Tom Oldfield
Manchester United’s assault on a staggering quintuple, despite the recent loss to Liverpool, is still very much on track.
Everything is looking pretty rosy at Old Trafford and Sir Alex Ferguson cannot be having too many sleepless nights at present. While his attacking unit of Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo have shown only glimpses of their collective worth, Ferguson could not be happier with his defenders and goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar behind them.
After their fellow title challengers struggled to cash in on United’s absence while playing in the Club World Cup, the value of the Red Devils’ defensive prowess became very evident. Ferguson and company rolled back into the country and promptly put together a string of 1-0 victories. With Nemanja Vidic in inspired form and van der Sar belying his age, one goal was generally enough to secure three points.
But this has not always been the case for United since the start of the 21st century. In fact, there have been some very worrying goalkeeping displays along the way.
When Peter Schmeichel walked away from Old Trafford after the stunning Treble season of 1998/99, it was always going to be hard to replace the Great Dane. They were huge boots to fill. However, United certainly gambled – and lost – in some of their attempts to find a new number one, with several now infamous among supporters.
First, Ferguson turned to Australian keeper Mark Bosnich, who had performed well for Aston Villa over the years. Initially, it seemed a decent move but the cracks soon started to appear. United cantered to the title in Bosnich’s first season between the sticks but the Aussie’s kicking was often woeful, ensuring that any back pass was a risky proposition. It spread panic among the back four and left Ferguson with little choice but to look elsewhere.
Bosnich’s career went off the rails from that point onwards as he struggled with a cocaine addiction, leading to him being declared bankrupt in the summer of 2008. So United had made one goalkeeping move in the post-Schmeichel era and it had not ended well.
Unfortunately, Massimo Taibi – another possible heir to Schmeichel’s jersey – fared worse still. Taibi was signed from Venezia for more than £4M but would forever be remembered at Old Trafford for a series of howlers, particularly the tame Matt Le Tissier shot that he allowed to creep agonisingly through his legs and into the net. Taibi was also in the United goal for a humbling 5-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. His stay in Manchester proved to be brief.
Enter Fabien Barthez, the exuberant Frenchman. Barthez had made his name with the French national team, performing well on the road to major successes at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He came in with a greater pedigree than Bosnich had and United fans began to think that this could be the real deal.
Barthez had some excellent moments, keeping United in matches with brilliant shot-stopping and good anticipation. He fitted in well with his desire to start quick counter attacks and Ferguson’s side collected another title in 2000/01. But the errors came thick and fast the following season as gaffes against Deportivo La Coruna in the Champions League and Arsenal in an important Premier League clash saw him portrayed as an accident waiting to happen.
Ferguson began to lose faith in the Frenchman and it came as little surprise when the United boss scoured the transfer market again during the summer of 2002. He picked out American Tim Howard, whose arrival signalled the end for Barthez. The Frenchman had had some great successes at Old Trafford but, ultimately, he too had fallen short of Schmeichel’s high standards. He returned to France to play for Marseille.
Howard was a revelation initially, proving to be the penalty shoot-out hero in the Community Shield against Arsenal, but big errors followed. The night that really sealed his Old Trafford fate came in the Champions League second leg of the 2004 tie with Porto when he fumbled a routine free-kick and Costinha netted the rebound to send United crashing out of Europe. There was no way back from that.
Roy Carroll was another who saw playing time between the sticks. Carroll, like Howard, enjoyed some very good afternoons but he never looked capable of being the long-term replacement for Schmeichel that Ferguson craved. And so, eventually, the United boss turned to van der Sar, whom he had tried to sign years earlier while the Dutchman was at Juventus.
The rest, of course, is history. United are chasing a third successive Premier League crown and, with their efficient 2-0 aggregate win over Inter Milan, remain on course to defend the Champions’ League trophy which they won in May. Van der Sar may not have many more years ahead of him at the highest level but he has proved a worthy successor to Schmeichel and, with Ben Foster looking in good shape to replace the Dutchman when called upon, the goalkeeping situation, which plagued the Red Devils for years, now appears very promising indeed.
