An Endless Rant on Our Failures...

We got what we deserved...

~ Edwin van der Sar

What is happening to Manchester United? Things have changed for us since last season and it's not looking very pretty for us out there on the soccer field. 

• Wayne Rooney has lost his goalscoring touch and general energy
• Our defense is looking shaky
• We've lost Antonio Valencia to a broken ankle
• Speaking of which, a suitable replacement hasn't been found
• Anderson isn't doing much to make me like him
• Alex Ferguson is acting kinda strange

Let me just start off by saying that I know we're still in third place and are doing better than 17 other teams in the league. But what makes it painful, is that Chelsea have 5 more points than us and are looking very strong this year. 

Let's look at the facts for a second. United have a goal difference of 7 while Chelsea have three times more than that with 21. They've managed to win 6 out of their 7 league games and have won three games with 4 goals or more. Clearly, they are a very strong team this year and are pushing really hard to win the title. United on the other hand, have drawn 4 games out of 7 and aren't playing like champions at all. 

We've scrapped through our games this season and frankly I'm worried about us this year. Against Fulham, we were given a golden opportunity to put away a game, missed a penalty, and paid for it with terrible marking. At Goodison Park, we were leading by two, yes TWO, goals heading into the 90th minute and collapsed defensively, letting in two goals. We had to fight for a draw at Bolton and just this past weekend, showed a lack of passion against Sunderland.

So I ask you, what is going wrong?

I think we're gonna have to put this one down to two factors. Team selection, and the lack of passion.

Twice this season, Sir Alex has put out questionable line-ups. Once against Rangers, and then last weekend against Sunderland. We got away with it against Rangers cause they played with 9 defenders, but the negativity showed against Sunderland:

van der Sar

Rafael | Ferdinand | Vidic | O'Shea

Scholes | Anderson | Fletcher

Nani | Owen | Macheda

When I saw the team sheet, I was kinda unsure about the player selection. O'Shea ahead of Evra? No Berbatov? But when I saw the formation that Fergie put out, a huge "what the fuck?" flashed in my head. What were we going to gain from a conservative formation away from home against Sunderland? And what width would we have on the left with John "Tree Trunk" O'Shea and Federico Macheda on the wing? Also, the decision to start with Berbatov on the bench must have been regretted when he came on and immediately made an impact with his creativity and attacking flair. 

Flop of the night however, was Anderson. Just to show how pissed I am at him in particular, I'm dedicating an entire paragraph to talking shit about him. For his entire United career, Anderson has been an enigma, an unsolvable puzzle. He doesn't score, he doesn't make plays, he doesn't defend. What exactly do we pay him to do? I guess he uses a third of his salary to stand in the middle of the pitch and pass the ball whenever it drops to him, and then he uses the rest of it to pay his hair stylist. Against Sunderland, he showed us that he brings nothing to the United table that we don't already have and that he might not cut it as a United player. It's up to him to prove me wrong, but unless he does a Berbatov and single-handedly leads United, then I'm gonna need a lot of convincing. 

This brings me to my next point - passion. Many summers ago, when we had a player by the name of Roy Keane, our midfield was feared and we had a captain who embodied Manchester United. Gary Neville is Manchester United through and through, but he was no Roy Keane, even though he came pretty close. Now that Nemanja Vidic is the captain, he has to prove to us that he has what it takes to lead this team. He was really trying to help us nail a winner against Sunderland and I can safely say that we've made the right choice for our captain. What we're lacking though, is passion from the other guys. Who is going to provide that midfield bite for us? Which one of the strikers is going to single-handedly win a game for us? If we're going to win, we need to want to win. 

Let's not fuck this season up, aight boys?