A December Night's Chill

Well, it certainly had been coming. Manchester United have had a lot of what has transpired over the last few weeks, coming. But even still, a group stage exit from a group that Alex Ferguson might have hand picked himself, is one of the bitterest pills that the United faithful will have ever had to swallow, perhaps topping even the thrashing that Manchester City dished out on United’s own patch. The events of Wednesday night, like the events at Old Trafford, will live very long in the memory of every United fan, much as 2009’s catastrophic 4-1 Old Trafford defeat against Liverpool still sticks in my mind and I’m sure many others.

These are hardly revelatory truths of course. But the gravity of what has transpired in the last month at Manchester United F.C. cannot be overstated. Humiliated by their neighbours, out of the Champions League, all endured by a United team that has been playing poorly, scraping wins through their only source of goals recently, Javier Hernandez, now injured for at least a month. Most of the United faithful realise that this is a team in transition, that for all the rainy days thus far, both domestically and in Europe, they have accumulated more points than they had this time last season.

 United have endured many transitional periods under Alex Ferguson, and have gone on to great triumphs after every one. No, it is not the thought of consistent decline that is sending a chill down the spine of United’s fan base, nor indeed is it the cold December weather. Nor is it the thought of City becoming the dominant force in English football, though, a force to be reckoned with, they certainly are, but that isn’t what’s vexing this United fan.

 No, what I feel is the biggest cause for concern at the moment is, as I perceive it, the fact that over the last few weeks United seem to have lost that which they had in spades last season. For all their poor away form, for all their scrappy wins, and for all the times that they didn’t play the way United are expected to play last season, they always had one thing that was without question: they had spirit. They had hunger. They had desire, they had passion, they had determination, they had the mindset that, no matter what happens, no matter what the opposition, the circumstance, the obstacles in their way, that no matter what, they would find a way to win, be it putting 7 past Blackburn in the early stages of last season, or digging in and grinding out a result as they did on many occasions, they would get the job done. Recently though, from where I stand, that fortitude, that resiliency has been nowhere to be seen thus far.

They’ve been surviving, they’ve been grinding out wins, relying on Hernandez for goals, but on Wednesday night, when the chips were down, the cards were dealt, and they needed a big dose of that United spirit… it was nowhere to be seen. The 11 man phalanx that stood up to so much punishment last season… twice had tactically suspect holes in it punished by the swiss hosts. That defiant, deafening roar of the defending English champions and champions league runners up… was no more than a half hearted squeak in the face of the Swiss champions.

 The signs were their for all to see against crystal palace, but given that it was a side comprised largely of back up players and future prospects, the benefit of the doubt was given without hesitation. But against Basel… Ferdinand, Vidic, Rooney and co. were all found wanting, and were all found not wanting enough. January is just around the corner, and as has been pointed out by every football watcher and their grandmothers, Manchester United desperately need an injection of talent in the midfield. But even that isn’t enough now. Because Manchester United have an infection on the inside, that one or two key signings aren’t going to be able to change.

And every United fan will be hoping that Dr. Ferguson can prescribe the right medicine, as he has done so often before. But at Manchester united, premier league trophies, challenging for the FA and carling cup, and in Europe, these things are not considered the marks of a good season, but as absolutely mandatory, so spoiled has United’s fan base been for the last 20 years. And as he watched his side slump to defeat in Switzerland, even the wily godfather of Old Trafford will be struggling not to baulk at the task before him, realising, as he must, that United are further off the pace of Barcelona than they were on that fateful night in may, when Pep Guardiola‘s magnificent team coolly outclassed the English champions. And Ferguson will also know that United‘s stature as Englands perennial top offering is under heavy threat from City, heavier than the threats that Arsenal and Chelsea have provided in the last decade. Alex Ferguson will have felt much more than a December night’s chill crawling down his spine, as he heard that famous champions league anthem slowly fading to black in his mind, and the reality of Europa league football loomed, and Ferguson, as he was forced to turn his attentions back to United’s domestic campaign, will push to the furthest recesses of his mind the very thought of spending his spring weekdays sitting on the substitute bench of European football.