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Is Fergies luck running out??
Now before I start, I am not calling for Alex Fergusons head, nor am I saying I am not grateful for everything he has done to make United into what we are right now. But saying that, no-one is immune to criticism or beyond reproach.
No United fan can be happy with the start to this season, yes we lie in 3rd (at the time of writing this), and yes we are unbeaten in all competitions, but 3 league wins out of 7 (all at home) is not the start many of us envisaged. So what’s happening?
Most people are pointing to the poor form of Wayne Rooney, but surely we are not that reliant on one player?
The brutal truth is that yes we are.
Cast your mind back 4 years, to the end of the 2005/06 season. It had been our third successive season without winning the premiership, not that long for your average club, but for United fans it seemed like an age. The emergence of Chelsea under Mourinho and the massive amounts of cash being splashed about was a major cause for concern amongst the United faithful. There were even murmurings at the time that Fergie had ‘lost it’. The signings of Eric Djemba Djemba and Kleberson were huge flops, Scholes, Giggs and Neville were not getting any younger, and Ferguson had fallen out with top marksman Ruud Van Nistelrooy who was sold.
United fans had to be content with the odd domestic cup win and a special young player who gave the fans hope for the future, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The following season all was forgotten though, Ronaldo fulfilled his promise and along with Wayne Rooney fired United to their first title in 3 years. But looking back at the statistics, it is quite scary how much we relied on those two individuals. Ronaldo scored 17 goals and had 13 assists, whilst Rooney scored 14 and has 11 assists. Meaning those 2 players alone had a hand in 55 of Uniteds 83 league goals that season. A season which turned out to be a very weak one on the whole. It was a 2 horse race between United and Chelsea all along, the 3rd place team (Liverpool) finished 21 points behind United, and lost more than a quarter of their league games that season. With Chelsea concentrating on the Champions League and Fergie desperate to win the premiership back, United most certainly stole a march on them and deservedly won the league. But take Ronaldo away, I suspect a different outcome.
The following season was much tighter, with only 4 points separating winners United, and 3rd place Arsenal. United reliance on Ronaldo and Rooney was helped with the arrival of Carlos Tevez from West Ham. Rooney was inured for a long period at the start of the season. But this was where Ronaldo took centre stage. He scored 31 league goals, 7 more than anyone else, and banged in 42 in all competitions in a season which saw United rely on their defence (along with Ronaldo) and win the Champions League. In their Semi final against Barcelona, in the 1st leg they played a style some refer to as ‘anti football’. Yet but for a missed penalty by Ronaldo they would have won in the Camp Nou. They beat Barca 1-0 in the home leg to face Chelsea in the final which they won on penalties after a 1-1 draw (another Ronaldo goal). Their style in Europe was a far cry from the 1999 success in which we played a brand of football which lit up Europe. But yet again, take Ronaldo out of this team and I doubt it would have won any trophy at all.
The most recent league win took United to 3 titles in a row, and was perhaps the weakest league overall of all 3 titles. Chelsea were unsettled as Scolari was hired as their new boss, but was sacked before Christmas, by then the title has already gone, Uniteds main challengers were Liverpool who faded away and United cruised to a 90 point total, whilst only 4 ahead of Liverpool it was wrapped up fairly easily with a bore draw against Arsenal at Old Trafford. Yet again though it was Ronaldo who did the damage, scoring 26 goals in all competitions. He destroyed Inter, Porto and Arsenal en route to the final of the Champions League where United were totally outclassed by Barcelona.
Last season with Ronaldo gone the big question was how United would fare without him. Wayne Rooney stepped up and basically singlehandedly took United to within a point of eventual champions Chelsea. Rooney scored 26 league goals but it was not enough, had he not got injured in March, who knows. United crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage to eventual runners up Bayern Munich and lost Rooney to injury for the rest of the season.
So to sum up, in each of the past four seasons, United have been over reliant on first Ronaldo, and then Rooney. Rooneys poor form at the start of this season has raised serious question marks about this United team. Giggs and Scholes are still appearing frequently in the first team even now. And with Rooney out of it, who is left to step up and carry United to trophies? Fletcher? Nani? Anderson or Berbatov?
I suspect this could be the start of decline for Ferguson, and United.
Fowksee
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