Alex Ferguson has rebuilt and rebuilt at Old Trafford. He has overcome almost everything that anyone has thrown at him so talk of him deserving the sack is ridiculous. Yet like any United fan, I saw Leeds’ win coming weeks ago and few could say they didn’t deserve it on the day. So just what is going wrong at the ‘Theatre of Dreams?’
Firstly, no team in the world can expect to sell Ronaldo and improve. Couple that with fan-favourite Carlos Tevez turning his back on the Stretford End faithful and the squad is considerably weaker than last year. Ferguson’s replacements Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen have shown glimpses of their potential, but they are never going to be better than the two players they have replaced.
It’s also clear that a lot of the so-called ‘new generation’ are just not good enough. Wellbeck has failed to live up to all the hype and is Frazier Campbell in the making. Obertan may improve with time but must offer much more than his dismal showing against Leeds. Darron Gibson could do a Darren Fletcher and finally show us what Ferguson sees in him, but at the moment he is inconsistent and much like Michael Carrick struggles to influence a game for a full 90 minutes.
Nani is on his way off, and is quite frankly an insult to Fergie’s legacy. Anderson amazes and frustrates in equal measures and has failed to really push on like many hoped. Carrick has gone backwards. All have hardly been helped by Ferguson’s inadequacy to name the same midfield, or side, for the past 100 games. Long gone are the days of Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs playing most if not all games. Sir Alex is probably not sure of his best midfield.
Three of the clubs heroes are now on their last legs. Giggs is by far in the best shape and form, but can’t do it every week. Paul Scholes, one of the best midfielders of his era, is really on the wane, and Gary Neville would no longer be first choice, let alone second.
Many of the other squad players are now simply horribly average or might definitely take a couple of years to improve. See Rafael, Evans, Kusczak, Brown, Fabio, Park and O’Shea to name a few. Were May, Butt, Blomqvist, Fortune and the four strikers of the treble-season much better players than today’s squad?
Injuries haven’t helped, especially in defence, but in years gone by United’s second-string would be plenty good enough. Maybe the rest of the Premier League has finally caught up?
United fans can hardly complain. Years of success and brilliance has seen them still in second place in the Premier League. Through to the Carling Cup Semi’s. AC Milan in the Champions League. Many fans would give their left testicle for such a season. Yet success breeds greediness. Chelsea, despite being top, were booed off in a display that would have mortified the Shed Enders of yester-year.
Only the most stupid would turn on Alex Ferguson, but at the same time, only the most stupid would fail to realise that United have been well below-par this season. Rooney, Giggs, Fletcher and Evra aside, most players have been inconsistent. Tottenham away and the second-half of Man City at home were high points. Arsenal should have won at Old Trafford. Low points include three home defeats in the last six at O.T. and seven in all competitions. Dimitar Berbatov continues to infuriate by showing touches of his quality and then completely disappearing. Opinion is divided on the £30 million man. Will he ever reproduce his Spurs form or convince all of his worth? Moping about next to the tiresome Rooney only continues to make him look worse. It’s worrying times for all in the red-half of Manchester, as their blue neighbours improve financially as well as on the pitch. United are saddled with more debt than they are average players.
United always bounce back – or so the expression goes. So it’ll be interesting to see what side is picked to play fierce rivals Man City. After losing to Leeds, a defeat against Man City would be a bitter pill to swallow for the diehard Reds who frequent the Bishop’s Blaize among other local watering holes. If United win the title this year it may be his biggest achievement yet. For the meantime Alex Ferguson will be desperate to end the week well, just as desperately as everyone else hopes it ends badly.
