What's wrong with Manchester United??

[livethegame07]

If anybody has been keeping up with them lately, they just lost to Middlesborough, leaving them 5 points behind number 1 Arsenal. What's up with them? Are they missing Rio Ferdinand that bad or are they not what they used to be. They brought in Saha and have no problem up front, maybe they should buy some defenders?

[usasoccerboy]

Wow. The loss of Ferdinand definitely has hurt the MANCs. All of sudden Tim Howard is gettin smoked. Sir Alex will not take this for long. The season is starting to wind down and he cannot afford to let his team lose another game. Even so, the top 3 teams seemed like a sure in for a european spot.

[Footy365]

Haven't any of you learned not to write united off before the end of the season by what they did last year. At the moment the defense is very shaky sense Wes Brown just came back from the knee injury (i think) he picked up in the meaningless Everton fixture the last matchday of last season (They had already clinched the title, this im sure of) Once the backline gels we'll have the same old United back and remeber, the season goes on until may, there is a lot of soccer left to be played.

[livethegame07]

yeah but you still gotta wonder. i know there's a lot left but Arsenal do not look to let up at all and Chelsea are breathing down Man United's necks. If Man United continue to lose and some 4th and 5th place teams pick it up, could they drop???

[usasoccerboy]

As of right now, I wouldn't bet on it. But let them tie this weekend, or lose another game in the meantime, and Sir Alex will not know what to do with themselves. Yes, Manchester came back last year, but do you want to do that again? Pretty soon you are going to lose. Arsenal know they cannot foul up again, but we will see. Yes there is a lot of soccer left to play.

[Footy365]

I don't know how much longer the slump will go on, Keano has just publicly called out the younger United generation. You can read what he said on 4thegame.com

[usasoccerboy]

FA result

Mancs 4 Man City 2

Fowler gets a free kick goal for citeh while howard is trying to set up the wall. Manc defense still looks suspect. Is Wes Brown enough to stop the hurting?

[Footy365]

Doubt it, should have brought another defender in during the January transfer window.

[Footy365]

Maybe they should try Keano in the backline. Did it in a game against Leeds last season and it went pretty well.

[usasoccerboy]

I would have thought Eddie Pope would have been a viable replacement. I wonder why he never gets an offer over seas as he always seems solid in the defense.

[Footy365]

Haven't been keeping up with him lately but January might have been another time to go for young French International Phillipe Mexes from Auxerre

[Footy365]

Im perplexed that this year i've seen more of Darren Fletcher than Kieran Richardson, last year from what i saw of both i thought that Kieran was the better player, i've heard that Sir Alex was saying that Darren was teh next Becks but still i haven't seen Kieran once touch the pitch in the Man U games that ive watched this year.

[livethegame007]

i agree with you there. I don't think that Fletcher is THAT good. i know he's good, he's playing with Man U. but is he really that good? I think too much has been asked of Wes Brown and that somebody has to find the solution to their problem. All Sir Alex Ferguson seems to be worried about is buying forwards like Saha, when he needs to go buy a quality defender

[Footy365]

I think Darren will become great though, Becks was a late bloomer, sir alex has an eye for these things though, i still don't see why Kieran doesn't play, he's got a roster number.

[Castor]

van nistelrooy is the best aspect of man u.

[CaddoMagnet]

Nothing is "wrong" with Manchester United. They are playing quality soccer and when they lose, it's usually against GREAT opponents (with the exception of Wolverhampton). I'm sorry to make an athletic comparsion, but in golf last year, Tiger Woods was said to have a slump when he couldn't win a major. Yet, he was the number one ranked player, he led the money list, won four/five tournaments, and won the Accenture Match Play tournament. He played quality golf and it should have been evident that nothing was wrong with his game. There are other teams out there that have skill. Porto was in the UEFA Finals last year (I think they won) and Arsenal is a great team (Henry and Viera). They aren't expected to be perfect, especially with injuries, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a slump. In the future, pressure will be put on Olegunner Solskjaer and Christiano Ronaldo. C. Ronaldo is the future of Manchester United, and his game can only develop at this point. He was born in 1985 and he's playing on one of the most popular club teams in the world and on the Portuguese national team (played in 1-1 tied vs. England).

[Footy365]

Porto was the UEFA cup champions last year, but Man Yoo still should've come out on top. It's not just losing that's been a problem it's also the draws. They aren't picking up full points with teams like Leeds and they were beaten by Borough too, among others, they've actually been beaten by more teams than you think. they weren't beaten by Arsenal but dropped to points due to a last minute missed pk by Ruud Van Nistelrooy. I don't think that much pressure will be put on Ole Gunnar Solkjaer because he is starting to hit the end of his carreer and with his recent knee injury, the same one that Keano gave to Alf-Inge Halland, I think that more pressure will be put on Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher who both play that right-wind role that Ole had been slotting into. I also believe that Man U is dropping points due to the inexperience of they're players. It seems that Sir Alex is starting to rebuild finding replacements for some of the old guard, Nicky Butt, Giggsy, the nevilles, Scholesy and Keano, such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and the likes. This is also apparent in the signing of the 18 year old Chinese player currently on loan at feeder club RC Antwrep and the pre-contract agreement from young Celtic player Liam Miller during the January window. I don't think that Sir Alex is really interested in winning anything this year but more of blooding in new youth for campaigns in the future. Another thing, since Man U has been having so much of a striker crisis why not let David Bellion have a go, I mean the backline should be attended to but Man Yoo has midfielders that can slot into these roles. Man Yoo would score many more goals if they did, Saha is a great striker but you can't always expect Ruud and Saha to be fit and ready every single game so instead of playing one up top with Scholsey playing behind him why not give David Bellion a chance.