2002 - 2003 European season review, part II June 25, 2003

Manchester United

In the second part of the LongLiveSoccer.com 2002-2003 season review we take a look at two English Premier League (EPL) clubs.

Manchester United have been dominating the EPL since its inception. London club Arsenal has only interrupted their run. Amid a seemingly continuous, seasonal talk of leaving the club, manager Alex Ferguson stayed on and the season started with questions about the teams back line but nevertheless they were installed as co-favorites to win the EPL.
Relative early season poor form seemed to rule out the title but Ferguson, armed with his arsenal of psychological mind games took control of his team and Manchester finally took the lead on the top of the table, while rivals Arsenal faltered late.
European progress went as planned highlighted by two important wins over an admittedly ravaged Juventus side in the second group stage of the Champions League. However the quarter finals of that competition paired them with Real Madrid, a club with somewhat similar problems at the back. The two games between the two richest club in the world would be about offensive firepower, and as it turned out Real had the stronger offense, and Manchester were undone by a defense incapable of holding the likes of Ronaldo off the score sheet.
The Champion League quarters will be remembered for another reason, amid constant rumours that Manchester midfielder David Beckham was on his way to Real and a locker room bust-up between him and the manager, the midfielder was left on the bench for most of the game, though he was brought on in the second half and scored two consolation goals. The rumours continued into the off-season. Not surprisingly Beckham was off to Real before long.
With their biggest star off to Madrid, Manchester will be able to reshape their team and there has been talk of more player sales and ofcourse lots of talk about arrivals. Paris Saint Germain's Brazilian star Ronaldinho has been mentioned but one can only hope that attention will be paid to fixing their questionable defense, a position many teams continue to ignore in modern football.
Player of the season for Manchester is Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy, his consistency since arriving from PSV Eindhoven has been invaluable.

Arsenal started the season with promises of another title and the start went well with the side playing attractive and creative football led by French forward Thierry Henry.
The French contingent at the club seemed determined to make up for their country's abysmal failure at the World Cup. The European campaign started reasonably well and Arsenal managed to progress beyond the first group stage of the Champions League.
The second half of the season featured some bad results, the European campaign suffered a goal drought which led to elimination at the second group stage of the Champions League, and on the domestic the teams weaknesses were brought to the fore.
A goalkeeping crisis at the club triggered by injury to long time English number one David Seaman saw the team lose confidence and other weaknesses manifested themselves as a result. The most serious one of which was the lack of cover at the back, defender Sol Campbell seemed to be the only capable defensive player on the team, others were either getting old, Martin Keown for example, or were not comfortable in the position, Brazilian Gilberto Siva for instance.
Transfers by manager Arsene Wenger and others were questioned when none proved adequate replacements when first teamers were absent.
Fenerbahce and Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber seemed to be the next goalie to arrive, on a free transfer, after an attempt to land Brazilian World Cup winner Marcos failed, but but that didn't happen either and the club see to be scrambling to find a long term Seaman was allowed to leave for Manchester City in the off season. One possibility is promising goaltender Paul Robinson of the cash strapped Leeds Uniteds.
With the team investing for new grounds there isn't much in the way of a transfer budget. And as it is obvious that Arsenal have to change, if there are any ambitions of improving on the just concluded FA Cup winning season, there is no better time for Wenger to further enhance his reputation on and off the field.

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