Manchester United Predicatably Found Out Against Liverpool

At the start of the season I wrote here that Manchester United's season would be very different than last, due to the departure of Carlos Quieroz and the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov.

Since Berbatov arrived at Old Trafford Ferguson reverted back to 4-4-2 in instead of the fluid 4-3-3 his team had thrived on for the last two seasons.

Even with the absence of the Bulgarian forward, Sir Alex has prevailed with this formation, which is good a majority of the time.

But when the midfield is starved of possession—as happened on Saturday—the team is devoid of ideas and very predictable.

That is the main difference between this season and last—predictability. Last season and the season before the goals were coming from all areas of the field, leaving teams at home and in Europe confused of how to play against United.

This year there has been no outstanding player (except maybe for Vidic) inspiring the team to victory.  Instead, the squad as a whole has been performing well when called upon—but generally in the same formation.

On Saturday the team was too predictable going forward. There's nothing wrong with playing 4-4-2 if you have two goal-scoring forwards. But United don't. They have three forwards—four if you include Ronaldo—who are very creative, and therefore aren't just the type of players who will consistently put the ball away when delivered to them.

If Ferguson could give the whole front six more freedom to move about they would be more likely to score. Last year at Old Trafford, Ferguson had no problem playing that system against Liverpool. It worked to perfection, yet the departure of Queiroz and arrival of Berbatov has seen that formation scrapped in favour of the rigid 4-4-2.

Some might argue that I'm being harsh and slightly bitter after the recent thrashing at the hands of Liverpool, but the reason why United are top of the league is due to the other teams around them failing to capitalise on United's poor form until December.

Since Christmas, United have been solid and consistent, but rarely spectacular, winning by a goal to nil six times in this period. During this period—and for most of the season—United have created a huge amount of chance but have converted very few of them compared to last season.

If Manchester United are to end the season with a flourish and at least one more trophy Sir Alex needs to let his flair players loose. If this means Rooney being out of position at times, then so be it. He's done no more this season playing up front than he did last season, drifting to the wings and letting Ronaldo find space. Also, we would see more from Tevez and Berbatov with a more flexible formation.

Since the defence was breached so easily four times on Saturday, United should be making attack the best form of defence and attack with such intensity and creative that all teams who United come up against will not be able live with United. With attacking options at their disposal it is almost criminal to hinder the players in this way.