THE good news for dispirited United fans is that it can't get any worse.
The Reds hit the low point of the season in Wednesday's poor showing against Porto.
It is difficult to remember United being so obviously second-best in any game, and in the end we can be enormously thankful that we didn't come away with a 4-1 or 5-1 beating.
Of course, when we get results like the draw with Leeds and then the defeat in Portugal, fans start to point fingers, saying this player is not good enough or that player shouldn't be allowed to wear a United shirt.
But the fact is that it was established players who have looked completely out of sorts recently. No-one will convince me that players like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and the Nevilles are anything but outstanding footballers, but even they have been affected by what appears to be a drop in confidence levels.
The recent focus has been on the shakiness of the defence, but I thought that there were definite signs of Wes Brown getting to grips with his game.
If you analyse the two Porto goals, they were both exceptional, and not many defences in the world could have done anything about them. But there were other occasions when we were torn apart and only their bad finishing prevented an embarrassment.
Nadir
But, of course, when you reach the nadir of your season, the only way is up, and we can hopefully expect things to start improving at Fulham tomorrow.
United fans have become used to this from their team in the last few years - an indifferent first half of the season, and then a vengeful re-awakening in the hard months after Christmas.
And, to be honest, we are still awaiting the wake-up.
We have only seen the true United in fits and starts so far, this season, expecting the revival to be just around the corner. It needs to start soon.
We turned into the new year convincing ourselves that this is our time of the season
We are almost in March, and with a seven-point gap in the Premier League to close, a tricky FA Cup quarter-final with Fulham and a difficult second leg against Porto, there can be no more fitful slumbering.
The display against Leeds was further cause for concern, especially as Leeds are such a poor side - I can't see them staying up.
With suspensions to senior pros Keane and Gary Neville, the next few weeks won't be easy.
I had a premonition about Keane's red card before it had happened on Wednesday night, because we were so lost in every department. You could almost feel the frustration building and building as United consistently lost possession and continually failed to win the ball back.
Taken in isolation, the incident itself was nothing really. He barely touched the keeper, who made an awful lot of it.
But we have been playing in Europe for long enough, and knew before the game that every time a Porto player goes down they would make a meal of it. It is the way of a lot of these foreign teams.
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He right, things can't get any worse. And he has a point on the establish players not doing the business, i think they are lettting Fergie down. This season is the first time it been made known that the Nevile's, Scholes, Butt, Giggs where now the senior players, and not the youngsters anymore. They haven't reacted the extra responsibilty well. Fergie is trying to build a new generation around them, the problem is that last time this happen we had Bruce, Palister, Irwin, Schmichael, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona. These players made it easy fof the class of 1992 to break through, the players now are not making it so easy for the new boys.
Hi all,
Let me just clear my throat over Uniteds bad form of late, I believe Like David S said, its down to confidence within the team and to be quite honest since we lost Rio ( Silly bombardier ) Ferdinand we have been absolutely hopeless, we just haven't got a clue, winning nothing this year is not a bad thing, winning nothing for 35 years is a disaster. So let's get this straight. Stam probably at the time he played for United was one of the best defenders in the world no question, he took a little time to get in his stride but when he did he rarely faltered. He then stupidly wrote a book ( at least it wasn't just pictures alla DB ) but none the less he didn't need anymore money. The United team didn't like what was said in the book and that was the last of Stam. Mr R Ferdinand deliberately misses a drugs test, lets face it I don't think that he forgot and what happened there is that he has let not only himself, United and his Family down but also the kids who look up to people like himself and use them as role models, I think Mr Ferdinand's actions deserve nothing other than for him to be let go from the best thing since sliced bread and that's playing for urguably the biggest football club in the whole world, these lads obviously don't seem to appreciate what they have got and a lot of kids out there who are as good if not better are playing football for pittance compared to their astronomical figures the United players are on. What Mr Ferdinand earns in one week would be enough to feed the homeless in Manchester for a whole year and that a disgrace. Now pull your socks up and start playing with a little heart and not only thinking of the money. Because for United the only way from where they were is down.
Come off it,dispirited maybe down never! We still have everything to play for and what a rollercoaster we`ve been on this season blows away all the cobwebs! Remember down but never out.Live the dream!
Mark right on mate and he still gets paid, he is not the best in the world either, nowhere near it.
