A Complete Explanation Of Everything

I'm enjoying, that's not the right word, the same troubled start to the season as my real life team, Manchester United are. I'm currently plumbing the depths of both my own work league, which I helpfully administer and also the league in my Dad's office. That's just plain embarrassing because I've won the one in work the last two times out.

August and the start of the season is always unpredictable at best but this year has taken on a certain special destructiveness. Ronaldo dismissed for nodding a Portsmouth player ever so gently. Rooney and Berbatov both crocked and then other players generally letting the side down.

I mean the fact that Wigan led the table on Saturday and Man Citeh topped the charts on Sunday is indication enough that things just aren't right. Further confirmation comes from the fact that United have enjoyed, again not quite the right word, their worst start to a Premiership season ever.

Over £50 million spent on reinforcements in the Summer and this is the result? Well, quite a bit of that cash was recouped with decent money coming in for Smith, Rossi and comically, Kieran Richardson. But honestly this smacks of the disaster that was Roy Keane's retirement, Ferguson gambled on the fragile health of Roy's hip and let Phil Neville, no world beater of course but capable in a central midfield role, go to Everton, within the space of a couple of weeks United had to resort to throwing O'Shea and again bizarrely, Alan Smith into the centre of the park.

Saha and Solskjaer are permanently injured it seems these days and you have to question the logic of getting rid of Smith in that context. One tackle and your options are reduced to Tevez and that is just what happened. And despite the domination of United in the derby and against both Portsmouth and Reading, it was stunningly clear that without a suitably sharp foil, United can't finish off the chances they are creating.

It's too early both for Nani and Tevez but circumstances are now dictating they have to play. Would Smith have made a difference? He certainly would have given a battle to Richards and Dunne and perhaps that would have allowed Tevez sufficient space to play his customary role just off the striker. Perhaps Ferguson would have persisted with the 4-3-3 in any case but that leads us to another pertinent question.

Can Hargreaves, Carrick and Scholes play in the same eleven?

Certainly, Scholes, as long as his little ginger legs will carry him deserves to be there, whilst Ronaldo got player of the year awards last season perhaps the senior accolade was more deserved by Scholesy and he ran the show along with Giggsy against City and even showed his sharpness in front of goal against Pompey already. He'll have to hang up the boots at one point and that's why having two strong central midfield options outside of himself is a good idea. The real question is Carrick. Hargreaves fits into the swashbuckling defensive dynamo role and there were some decent glimpses of that yesterday but aside from a couple of Champions League strikes and the odd long range ball, Carrick spends the majority of games laterally passing the ball, taking about a half second to pop it off and is generally just flooding the midfield unnecessarily.

There were certain times yesterday when nobody even funnelled back to take the ball off of Ferdinand or Vidic, now, that shouldn't be a problem for Ferdinand and he needs to take more responsibility to take the ball out and start situations. He had it too easy with Keano when he was there but it's a role that Carrick should equally share because I'm not sure what else he is good for. He's not dominant enough in the tackle, I can't remember him on the deck in the entirety of his United career to date and he does not work from box to box in the classic style of early Roy Keane.

So in short, while there are problems upfront, these will be remedied if people can get back fit or with the addition of one mobile yet pacy striker, the likes of an Anelka for example or a fit Saha. It is the long term issues around replacing Scholes and the role of Carrick that trouble me most deeply as a United fan.

Back when United won the Champions League in 1999, Gary Neville was our weakest player when the full first team was fit. In 2006, Gary Neville was made captain of the side, certainly he has come on a hell of alot since then but in other ways, it was costly decisions such as Rio Ferdinand and his calamitous defending, the procession of goalkeepers attempting to replace Schmeichel and the lack of a recognised defensive midfielder that supplanted my concern.

Now, it's Carrick.

Oh boy, is it Carrick.