Why it’s all falling apart for Ferguson

Plenty to think about: Sir Alex Ferguson's side have stumbled in recent weeks

13 April 2012

If the gruelling Premier League season can be compared to a marathon, then Manchester United have definitely hit the wall.

For the first time in years the champions are starting to look over-stretched, faltering at almost every available hurdle. Having suffered humiliating defeats in the league at home to Liverpool and then away to Fulham, United were outplayed by an Aston Villa side and had to rely on an unknown 17-year-old to save the day.

To say that United are leaking goals would be an understatement. Including the two, potentially costly, goals conceded at the hands of Porto, they have now let in ten in their last four games - a feat that scarcely seems believable when you consider that earlier this year they lasted more than three months and 14 games without conceding a single league goal.

Their performance against Porto was a perfect example of why United are struggling. They may have the finest array of attacking talent in the country, in Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov, but their forward firepower fails to make an impact when the defence and midfield is so unstable.

The United midfield - which had been so dominant in overcoming Inter Milan - was nowhere to be seen. Paul Scholes looked every one of his 34 years as he struggled to make even the simplest of passes. Michael Carrick couldn't get a foothold in the game and Darren Fletcher was bypassed time and again as the Portuguese side moved forward with such fluency that one would have been forgiven for thinking they were the home team. Thus there was no platform from which the Red Devils were to build.

The game was more of a footballing melee than a match, with the home players tearing all over the place, getting drawn out of position and ultimately losing sight out what makes United so effective. Whenever Ronaldo lost the ball, he would sit on the floor for a few seconds before looking at the ground, moaning at the ref and waving his arms in frustration. His attitude of late is more of a sulking school boy than that expected of the world player of the year.

Had Roy Keane thrown his toys out of the pram when he was booked in the second leg against Juventus in 1999, United would not have reached the final. Instead Keane played like a man possessed; he was at the centre of everything and inspired his team to go through, all in the full knowledge that he would take no part in the final. When the chips are down can the same selfless display be expected from Ronaldo?

Sir Alex Ferguson certainly has his work cut out. The champions now have a European mountain to climb while domestically Liverpool are only a point behind and playing with the momentum reminiscent of the 1998 Arsenal side that won their last ten games overhauling United.

If Manchester United are to progress to the European Cup final, then they will have to play a midweek game every week, from now until May. This would be hard enough at the best of times, but with a treatment room comprising of the Da Silva brothers, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and now Johnny Evans, United will be lucky if they can field four recognised defenders twice a week. Crucially, those players that are fit look exhausted.

The absence of Berbatov has also added to their woes, as the side have found themselves lacking the spark the Bulgarian brings to the team.

The Old Trafford faithful have witnessed much unrivalled glory over the last decade and a half, but with their side still simultaneously competing on three fronts it seems that something may finally be out of reach, even for them.

At the beginning of the 1995 season Alan Hansen famously declared that United would "never win anything with kids". He was proved wrong when Giggs, Neville, and Scholes inspired the team to a league and cup double. This year there's no doubt that the next generation of Old Trafford starlets are coming through the ranks, but to achieve the ground-breaking quintuple, Ferguson will once again need those same kids - now Old Trafford legends - to step-up and drag his tired team over the finish line.

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