VIEW: United vs Fulham (a). 2-2

The thought going into yesterdays game at Craven Cottage – a place we
haven’t had a League win for three seasons – was that avoiding a repeat of last
season’s debacle (0-3, Scholes had a shitter etc) would have been ideal.

But that
naïve view would have altered immediately after a glance at the top of the
table that read ‘6 points’ and ‘For: 12 ; Against: 0’ next to Chelsea’s name. A win, against our most prominent
and contemporary bogie team, was therefore nothing less than essential.

Well
Scholes, the current darling of the Premiership, didn’t have a shitter and continued
in his rejuvenated ways by scoring an ‘early-Noughties Scholes’ beauty. But as it
was, and how it so avoidably shouldn’t have been, the curse of the cottage
(copyright ‘When the Seagulls Follow the Trawler…’ 2010) struck again. And more
pressingly, the ‘curse’ of last season’s consistently average brand of football
has, at such an early stage, struck again.

The
immediate and all too obvious post-match criticisms lead to one incident and
one player being a tit. Nani’s penalty was awful and eerily reminiscent of last
seasons second game away to Burnley
and Carrick’s missed pen. So in terms of impact, there is no doubting it was crucial.

But that’s
just too easy. Why hide behind that, as if to suggest that was the reason we failed to hang on to the win? A 3-1 win would
have completely covered over the cracks in our tactics and complete lack of
ambition coming forward, whereas at least the penalty miss and failure to hold
on to three points exposed our poor display for what it really was.

As Ferguson has already
said, to drop ‘sloppy’ points like that is detrimental. Not because we can’t
make up the points (because of course we will), but because we are in a league
where Chelsea are apparently already running away with it, and even the likes
of f**king City have a first and
second XI good enough to win any league.

The concern,
I’m afraid, goes beyond dropping 2 points. It should focus more around the lack
of depth, and generally speaking the lack of genuine class in our squad.

Two seasons
ago we were starting with Berbatov and Rooney (as we are now, even though
Rooney was out yesterday), yet rather than simply relying on the two strikers as
most sides do (and as our recent 4-4-2 restricted tactics suggest we are
increasingly starting to do) our attack was solidly bolstered by the depth of
our squad. Playing behind them was a certain former best player in the world –
who hit 42 goals the season before – and on the bench a ruthless, determined
Argentinean waiting for his chance to come on and change the game.




Yesterday,
we had Giggs and Owen  coming on to try and grab us the win (both of whom did nothing);
and although we went 2-1 up 10 minutes after they came on, it could be argued
that the lack of concentration and defensive organisation that occurred as Park
left the field allowed Fulham to push on as comfortably as they did until
they got their deserved equaliser.

If there is
one thing that even the laziest of football fans has learnt about Ferguson’s United, is that
to right us off, at any stage of the season, is stupid. Especially after one
solitary poor result. But trying
to remain positive and rational is hard when other deeper factors override the
superficial elements of the result.

A 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, the first
time we haven’t lost their in three seasons, is surely an Ok result. But if we
are to improve on last season – where there is a lot of room for improvement – we
surely have to reserve those ‘Ok results’ and ‘narrow draws’ when playing our
rivals (the way Liverpool/Arsenal and Tottenham/City have done already), who
you’d expect will always provide a sterner test than Fulham.

Chelsea have set the pace, Arsenal have shown they get goals too (without Van Persie and Fabregas, who only played a bit part against Blackpool). Tottenham have started well and City, you fear, will also start to gel. So where does that leave us? Apart from the 3 new faces (who you feel may all struggle to get regular football in their first season), we are lining up and playing in almost the same way as last season...which I fear may not exactly be a good thing.

Like me, most United fans are waiting for something special - always a possibility with United. An explosion of goals from Rooney? Chicharito to light up the Premiership? Whether either of those happen is not in any doubt. The real question however is when? Because for now, if yesterdays game is anything to go by, we need them to step up right now before Chelsea and their love of goalscoring run away with it before Christmas.