Red View : The Manchester United Disaster?

With five points out of a possible twelve and a hapless performance against major rivals Liverpool, champions Manchester United’s aim of retaining the Premier League crown for a third successive year has been said by many to be a hopeless task. However, Sir Alex Ferguson has instilled a ‘never die’ attitude into the Old Trafford changing rooms scarring the life out of players young and old.

It takes a fool to deny that United have woken up slowly to the opening of the 2008/9 season. But, I remind you that at this stage last season United only had two more points than they do now, and for all those who can remember the Treble winning season of 1998-99 United had a topsy turvey start to the campaign getting only eleven points out of sixteen which included a 3-0 lose to Arsenal—and look what happened at the end of that season.

Star man Cristiano Ronaldo has only just returned from injury, South Korean workhorse sensation Park Ji-Sung and Brazilian Anderson are back, £30 million new man Dimitar Berbatov is however unfit and slow—as was seen against Liverpool and Chelsea—but has had little match practice and should live up to the hype that brought him to Old Trafford in the first place. United also have a bright new star in youth player Jonny Evans currently acting as cover at the centre of defence.

If there is one thing that separates champion professionals from professional losers, it is that champions know how to come back when defeat is staring them in the face. Just ask Muhammad Ali and any one of the US Ryder Cup Team that when they thought it was all over, did they give up? And this is exactly what Sir Alex’s teams have been famous for in the past.

Many members of the press in England have written United off, saying that to already be seven points behind league leaders Arsenal at this stage is too much.

However, with a game in hand, and Bolton at home this weekend with Michael Carrick as the only injury weakness, followed by a trip to Blackburn, West Brom and Everton, United’s fixture list seems a lot less daunting than the injury hit Chelsea who host an invigorated and in form Aston Villa, whilst Arsenal go away to Roy Keane’s rising Sunderland. United have also got the difficult away games of rivals Liverpool and Chelsea out of the way early on in the season—albeit only taking one point out of six—but when the season drags on to its later stages Ferguson will not be writing a letter of complaint to the Premier League.

Ferguson reminded everybody of the strength in dept United have with Berbatov, Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney all as selectable front men. This brings echoes of the 98-99 season once again with Ferguson having selection problems in deciding who to pick from York, Cole, Sherringham and Solskjaer.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?