Manchester United may have gone three points clear at
the top of the table and been boosted by Chelsea's failure to beat
Spurs, but they are still far from certain to be champions of
England, let alone of Europe.
Many big games await Sir Alex Ferguson's men and each will
present challenges that they have previously failed. There's the
forthcoming clashes with Liverpool, Arsenal, Roma and Chelsea, of
course. But the trips to Blackburn, where United have lost in three
of the last five seasons, and to Middlesbrough, the most perverse
team in the country in that no matter how deep the rut they appear
to be in they're always apt to upset the big four, will also be
seriously hazardous - remember how impotent United looked when
flopping at humdrum sides such as Manchester City, West Ham and, of
course, Bolton earlier in this campaign? And the
last-day-of-the-season trip to Wigan's bog promises to be just as
unpleasant.
Why have United at times looked feeble away to beefy and
well-drilled underdogs? For the same reason that Bolton controlled
much of the play tonight - ie because United's midfield often
struggles to assert itself. Darren Fletcher is patently not part of
the manager's first-choice central pairing, but Anderson might be
and he was bypassed for long periods tonight.
It will be fascinating to see who Ferguson fields in the centre
against Liverpool on Sunday and in the remaining major matches this
season. The choice isn't obvious. Paul Scholes' influence has
inevitably waned as his mobility has declined. Owen Hargreaves has
been hampered by injury and frequently looked less than fully fit
(presumably the decision to deploy him at right-back tonight was
designed to give him a relatively easy work-out ahead of the bigger
games in store). Michael Carrick's passing often compensates for
his relative lack of dynamism but, like the other options, he
rarely offers a goal threat: while Steven Gerrard, Cesc Fabregas
and Frank Lampard bang in the goals elsewhere, United's five
central midfielders have between them mustered three league goals
this season.
Few would expect those players to score more. Few goals from
central midfield is, then, part of the manager's plan. Their job is
exclusively to feed the forwards. The problem is United's forward
are not reliable.
Wayne Rooney has been particularly profligate, and in
particularly unforgivable fashion. He has exquisite skills,
instinctive ingenuity and natural warrior spirit; but that instinct
has become infected and his spirit soiled - the result is awful
finishing. The wonky shooting could be borne of sloppiness. But his
demeanour, the creeping strut in his game, suggest something even
less excusable - a penchant for the stupidly ostentatious. It seems
he overcomplicates things not because of an idealistic,
Arsenalesque commitment to artistic purity, but because of a grubby
lust to inflate the hype around him, to soup up his image. The
botched lobs at home to Newcastle or the foiled attempts to saunter
into the net with the ball during the Cup defeat by Portsmouth
suggested that to him a clear sight of the net are not so much a
chance to score a goal as an opportunity to fatten his reputation.
Ronaldo, for one, is much more focused; much less arrogant. The
irony, then, is that Rooney's lack of humility accounts for his
modest goal tally this season.
Industrious Carlos Tevez's focus doesn't look blurred. His aim
and touch just seem to be unsure, as was evident as early as the
eighth minute tonight when he chested down a ball six yards from
goal then swiped at fresh air. The coolness that Rooney radiates
when at his best is a quality bestowed on a chosen few - and Tevez
isn't one of them. Louis Saha is a far sharper striker. When fully
fit. But when, and for how long, will that be?
Out wide Nani is, understandably, immature. The 21-year-old's
decision-making on the ball needs fine-tuning (witness his choice
to shoot from 30 yards in the 83rd of tonight's game when he had
two team-mates in far better positions) and his propensity to
disappear for long periods in games, such as tonight's, is another
symptom of his youth.
The upshot of all this, as was demonstrated again tonight, is
that defensively solid United are over-reliant for goals on
Ronaldo, whose brilliance has regularly rescued them this season,
masking the shortcomings of both the manager and some of his
team-mates. Twenty-four league goals so far represents a stupendous
return for the Portuguese; if he were to get injured or suspended
or simply have a couple of off-days during the run-in, however, a
more pertinent statistic may be his number of league assists - a
paltry three, which shows how often his team-mates have spurned the
chances he's created for them.
United have spoken much recently of how their experience could
help them in the run-in. But the fact is attitude adjustment is
needed at Old Trafford. Not least from Ferguson, whose passive
formations against the big teams, particularly away in the
Champions League, and apparent tolerance of slackness up front,
encourage a Ronaldo-dependency that could yet sabotage their quest
for trophies.