Talk of Crisis Off the Mark

The Manchester United nay-sayers were out in force on Monday morning after their 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge left them in third place, but in reality the start made by Sir Alex Ferguson’s men has eclipsed what many had predicted back in August.

While United have lost three games at a relatively early stage of the season any talk of a crisis is so premature it makes you think Kai Wayne hasn’t even been born yet.

In a summer that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez depart with Michael Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Luis Valencia brought in as replacements many expected United to be far further down the table than they currently find themselves, but those who had written off the Champions’ chances were as wide of the mark as an Anderson 25 yarder.

On the 13^th July, the day Ferguson handed over the famous number seven shirt from Ronaldo to Owen, he declared that United’s dealings in the summer’s transfer market were done with. Fans of Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea, as well as one or two over at Eastlands, rubbed their hands together at the prospect of a United team who they thought would not be able to finish in the top four, let alone win the league.

And despite a couple of below-par performances Ferguson’s new-look side has acquitted itself very well so far, and have only dipped below any new expectations that were made when United topped the table not one month ago, and not those of pre-season.

After the shock defeat to Burnley in their second game United bounced back with an unbeaten streak of eleven games, a run that saw them return to the top of the table at an earlier stage than they have experienced during the Premier League era.

That defeat was brought to an abrupt end at by Liverpool, but while it was hard to stomach it shouldn’t have worried United fans too much; even with the likes of Ronaldo and Tevez we lost there last season and still won the league.

The hoo-doo that Benitez’ side currently have over the Champions is no more than an annoying crisis of confidence. Beating Liverpool is not imperative in a league winning season, it is the icing on the cake, just ask Gary Neville.

United on the whole were poor that day, but it was those under the spot-light who looked the most threatening; Dimitar Berbatov looked sharp and dangerous on the ball, Valencia hit the bar at 1-0 and only a trademark Jamie Carragher drag-down prevented Owen from causing a full-scale Anfield riot.

But while that defeat dealt a huge blow to United pride, the defeat to Chelsea on Sunday has proved harder for many reds to take.

The message boards and pubs in the build-up to the game painted a pessimistic picture; United were going to lose and lose badly.

It was rare for United fans to be this down-beat before a game, but after some shoddy defending the Tuesday before against CSKA Moscow the writing appeared to be on the wall.

But even as the defeat did eventually come, it was the manner of it that hurt the most. With United the biggest under-dogs they have been for many years they outplayed Chelsea for large parts of the game. To come away pointless it was galling, but in reality there can be few complaints.

Cast your minds back to the end of August, where a controversial penalty and a bizarre own-goal put Arsenal to the sword at Old Trafford in a defeat for Arsenal that must have been harder for Gooners to take than ours at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The truth is that these things do even themselves out over the season and while the defeat, unlucky or not, meant United go into the International break in third place Ferguson’s squad has shown enough already that they are capable of picking up the points one way or another, and any talk of a crisis is wishful thinking for the reds’ rivals.