Manchester United: What's wrong?

Three defeats in four games, 10 goals conceded and their Champions League crown hanging in the balance. A month ago, Manchester United looked invincible, sailing away to a third consecutive Premier League crown.

• But Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Old Trafford not only reopened the title race, but has triggered what is fast approaching a meltdown for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. Their defence, previously impregnable, looks porous, their attack blunted and their discipline lost. So what, exactly, is wrong with United?
• There is no question that the strain of competing for five trophies is starting to tell. On Tuesday night, just 48 hours after the emotionally and physically draining win over Aston Villa, United’s defence looked weary and the midfield devoid of energy.
• That is hardly surprising. As well as the League Cup final and the FA Cup semi-finals, United’s mid-season trip to Japan for the Club World Championship has given them an unenviable fixture backlog. Ferguson has built a deep squad to cope with such demands, but a string of injuries have robbed him of the chance to allow his players to rest and recuperate.
• Quite how United solve that problem is unclear. The players enjoyed a day off yesterday, but with Sunderland on Saturday and Porto on Wednesday, followed by the FA Cup clash with Everton, there is no respite on the horizon.
• After weeks of denials, both Sir Alex Ferguson and his players have now admitted the team had started to believe their hype. Shipping 10 goals in four games, if United did believe they were unstoppable, they have been brought back down to Earth with a bump.
• All teams are allowed a blip, but what is more worrying is the failure to arrest the slump. Annihilated by Liverpool and outclassed by Fulham, Federico Macheda’s last-gasp winner on Sunday masked another underwhelming performance. A lazy, aimless display against a determined Porto side suggests the extent of their problems had been masked from the players, too.
• However, the danger is that, until they admit they have a problem, United cannot begin to recover.
• Ferguson’s loyalty to players who have served him well is commendable in an industry not renowned for sentimentality, but the suspicion among the Old Trafford faithful is that Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, in particular, have gone to seed.
• Neville was brutally exposed by John Carew against Aston Villa but even as a right-back he is a painfully ponderous alternative to Rafael da Silva, the teenager whose hamstring injury seems to have robbed United of much of their elan, while Scholes is a shadow of his former self, impressive now only against weaker opposition. Only Ryan Giggs, of the old guard, is not in danger of spoiling his legacy.
• Injuries for Rio Ferdinand, Rafael, Gary Neville and Wes Brown and suspension for Nemanja Vidic have unsettled United, as they would any team. The return of Ferdinand, in particular, cannot come soon enough, though it is important to remember he, too, was part of the side beaten by Liverpool.
• Nemanja Vidic
• Until March 14, the imposing Serb defender was a shoo-in for player of the year. Then Fernando Torres happened. Vidic returned from suspension against Porto, whose gameplan consisted largely of isolating him under football’s equivalent of a Garryowen, a test he failed. Vidic needs to exorcise his demons and rediscover his form if United are to plug their defensive gaps.
• While his petulance is well-documented, what is of more significance is his increasing impatience with his team-mates. Should the ball not arrive where he demand it, or his run be ignored, he is ever more likely to berate the perceived offender, a trait best documented in one hissy fit at Fulham.
• The Portuguese has been good this season, not great, and against Porto, the first green shoots of the fans’ patience wearing thin appeared. It is time for him to take a leaf from Wayne Rooney’s book and work his way back into form, rather than blaming others for his shortcomings.
• In truth, the seeds of United’s troubles were sown long before Rafa Benitez’s troops stormed Old Trafford, but seeing a side previously faced in raw fear so humiliatingly beaten seems to have inspired the rest of England and Europe.
• Benitez implored the rest of the Premier League to follow his lead, to attack United, and Fulham and Aston Villa obliged. Porto copied his blueprint to great success. Not only has the 4-1 thunderbolt given Liverpool hope and United concern, but it has, seemingly, triggered something approaching revolution.
• Plenty of other teams would swap their troubles for United’s. Top of the league, in the FA Cup semi-finals, the Champions League quarter finals and with two trophies already secured. More importantly, it is a question of when, not if, United arrest their slump. With players of Rooney and Ronaldo’s calibre on the pitch, they are capable of winning any game. It is, surely, only a matter of time before their true character returns.