. Since the start of the year, I haven't been regularly watched Man Utd matches (except most Saturday/Sunday's games), though I never missed the match highlight. It has been another great season for the club and the fan, with both the grandeur and the disappointment mixed in.

The ups: obviously winning the record breaking 19th English top flight title, overtaking Liverpool as the top dog. And it has not been an easy feat, considering the squad that won the trophy had been regularly criticised for underperform, like many other great Man Utd sides in the past seasons. I admit that the squad is probably not comparable with the team of, for example, 1999 and 2008, but the spirit of the team and the work rate as the squad is unbeliavable, probably second only to those in 1999 treble winning squad. Berbatov shines in the first half of the season, and also got some crucial winning goals at latter stages (eg vs Blackpool/Bolton). Hernandez has been a revelation with his Gary Lineker-like presence up front and score crucial goals (eg vs Everton/Stoke), a huge bargain for 6m pounds. Nani had his best season since coming to the club, although he seems to be more effective on the right, which overlap with Valencia who also did great since coming back from injuries. Giggs, despite his age of 38, always full of energy and spirit on the pitch. Park has always been a massive big game player. At the back, Vidic has been immense, and at the post, no more words need to be said about the retiring Van der Sar - a goalkeeper of the same standard of the great Schmeichel. Simply put, everyone in the squad contribute to the success at any stage of the season.

The downs: quite a few I guess. Losing the FA Cup semi final to Man City, and most importantly, losing the Champions League final against Barcelona at Wembley last Saturday. The FA Cup could have been different had Rooney not suspended (for his swearing at West Ham), but I had no qualms over the defeat to Barca. Although I still didn't like them for their regular acting and swarming over the referees, the football they played was simply too much for Man Utd to handle.

EPL 2010-2011 was really a peculiar season. The weaker team regularly beat the stronger team, Chelsea's crazy form at the start, middle and end of season, Arsenal's incredible collapse after losing the League Cup to Birmingham, Blackpool relegated despite scoring a massive 55 goals, and much more. Based on consistency, I guess it's fair to say that Man Utd did deserved to win the title, with Chelsea coming close in second (they would be unreachable had that mid-season lapse didn't happen). Man City finally ended their 30+ odd years trophy drought and clinch a CL place, but I'm not quite convinced that they can challenge for the title next season, because they seem to approach games too carefully, sometimes too defensively. Liverpool could be dangerous next season with Dalglish in charge, as for Arsenal, well, it depend on how Wenger is willing to spend I guess.

As for the prospect of next season, it seems like we'll see some major shuffle in the squad. Van der Sar, Neville and yesterday, Scholes retired. De Gea seems to be coming, while some other players seems to be leaving, and Sir Alex seems willing to use the youth squad that just recently won the FA Youth Cup. Hopefully the youngsters/new players added to the squad next season could emulate the success achieved this season, or perhaps bettered it.