History of Manchester United Wingers
Growing up in the eighties and nineties as a United supporter I was always spoiled for wingers with the likes of Steve Coppell, Gordon Strachan and Jesper Olsen then of course later on the tricky trio of Sharpe, Giggs and Kanchelskis tormented defenses. Then David Beckham began his stardom on our right flank and although he wasn't the prototypical tricky and fast United winger he was a lethal crosser and free kick specialist.
These excellent players supplied Atkinson and Ferguson's United with plenty of firepower but for every quality attacker on the wings there was a Ralph Milne, Karel Poborksy or a Jordi Cryuff who stunk things up in a United shirt. Players like these would be swiftly moved on and more stars would be found in a seemingly never ending winger production line culminating in probably the most complete player to appear for the club in decades in Cristiano Ronaldo.
If you take Giggsy's transformation into a centre midfielder in his later career out of the equation it's been down to Ronaldo's success that the winger culture at the club has changed or evolved somewhat. His performance as a wide player who scored goals in striker numbers altered the gaffers view of how his wide players should operate. His subsequent transfer policy and tactical shifts have been influenced by Ronaldo's time at the club and his always inevitable departure to Madrid. In subsequent years Ferguson has been stuck in two minds about the type of wide players he wants and type of wide play he expects. His transfer policy has reflected this conflicted view. For every tricky ball artist like Nani (Giggs, Ronaldo) we have the more direct type of winger in Valencia and Young.
This mix of styles in wide players would normally be a good balance to have, unfortunately for them there seems to be a diversion within the managers tactical thinking when it comes to including Danny Welbeck into the team line up. Welbeck is well liked by the faithful but he has yet to firmly find his legs as a United player both figuratively and literally speaking. I personally do not think he is a starter of us yet and seems to be the biggest reason for the lack of playing time for Javier Hernandez, which sooner or later will cost us a bona fide goalscorer.
We rightly consider Sir Alex as the greatest manager ever but there is no doubt he does make baffling tactical and personnel decisions and can rankle the most ardent of the united support, the recent derby loss being a good example. His current insistence of playing Welbeck with Rooney and Van Persie seems to indicate he is deviating away from the traditional winger attack and players like the sub par Antonio Valencia and the frustratingly inconsistent Nani are left by the wayside. The preference of Ashley Young in recent times is also puzzling, I find Young predictable and limited and I am sure many agree with me.
I believe Ferguson will acutely focus on ball retention and smart ball players in the middle such as the ever improving Kagawa and last summers chase for Hazard would suggest. I also believe at this moment in time Welbeck is a square peg being forced into a round hole and the incoming Wilfried Zaha will probably struggle the same way initially. I don't doubt the potential talent of these two exciting young players but it will be interesting to see how they both are used next season
So what we find is the champion of two wingers attacking from wide areas Sir Alex Ferguson is moving away from his traditional forte and forgoing the wide outs for a three striker system. It doesn't bode well for the futures of Nani and Valencia especially. Last years pursuit of Lucas Moura seems to indicate that the boss has still some leaning towards the dribbling trickster in the team make up but it was more than likely that Moura was seen as a Nani replacement in due to the Portugese internationals contract running out. For all intents and purposes the day of the two flank attack from midfield seems to be over and it ends a long traditional part of our attacking ethos.
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