Manchester United Boosted By FA Cup Defeat to Leeds United

A blessing in disguise is the general consensus amongst Manchester United fans regarding their team's epic failure in the FA Cup against Leeds United at Old Trafford.

First of all, it must be said it was a very poor performance from the current Premier League champions, whose lacklustre showing in attack culminated in what will most likely be the biggest 'cupset' of the year, despite what has been an idiosyncratic season so far in English football.

It was a performance from the United players which led manager Sir Alex Ferguson to have reportedly dished out a bit of the famous hairdryer treatment on his cup flops, after such an acrimonious defeat.

He was documented as saying: "We have a semi-final on Wednesday night (in the Carling Cup against Manchester City) and a lot of these players today won't be playing."

"You have to view that performance in its right light. I am shocked by the performance because our preparation for the game was very good.

"But we never got going. The quality of the passing and whole performance was bad."

With the likes of Danny Welbeck and Gabriel Obertan likely to be axed for the upcoming Manchester derby, and not to mention Wes Brown who had a torrid time against in-form Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford, this 'shock of the 2010 FA Cup' can be viewed in a more optimistic light by the millions of United fans across the globe.

For a start, the obvious blessing in disguise for the Red Devils is that this FA Cup departure means less fixtures clogging up the schedule.

And less fixtures will lead to more preparation time for the coaching staff, meaning tactics can be implemented better.

As for the players, less fixtures will lead to reduced fatigue, which means better conditioning and increased opportunities for peaking, i.e. being in optimum physical condition.

That's the most explicit benefit from the cup defeat.

A rather more subtle, but perhaps even greater advantage, is that these Manchester United players will most likely have been disgraced by their performances.

If any elite athlete wants to make it at the highest level of their sport, they need to have that uncompromising desire to win.

Rest assured the first-team footballers in one of world football's greatest clubs will have that desire.

And it's that hungriness for success which will benefit United. After such a disgraceful defeat in their view to a team two divisions below them, these players will no doubt be out to prove wrong the media, the fans, and most importantly, their manager.

The lancinating pain of these players will serve as a catalyst for the Red Devils, with their performances set to go up a notch as they walk onto the pitch everytime they get the opportunity, in a quest to prove the whole world wrong.

An example of this would be earlier on in the campaign, where the unfashionable Burnley famously emerged 1-0 victors against United in an epic encounter at Turf Moor.

It was a poor performance from United, who where criticised heavily and questioned over their Premier League title credentials.

Then came the anger from the players and their backlash against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium, where they mercilessly put Wigan to the sword, proving their critics wrong as they smashed their opponents with a very convincing 5-0 win.

After that result, they won seven matches in a row (including a 2-1 victory against Arsenal) and were unbeaten in ten games.

Following a bitter blow at the "Threatre of Dreams" against a Leeds team who turned back time and returned to their glory days, Manchester United have been handed a true blessing in disguise.

With less fixtures and a fundamental point to prove, the players of Manchester United no doubt will now embark on a quest to uncover their dreams and create even more glory days in their 2009/10 campaign.