It's the same story all over again as Man Utd self-destructs in another round of defensive gaffesWest Brom. Old Trafford. 2-0 lead. 2-2 within the space of 5 minutes. Another two-goal lead squandered. That tells very much the story for the whole evening with yet another round of gaffes which promised to self-destruct Man Utd yet again this season. First, it was an Evra own-goal but that is forgivable to some extent because of the confusing scramble that was happening. But the 2nd one was a rather horrifying rare schoolboy error by van der Sar who instead of keeping hold of the ball, let it bounce past his fingers into the delightful legs of a West Brom player. These embarassing defences lapses are happening too many times during this season and this goes to show that a 2 goal margin is never enough. I've always thought that the attacking players did their homework so far, with Nani, Berbatov and Hernandez in fine form. But it is of no good use for a good attack if the defence keep leaking goals like this. It may be a rare occassional error, but it certainly looks like age factor has finally caught up with Edwin. The once reliable keeper now has to share part of the blame of being the culprits of defensive lapses that are occuring. I certainly do hope that he'll retire in style like Schmeichel with his time in United and not like David Seaman in his international career.
It's frustrating week in and week out to see Man Utd losing points in the most atrocious situations. Perhaps we can take solace in the Chelsea slip-up at Villa but Man City looks to be in a better position to catch up with the Blues rather than the red half of Manchester. The defence has to wake up their idea soon and be more miserly in giving away silly goals.
Things are certainly not looking well between Rooney and Fergie as more revelations are splashed over the papers. I'm less inclined to believe rumours that come out from Daily Mirror but reading that piece of news in more detail from the Guardian does give some meat to the validity of the issue. Something as big as this feud will be difficult to keep under wraps considering the attention that Wayne has been getting from his scandals. As we all know from history, no player has survived Fergie's wrath with Stam, Beckham, van Nistelrooy and even Keane is shown to the door. Nobody gets away with sulking in front of Fergie because it has always been his policy that no player is bigger than the club. But then one could also look at it this way, no manager is bigger than the club, and certainly, it's the club's future at stake here. I would say Rooney's remaining career will outlive Fergie's time and it will be such a waste to see Wayne, probably the last bastion of 'superstars' that United have to leave. Not to mention him being an Englishman too. It was just last season when people are talking whether Rooney will surpass Ronaldo's goalscoring tally. The thing is Wayne's private lifestyle is certainly condemnable and crude but him being a valuable asset to Man Utd is undeniable. George Best has his bad habits too but he was still regarded as a football genius during his time. At this moment, Rooney has hit up a rough patch, and he is losing the plot both on and out of the pitch. True, he's not performing at all this season but every striker has his bad days and a stretch of these bad moments. Fernando Torres is also not performing at the moment but everyone knows that he still has that deadly touch in him when he rediscovers his form. It will be hard for United fans to accept Rooney's departure compared to Ronaldo because we've always known that Ronaldo would somehow leave Man Utd some point in time. But Rooney is different, and especially for the English fans in United, he is a special symbol of an Englishman playing in one of the best English clubs unlike the foreign-dominated Gooners in London. It will be such a waste to lose him to Real Madrid because of a feud and even more of a tragedy if he ends up in a club like Man City. The road from being a hero to a villain is a quick one and it all depends on Wayne's choices in the end. Sigh, if Wayne had followed the choices of Ryan and Paul, wouldn't that be much less of a problem?
In other news, this sounds absurb, but Liverpool is truly in a relegation dogfight after losing 0-2 in the Merseyside derby. After 8 matches. the Scousers are 17th in the table, sharing 6 points with fellow relegation contenders West Ham and Wolves. Man Utd's position in the table doesn't look to bad afterall if compared to the Kop where the fans must have been going through some real agony for the past 8 weeks. Gary would have been delighted to see brother Phil leading the side to the job..lol. All the new owners and courtroom battle ain't sufficient enough to revive the Kop and it would certainly require more. I think they're too good to go down, but that's what we've said about Leeds and Newcastle in the past too. But before we revel in the terrible state the Scousers are in, there is always a lingering possibility that United will go down the same path if the Glazers screw the finances badly and not forgetting too that we are struggling to keep pace with the title chase even in the early stages of the season with the players we've got. They are hardworking and good but I would not rate them as outstanding, capable of changing the tide of the game. With new injuries abound, it's gonna be a long struggle to overthrow Chelski.
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