Obertan and Valencia can replace Cristiano Ronaldo as United go back to the 1990s

As any number of pundits pointed out last summer, you can't replace Cristiano Ronaldo - he offers goals, pace, dead ball threat and those direct tricky runs that defenders absolutely loathe. But what United have done is look to minimise the impact by adapting their game and by combining the attributes of different players.

Antonio Valencia has proved a good purchase on the right wing, a direct pacy winger, reminiscent of Andrei Kanchelskis he is starting to weigh in with a few goals and may well move into double figures over the course of the season. Whilst Valencia has replaced Ronaldo positionally he is not a tricky player, he's a steady eddie who will be a consistent 7/10 man - rather than girating from the frustrating to the inspirational.

But added to Gabriel Obertan - who is oddly similar in build, pace and directness to a two footed Lee Sharpe - United could well have found the answer the Ronaldo conundrum. Michael Owen's second goal last night was created by Obertan who ripped the Wolfsburg number five apart before picking out Owen for a tap-in. This dribble and cross could not have been bettered by Ronaldo and with two quick, contrasting wingers United can stretch teams as they did in the 1990s and score goals for fun on the counter.

Nani has not looked like he will make it as a United player for some time and his assist for Owen's goal was delivered after the usually frustrating number of cul-de-sacs had been navigated. Park is good squad man and especially useful in adding energy and neat passing to the midfield - but does not have the pace to worry defenders. Welbeck has talent but is a bit raw at the moment. So United have options on the wings - but Obertan and Valencia look like an excellent pair to build on.

A lot of United players, Rooney especially, sacrificed a lot of their flair to allow Ronaldo the platform to dominate games - but the current team with a more balanced approach to responsibility could go on to be more free-scoring and exciting even without the worlds best player. Obertan and Valencia could take United back 15 years to mimic the most exhilerating United team of the Ferguson years. Now then, just need to find another Cantona - where do you find one of them at short notice?