RIO Ferdinand, Roy Keane and rampant Arsenal. Those are the three reasons why Manchester United slipped out of the race for the major prizes and were left clinging to the FA Cup for redemption this season.
And the man who pinpointed those three factors is none other than Sir Alex Ferguson, now charged with reviving the Reds' fortunes this summer, when he feels two new faces may be enough to give his team the pep they missed last term.
Ferdinand's decision to begin his eight-month suspension, pending an appeal, in January, is seen by the manager as the single biggest turning point in United's season.
From occupying top spot and having the best defensive record in the Premier League, based around a pacy, solid and skilful pairing of Ferdinand with Mikael Silvestre, the Reds slumped to third.
Wes Brown was rushed back from his rehabilitation following a cruciate ligament injury with disastrous consequences, as the Reds began leaking goals.
Sir Alex has stopped short of criticising Ferdinand's decision.
Potential
But many United fans have not. They saw it as a blatant attempt to sway the Football Association and earn a reprieve in time to join England at the European Championships. Putting country before club is inexcusable to diehard Reds.
The manager will only express his retrospective disagreement with his defender's decision and clearly does not see it as a major issue, having since spoken of Ferdinand as a potential future captain.
Said Sir Alex: "It's dead easy to analyse our season, if you want to see it from Manchester United's point of view.
"On January 17 we were four points clear of Arsenal, Rio Ferdinand decides to take his suspension, and from that moment everything changed.
"I wasn't sure Rio should have done that. From the boy's perspective, I can understand it. He wanted to move, because there was a helluva lot of pressure on him.
"The whole world seemed to be focusing on him. And once he began his suspension, it seemed to die down. So, in a way, it worked for him. He could get on with a normal life.
"In a selfish way, I would have liked him to have carried on. You would say, if he had not taken his suspension, we would have carried on fine until the appeal came up, and Rio would still be in our team.
Partnership
"And I think we would still have been four points clear. I know football is not that simple but, for the first time in 10 years, I was saying, `We have Bruce and Pallister again'.
"He and Mikael Silvestre were developing something together; composure, pace, aggression, it was good. I was quite pleased with that, and we had the best defensive record in the country. If you are strong defensively, you win leagues."
Keane had grumbled that he was being under-used by an over-protective Old Trafford management.
He wanted to play in every game, but the United medical staff were advising Sir Alex that the legacy of the Irishman's hip and knee injuries meant he should be employed sparingly.
Sir Alex took their advice, with dire consequences, and the hint is that Keane will play more frequently next season and will be heeded when he claims to be fit.
One sign of that is the fact that Keane has resumed his international career, with the manager's blessing.
Sir Alex added: "I'm not sure I did the right thing with Roy this season.
"I over-protected him. You can underestimate Roy Keane. We had a chat last summer, and obviously we discussed his situation. There were some problems, but it was his first year back after major hip surgery.
"What I said to Roy at the start of the season was, `We'll monitor the situation, we'll talk before games, certain games we won't play you.'
"What happens? The ones I left him out of, we lost the points. Fulham, Middlesbrough, Leeds, three games, we got one point. If we'd won those games, we'd have eight points more.
"What we're going to do with Roy next season, after he's had a good rest this summer, followed by a good pre-season, is work on the basis of how he feels.
"Roy's 33, but there are some players who are playing at 36 and 37 and doing well."
Deserving winners
Obviously the one factor that Sir Alex and United had no control over was Arsenal's scintillating form, as they became the first team for 115 years to go through the season unbeaten.
There are no bones made about it at United, the Gunners fully deserved the league title.
Said Sir Alex: "If you go through the season unbeaten in the Premiership, you can't be denied any credit.
"But in an important respect, the table does lie. Four years ago, at the end of the 1999-2000 season, we won the League by finishing 18 points ahead of Arsenal.
Did we think we were 18 points ahead of them? Not at all. More important, did they see themselves as 18 points inferior to us? Definitely not. That gap isn't real.
"We need two new players, some of the young guys I expect to improve, and I know our players will desperately want to win the championship next season."
The biggest plus point of the season was the emergence of Darren Fletcher and Cristiano Ronaldo as real forces, at the ages of 20 and 19.
It reinforces Sir Alex's decision last summer to lower the average age of his squad by buying young players and promoting from his youth ranks.
"We were never going to rush these two players, because we see fantastic potential there. We're talking top Manchester United players. Both of them. Any era."
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What a lot of people forget is that Arsenal did not really play under a lot of pressure last season and did not have the injuries that Fergie had to handle. A number of their draws could just as easily have been losses (Portsmouth stands out) and they were a hair away from going out in the early stages of the CL which would have hurt them internally.
