United we Fall

It’s patently obvious Man Utd are not the side they were. No-one can lose Tevez and Ronaldo and be as effective – especially if you replace them with Valencia (3 goals and 3 assists last season) and Owen (perennially injured, super-sub). We maintain they will struggle this season – a slip out of the top four has even been mooted. Their performance against Sunderland is one of the worst from them in living memory. So – are United a club in crisis?

They are certainly behind where they were last season in terms of personnel. Valencia and Owen are covered above. Obertan is yet to appear, but by all accounts he is another David Bellion. And Tosic and Lajic are potentially mythological. It speaks volumes that Sir Alex has already signed four players in Ronaldo’s position.

Having lost the two aformentioned luminaries they have reverted to a reliance on Giggs and Scholes. And revelatory as Giggs has been, a dependence on two thirty somethings will not stand them throughout the season. Come Christmas, with 20+ games under their belts already, those tired old legs won’t have much left in them. And good as Scholes is at picking passes against Stoke, he is no longer good enough against top quality dynamic midfielders – put him against Essien, Lampard, Mikel, and he will struggle.

And this reliance on the elder statesmen is nothing compared to the reliance on Rooney. If he gets injured, even more so than England, United are, for want of a better word, fucked. Berbatov is yet to enthrall (although was very good against Wolfsburg and scored an excellent goal against Sunderland). With Owen the most unreliable back up in the world, and Macheda and Welbeck young and inexperienced, Ferguson must wrap his young superstar in cotton wool. Permanently.

Then there is the defence. Vidic seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence, and may never be the same player after his mauling by Fernando Torres. Rio Ferdinand, undoubtedly top class though he is, is succumbing more and more to injury. He has started only half of United’s last 40 games. United have no first choice right back – O’Shea, Brown, G Nev, and Rafael all have their faults. Left back is probably the only position that is secure – God forbid Evra getting injured.

Once Edwin VDS comes back (and it can’t be too soon considering Ben Foster’s erratic performances) they will look a lot more secure, and be more organised – but he has one more season in him, maximum. Ferguson must sign a new keeper. Neither Foster nor Kusczak are anywhere near good enough.

Carrick, Fletcher, and Anderson are decent enough in the middle – especially with Giggs and Scholes as back up – but at the back, up top, and especially wide – don’t get me started on the incredible shitness of Nani – United have problems.

This will be Ferguson’s last rebuilding project – does he have it in him?