Sir Alex Ferguson Builds in Excuses for Manchester United Failure

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says that his side is finding it difficult to adjust to simultaneously competing in the Europa League and the EPL.

Ferguson told reporters, "At this moment we are finding it difficult to balance the two together, playing Thursday-Sunday. We are ­finding it more difficult than we thought. We are finding it more difficult than playing Wednesday-Saturday in the Champions League."

United's boss could be forgiven for leaving out the fact that his players only face this novel inconvenience because of their failure in that other, slightly more prestigious, European competition.

Perhaps, Patrice Evra addressed the problem a bit more directly following United's Champions League ending defeat to Basel when he said "it's embarrassing to be in the Europa League."

Evra presumably is slightly more embarrassed after his side was summarily outplayed by Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night.

Ferguson's whinging about the Europa League schedule indicates he realizes the weakness in this version of United.

After all, it's hard to imagine that his squad is more stressed playing Bilbao on a Thursday than it would have been facing Bayern Munich on a Wednesday.

At least, he can take comfort in the fact that his competitor for the league title has also been relegated to the European little leagues.

While Ferguson says he believes the Premier League is now a two-horse race, he fears both horses could be plum tuckered out by all that Thursday night rough-housing.

"“Maybe a factor will be the progress of ­United and City in the Europa League. That may have a lot to do with it," he said.

Fortunately for Ferguson, judging by their performances in the first leg of the Round-of-16 ties, both United and City could be relieved of those troublesome mid-week obligations sooner rather than later.

Presumably, United would then be free to rampage through the rest of their league season. If not, what excuse could Ferguson possibly trot out next?