Football is no longer a working mans game, it,s like Robin Hood in reverse. If they had to do a proper job they would be lost, if they trained harder they would be fitter all this resting is making them like fairies.
Mark very good,we need to teach these rags at the swamp that taggart must go.
The state of the defence of manchester worries the fan i am greatly,specially since the suspension of Rio Ferdinand and the injury of Sylvestre in the eve of the Champions League.
I wonder why the Board of MU failed to take some steps - for the crucial role and place of Ferdinand there was obvious and a suspension might well be foreseen.
What went wrong,this time again?
Burnley yes I remember Bob Llord he was the one who called Manchester United a lot of Teddy Boys, just remind me does Burnley still play football.
My God, in the 2nd Rd of CL with a fighting chance of going through, in QF of FA Cup with a home tie, 2nd in PL with an outside chance of winning it. Yes, they are not playing well as a unit at the mo but my God listen to you all, just how spoilt by the Fergie years you've become. I remember successive years when there was nothing left to play for by this stage. Get a grip! Only when he's gone will you truly appreciate these years. Time will tell whether the young blood he's introduced can step up. At least he's trying to make the generational transition seemless by getting the players in now to learn from Keano, Giggs, Ole, Neville before they are in terminal decline. Whoever succeeds Fergie will be in a better position than O'Farrell & Docherty ever were following the Busby years. Remember the courage he showed in 95 when he sold Hughes, Ince, Kanchelskis and introduced young blood. Give him your support with what he's trying to achieve and the respect he deserves. Shame on you naysayers!
Why can't it get any worse?
The danger of an imperfect season didn't start in January: the sights were written from the third match in August when we played Wolves and scrapped home a narrow win. In that match, SAF started experimenting with the team by introducing many changes to the team he played in the first two matches which we won comfortably. Ever since, SAF used 11 players in the midfield in a variety of positions. Instead of a progressive refinement to this vital department, he opted to experiment with different combinations. The result is an unsettled midfield. It is difficult to understand why SAF, having placed so much emphasis and successfully settled the back four for an impressive defence record (GN, RF, MS, JOSorQF), has failed to appreciate the importance of a settled midfield. The problem probably started when he increased the number of the midfielders by 2 this season to add to an already saturated department, when he perhaps should have brought two players to reinforce the defence and attack to balance the squad. Understandably there is a need to regenerate the aging midfield but he underestimates the dependence of the team on the trio of Keane-Scholes-Giggs, who together with VNR, are the match winners. It was not really feasible for him to experiment with a large squad of midfielders without losing the winning touch. Yes, the time is running out, but only in the sense that SAF must now decide which midfielders he can afford to retain that will see us back to the top while carrying out the difficult task of the age transition. He doesn't have the option of retaining all 11 midfielders. We will either end up with an unsettled and ineffective midfield, or unsettled players (notably Butt). He must act now.
Of course it can get worse and of course we might sound a bit bitter and spoilt when we - still - are fighting for the PL, the CL and the FA-cup. I'm one of those crying and critisising and even airing the thought of letting Alex' go and the reason is NOT that I think ManUtd has a right to win something every season. The reason is as simple as that I, as a fan, expect that each player playes his heart out for the team and the team performs as a unit! If this happens, then the only reason for the titles to end up elsewhere is if some team outclasses us. This season we have been 'outclassed' by ourselves and underperforming key-players. To blame the likes of Ronaldo or Fletcher is nonsense. Look back seven-ten yrs.; who'd blamed Scholes, Giggs and Sharpe and even Keano back then? It was Pally, Schmeiches, Brucey, Irwin, Ince, McClair, Hughes and, after a while Cantona, who was the spine of the team. We've got to find back to such a mixture of matureness, talent and class as we had back then.
When we went out of the CL to Real Madrid, we were not miles behind them, the side only needed tweaking with a couple of top quality additions. That has always been the secret of success and continuity. That's what Madrid do isn't it? They do not make wholesale changes, just one major signing and perhaps a little bit of monir movement behing the scenes. That;s what the great Liverpool sides of the 70's and 80's used to do. Until recently, that's what we used to do. Many of out summer acquisitions need to aclimatise in the reserves before being blooded. You don't pitch the likes of Bellion straight in from Sunderland reserves to the Premieship!! Crikey, even class acts like Vierra and Henry and Pires needed their bedding in period.