They had the usual suspensions which probably should have been a lot harsher but United should have beaten them at OT and that game more than any other, turned their season.The losses against the lesser lights were poor management and for the life of me, all these games with Phil in the middle just showed our overall weakness. His passing at times is minor league.
100% behind comments made by SAF. The slide from being 4 points ahead in January to the total collapse of football at Manchester United was a shock to everyone. So all this talk about Arsenal taking over and shift of power to the South is utterly unfounded. SAF is right to say that with Rio and Silvestre he was seeing a new Bruce & Pallister pair up, and with a solid defense, the team was looking quite awesome in fact. Hardly a quivering, sputtering team on the verge of total collapse. Yet, with the removal of one key player, who would walk into the defense of any top club team, a collapse did take place. Wes Brown was absolutely not up to the job, and as was evident, the goals that we leaked were too much to make up for at the other end with the likes of Forlan failing to score, and a mid-field that had become disillisioned with the lack of self belief in the back four. With Rio back, and granted it will take him a couple of games to get up to speed Manchester United will become a rock in defense. Also, with Wes Brown being rested, and having put in together a great display of games towards the end of the season I see no reason to fear any set of strikers. Henry included. Note, how he was nullified in the FA Cup Semi-final (as was Viera by the likes of the mere spright which is Fletcher right now!). Oh yes, I think most of the land believes that last season was a freak for Arsenal, and a major blip for Manchester United having made massive changes, and undergone serious injuries to key players. Playing in their correct positions, and in a 4-4-2 style, Manchester United will be a terror next season. As for Chelsea. Well, they tried buying the title many years ago as well. They even beat ManU 5-0 if I remember correctly. What happened? Nought. Same again next season. Guaranteed. It'll be Manchester United, followed by Arsenal. And they will win the Champions League, no matter who is in it, or that they have to qualify. Goodnight.
Oh dear! Ferdinand, Keane and a freak season by Arsenal, paper over the cracks which have been clear to see for three years at least. United have stayed competive in England but are nowhere to be found when the going gets tough in Europe. Keane has clearly faded as his goals have slowed to a trickle. Rio and Silvestre, for all the surefooted dsiplays on the home front, looked miserable specimens in Stuggart, as did the rest of the defence. Gary Neville, lacking serious competition for half a decade at fullback is not solid enough whilst Denis Irwin's reliability and goals have not been replaced. It's a scandal that United dont have a recognised left fullback who could have pushed O'Shea harder in what was always likely to be a difficult second season for him. The midfield has got old and dull. Even in the championship year of 2003, the quartet of Beckham, Keane, Scholes and Giggs had a combined age of more than 115 years, far to high a number for the creative and hard running brio required at home and abroad. Changes were necessary and Beckham's sale was good business. It did however expose a lack of creativity which has been all too apparent in 2004. Whilst no long ball team, United did rely on Beckham's long range accuracy. His departure meant a serious narrowing of the game plan. Giggs rarely got behind a winger and United collectively started to get strangled in the final third of the field. Up front, Ruud could not carry us again for another season, even more so as the main source of his goals was now adapting to the Madrid sunshine. Above all the sheer lack of any serious replacements for the first 11 due to injury - Ole, poor quality - Forlan, Bellion or over-expectation - Richardson,Djemba Djemba, meant no competition at a time when Chelsea were buying anyone with an international cap to their name and Arsenal, who have been the power in the land for the last three years, were recovering. With Viera's dodgy knees finding their way throughout an entire season, they were always likely to give United a run for their money. SAF can make a good argument for a disappointing year but if truth be told, the writing has been on the wall for some time now. The defence should be overhauled. Silvestre should not make a fuss if he is packed off to leftback and replaced by a more rugged defender with better positional play and prone to fewer mistakes. The midfield, dynamised by Ronaldo should be reinforced by the recrutement of a genuinely dominating defensive midfield player and pepped even more by the arrival of a creative and quick-witted left winger. Saha and alas, Smith, will add firepower but another striker with a few more tricks in his locker wouldn't go a miss either. Overall, whilst SAF might like the slow, slow, quick of European football, United's best moments under his reign have come when the team played wide with pace and punch. If it aint broke, why fix it!
I agree with the comments of EZEE (Davyhulme) completely. Over the last few years the quality of United's football has been deteriating. They have been buying players that are not good enough to play for the first team whilst better players have been leaving (e.g. Beckham and Stam). We need top quality (we are the richest team in the world) and not second rate, dirty players such as Smith. It is time to kick out at least half of the current team and get in some fresh blood. Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, the Neville's, Alex Ferguson have all seen better days and should be desposed of as soon as possible.
Paul Mack and Stu you seem to be writing under a new name these days.