Manchester United face slow death if City turn the knife in FA Cup

Wayne Rooney's relationship with Sir Alex
Ferguson has come to the fore in the run-up to
the FA Cup third-round tie against Manchester
City. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AP
Wayne Rooney is overpaid and overweight, and
fast becoming the most overrated player for club
and country since David Beckham.Manchester
United are heading the same way as Liverpool did
in the 90s, and Sir Alex Ferguson and the owners
are in denial about the club's shocking decline.
Fergie cannot keep saying there is no value in the
transfer market when his side have just been
stuffed by a Newcastle team who picked up
Demba Ba, Cheik Tioté and Yohan Cabaye for
around the same amount he wasted on Bébé last
season, or less than half the sum he spent on a
goalkeeper he no longer appears to trust fully.
And now for the good news. At least United do
not have to worry about catching Barcelona any
more. Working out how to beat Blackburn
should be much easier.
A week is a long time in football, especially one
that includes two unexpected defeats, and
trawling the extensive comments section that
followed the Manchester Evening News's online
match report from Newcastle there was scant
evidence of the eulogies or the universal
admiration that had greeted the beloved leader's
70th birthday a matter of days earlier.
Even if allowance ought to be made for the
possibility that some of the more caustic
observations had been posted byManchester City
fans, in a derby week anything goes. Particularly
when the derby is in the third round of theFA
Cup, and United have already made ignominious
exits from the Carling Cup and the Champions
League. Particularly when Ferguson is hoping to
avoid a run of three defeats in meaningful, mid-
season matches for the first time in almost 20
years, since a losing spell that predated Eric
Cantona's arrival and the manager's first English
title. "Never has a derby match meant so much
to the Reds," the MEN's editorial rather grandly
proclaimed. "This Cup game is the most
important in living memory for United."
Ferguson does not see it quite like that. "You want
the FA Cup to be a break," he says. "You don't get
that if you are playing your local derby, but this is
exactly what happened in my first season in
England. We drew City then, but at least we were
playing at home." United won that tie 1-0 with a
goal from Norman Whiteside. The neighbours
back in 1987 featured Perry Suckling in goal, Mick
McCarthy at the back and Imre Varadi at the front,
and under Jimmy Frizzell, the first of 14 City
managers Ferguson has encountered in his 25
years in Manchester, were heading for Division
Two.
The difference now, not that Ferguson likes to
admit it, preferring to praise Tottenham's football
whenever he has the chance, is that City's rise
has put United's shortcomings under a ruthless
spotlight. You would not know it to listen to the
moaners and the doubters, but United still have a
chance of the title this season. They are much
better placed than Arsenal or Chelsea and, though
their injury problems are real and their financial
situation seemingly unhelpful, they have all the
experience in the world upon which to draw if it
comes down to a face-off against City or Spurs in
the run-in. Despite the six points dropped in the
past two games this is still one of United's best
starts to a Premier League campaign, and in only
one previous season had they scored more goals
by this stage. Yet even though they have form
over course and distance and a reputation for
growing stronger after the turn of the year, the
perception remains that they will enter some sort
of meltdown should City inflict a third successive
defeat.
On the whole any meltdown appears unlikely, if
only for the simple reason that it is usually a
mistake to base any sort of prediction on the
result of a derby. United survived being beaten
by City in the FA Cup last year and still ended up
champions, and, though it may take another
month or so, they will eventually get most of
their missing midfielders back. "We've enough
experience to cope," Ferguson says, although he
does admit to being shocked at how
comprehensively his most experienced available
side had been outfought at Newcastle. He was
not alone.
There has been something untypical about
United's past two defeats: they seemed to accept
their fate without protest. There was no
barnstorming of the Blackburn goal in the final 10
minutes at Old Trafford, and there was no fight
and therefore no prospect of recovery at
Newcastle. Ferguson claimed only last week that
United were good at losing, in that they usually
respond to setbacks and disappointments with a
firm statement of intent, but the normal level of
feistiness has lately been missing. They are in
danger of becoming meek losers, which would
be so un-United and un‑Ferguson. The mere
possibility of displaying insufficient appetite for a
derby has City fans abuzz with excitement.
Ferguson complained after the 6-1 Premier
League humbling that his players had been too
naive in chasing the game when there was no
realistic prospect of gaining a result, leaving
opportunities for City to score more goals instead
of accepting defeat and organising themselves for
damage limitation. That may have been a realistic
appraisal, but it was an unusual one, and the first
of a series of un-United events this season. It was
followed by the sequence of one-goal wins, with
Rooney deployed conservatively in midfield,
which in turn was followed by the low-key
performances against Benfica, Crystal Palace and
Basel. Those were expensive opportunities lost,
though at least United could cling to the flimsy
excuse that they did not see the danger until it
was too late. That will not wash with a
Manchester derby.
The big game on Sunday afternoon has been
billed as such in flashing lights since the moment
the Cup draw was made. At almost any point in
the past 25 years United players and fans would
have been looking forward to it with just as
much enthusiasm as their City counterparts,
away from home or not. If that has changed in
the past week, and one senses that it may have, it
would be the most un‑United development at all.
United were so unrecognisable against Blackburn
a few boos from home supporters were heard as
early as the end of the first half. Should they lose
their swagger to the extent of failing to get up for
the most important derby in living memory
(copyright: MEN) then Ferguson cannot rely on a
three-year love-in before handing the reins to
someone else. It is already being suggested that
he has stuck around too long, by the same
bloggers who were remarking even before the
club released a statement on the matter on Friday
night that Rooney's body language practically
screams that he is no longer happy in his work
or enamoured of his manager. Contrary to
popular opinion, United fans do not demand the
earth from those who wear the shirt, though
they do expect them to look as if they are
enjoying it. Several pointed out that in addition to
being the bargain of the season, Newcastle's free-
scoring Ba plays with a smile on his face instead
of a scowl.
"You will get criticism in this job, but you learn
not to take it personally," Ferguson says. "People
are entitled to their opinions but I don't have to
read them." Quite so, and if Ferguson is in need
of support, his rival manager is more than willing
to provide it. "We are very close to United now,
but even if we finish on top this season I think Sir
Alex can stay for many more years," Roberto
Mancini says. "When you have won 12 titles you
can do anything you like. Nothing that happens
now can damage his reputation. After 25 years, it
would be impossible."
Maybe so, but a third defeat in three games
would, at the very least, make Ferguson feel his
age. Back in the mists of time, it was an FA Cup
win that kept him in his present job. "It can be a
useful break from the league," he says. "But only
if you get a result."