THERE is no doubt about it, Manchester United are not the force they were last season.

They are less fluent. Less efficient. Less dynamic. Less exciting. More predictable.

Minus Cristiano Ronaldo they are not nearly as watchable.

Yet if they defeat CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford they will take their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a flawless record with two matches to spare.

And if they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday they will retake the summit of the Premier League with almost one third of the season gone.

It suggests that Sir Alex Ferguson is doing something right. Actually, doing something week after week which eludes Rafael Benitez at Anfield.

Ferguson is getting the most from his players.

United do not have a Fernando Torres at Old Trafford. They no longer have a 30-goal-a-season striker following the exit of Ronaldo.

United do not have a Steven Gerrard. There is no surging presence in the United midfield. No talismanic creator.

Yet United have game-breaking players adept at influencing the ebb and flow of a football match in Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney, and a team ethic which demands they work and scrap for every minute of every match.

They also have a depth of quality in the squad which allows players such as Wes Brown, Jonny Evans and John O'Shea to provide robust back up when Rio Ferdinand is going through his current blip and Nemanja Vidic is injured.

It is why you just do not see Ferguson sides capitulating as Liverpool did against Fulham on Saturday.

Ferguson authority

But, you might point out, Liverpool beat United 2-0 at Anfield just over a week ago.

How come they managed to do that when they looked so abject in the second half at Craven Cottage?

The answer might well lie in the aura and authority of the managers.

Benitez is in his element in one-off situations, especially when his team are seen as underdogs. It has served him well in the Champions League these past few years.

It contributed to a tactically shrewd performance against United when he worked out a system to deny Rooney space and thus blunt the edge of United's attack.

But one-off hits to do not get the job done in the Premier League.

Ferguson is the master of pacing a season. And while undoubtedly his team are missing the direct running and decisive decision-making of the world's best footballer in Ronaldo, they do have Rooney.

When Alan Shearer, the best England striker of the past 20 years, was asked this weekend who he would prefer in his team, Rooney, Torres or Didier Drogba, he answered unequivocally: "Wayne Rooney."

Why? Well, not because he scores the most goals, because already this season in the Premier League Torres has 10, Drogba nine and Rooney seven.

I suspect Shearer's reasons had more to do with what Rooney brings to the team week in and week out.

Rooney has become United's kite mark for industry. No player works harder. None appears hungrier for success. No striker mixes unselfish slaving, sublime finishing, copious assists and the ability to lift the game of those around him quite like Rooney.

That is a precious asset for any manager.

It is why Ferguson must enter the most testing week of the season so far with confidence.

United should have few problems disposing of CSKA Moscow, who they so clearly outplayed in a 1-0 win in Russia. Indeed, Ferguson will have the luxury of taking no risks, resting those with niggles and probably excusing Rooney, whose wife Coleen is about to give birth.

The clash at Stamford Bridge will be more revealing.

It will tell us whether a less watchable, less dynamic United are still too consistently powerful for the rest.

What do you think? Have your say.