Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Focus on Defending Champs Man United 's Disappointing Start !

21 August 2007

Man United defeat to their City rivals on Sunday night did not really come as a shock or surprise . In fact , the writing was alreally on the wall and was very much expected that they would go down to their City rivals . And true enough , the worst fears of their fans were confirmed as Geovanni's 31 minute goal in the first half was enough to send Man United their first defeat of this new Season .


With the new summer signings of Nani , Anderson , as well as Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tervez in particular , so much was to be expected of Alex Ferguson's team to perform and to be a team feared by their opponents this Season as they seek to defend their title . But since the new EPL Season started till now , they haven't really impressed us . In fact , they have been disappointing and broke the hearts of many of their long faithful supporters . After a defeat and two draws , the defending Champions are not displaying Championship materials performance and are hovering at an unlikely 16 position in the League table with 2 points , near the relegation zone .


Instead of being a team to be feared by their opponments , their shocking start to the new Season has become a butter of jokes for their opponents , especially their closest title rival Chelsea whose team manager , Jose Mourinho has clearly gained the upper hand this time around with two wins and a draw , 7 points in second place behind new League Leaders Man City . Mourinho must be smiling from ear to ear right now and feels that with a postive start this Season , their team would have a realistic chance of wresting the title back from Alex Ferguson's men , although with the League Season still far from the end , with still a long way to go and anything could still happen .


Alex Ferguson on the other hand must be having a real headache and knows that time and luck has not been on their side right now . Facing a long list of injury problems to their key players as well as suspension to Ronaldo , their ammunition upfront has been severely limited .He knows he needs to get their team to perform and quickly turn the corner , starting with this Sunday's home game against Spurs . Another disappointing performance or even a defeat could well see Man United title hopes all go up in smoke , it could also see the team drop to the relegation zone and possiblity Fergie be forced to go .


Such are the uncertain times staring in front of the team who has just won their 10th League title recently in May . Granted , one may say that Fergie facing the sack would be really too harsh , considering how much he has contributed to the team and the titles he has won for the side over the years , as well as the poor performance are largely due to the injuries problems and Ronaldo's suspension .


One may wonder and feels puzzled why people put so much expectations on the team to perform with all these new signings when the team could not perform once their key players are out . People will begin to wonder whether these new signings are really that good or have they not settled down to the pace of English football ? Will this mixture of new and senior players Fergie assembled this Season really be force and a team to be feared by their opponents ?


One couldn't bear to imagine what would really happen if the Red Devils still fail to achieve their first win of the Season come Sunday against Spurs or worse still lose yet again to Martin Jol team . Especially considering they have yet to play against the Big 4 this Season . Their first meeting against them will be 23 Sept date with Mourinho's Chelsea . One wonders that if they find life so difficult playing against smaller side like Reading and Portsmouth right now , what's more against the likes of Arsenal , Liverpool & Chelsea ? The future paints a really worrying sight as of now for Fergie and his boys .

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