United's prospects far from 'ordinary'

SOCCER ANGLES:Despite their perceived shortcomings, Alex Ferguson's men are closing in on the title and have realistic chances in the FA Cup and Champions League, writes MICHAEL WALKER

IT MAY be time to redefine the word ordinary. It is the description with which Manchester United have been damned all season and yet it is mid-April, there are perhaps 13 games to go and Alex Ferguson’s team can achieve the Treble. Ordinary it isn’t.

It is, in the truest sense, extraordinary. It is beyond ordinary to be seven points ahead in the Premier League with seven games left; to be in the semi-final of the FA Cup and to be on the cusp of the last four of the Champions League. United’s performance at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday was also far from ordinary.

It was not great – let’s not go too far the other way, Chelsea were poor – but it was very good. It was disciplined, energetic and creative. It made you think.

It made you recall that at various, but regular, intervals this season, certain United players have excelled as individuals. Those who argue that Chelsea deserved a penalty in the last seconds are correct but even 1-1 would have been a fine result for the visitors.

Occasionally this season United have also been most persuasive collectively, as on Wednesday. And, to repeat, there as many as 13 very significant games to go. Their season could indeed be ordinary at the finish but one suspects United will win the Premier League and that they will have enough to get past Chelsea and reach a Champions League semi-final, probably against Schalke, 10th in the Bundesliga.

Whether United defeat Manchester City next Saturday at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final is up for discussion – and Wayne Rooney’s absence is a hindrance – but City are not favourites.

United could, of course, lose to City and to Chelsea and collapse in the league, and thereby justify our earlier claims of their ordinariness.

But you somehow suspect Ferguson will not permit that. Were he that sort of manager then such a weakness would surely have manifested itself before and probably at West Ham United last Saturday. But it hasn’t and it didn’t.

Ferguson has assembled men upon whom he knows he can rely. Edwin van der Sar, Nemanja Vidic, Nani, Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and Rooney have each at one time or another this season reminded everyone of their exceptional talent. Javier Hernandez has not been bad in his first season at Old Trafford.

On Wednesday Michael Carrick joined that group, Rio Ferdinand rejoined it after injury. That’s nine players, and there are others.

Carrick is frequently offered in evidence as the personification of the argument that this season’s United is far from vintage.

There have been occasions when that has been the case. Ask any United fan about this season and they will point out several bland away displays. Often these have brought them a point or three though.

Heads are scratched at this. Carrick, too, is a puzzle. Passing a football accurately is not a problem to him but playing with penetration and pace has seemed to be.

But on Wednesday it was hard to recall Carrick having a better, more effective game for United. He was sharp and influential.

If it is the beginnings of return to the form that marked out the young Carrick as one astute midfielder, then Ferguson will be grateful. He has just handed Carrick a new contract. If not, United could be affected.

We are in a moment of constant assessment. It is what happens in football, always has. But it takes more than one good game, just as it takes more than one bad one, to definitively alter opinion.

United and Carrick may feel they have turned the tide, and in the crucial month of April.

But what of Fernando Torres? He has gone from racing certainty to a puzzle. It started at Liverpool but, unlike the Spaniard on Wednesday, it has accelerated at Chelsea.

The time when it was instinctive to refer to Torres as extraordinary has long gone. There were periods at Stamford Bridge against United when his close control was so wayward he merited terms worse than ordinary.

Even if Torres had not cost Chelsea what he did, we would be entitled to say this. But he did cost £50 million – that’s €56.6 million – and right now it looks as if that’s about 100 times too much.

In the second half, Torres could be seen chuntering away to himself, apparently unimpressed with the efforts of his partner Didier Drogba.

Torres is yet to score in Chelsea blue, but it’s Wigan at home today and there is a feeling this is his day. We shall see.

United, meanwhile, are at home to Fulham. United have taken 43 points from a possible 45 at home this season. Although Arsenal will have two games in hand, by 5pm they could be 10 points behind United, ordinary Manchester United.

Wenger finding the reasons to believe again

IT WAS good to hear Arsene Wenger back in feisty form yesterday. Wenger made a stout defence of the latest Arsenal work-in-progress and sounded committed, which was welcome after last Sunday’s strange post-match declarations.

After the goalless draw at home to Blackburn, Arsenal’s second in succession, Wenger had the demeanour of a tired man. His words were coated in disappointment as he saw another opportunity to stay on Manchester United’s heels slip.

“We look predictable,” Wenger said. In the French manager’s world, predictability is part of the definition of failure. “No change of pace, no penetration,” he added, “our rhythm of passing was too slow. It was exactly how we did not want to play. Im really concerned about the level of our performance.”

The strength of those words surprised listeners. Wenger sounded disaffected. In that he reflected the opinions of an increasing number of Arsenal supporters, many of whom no longer wallow in the beauty of Wenger’s philosophy.

Instead they look at his refusal to sign a goalkeeper of the required experience and quality, they point to his centre-half acquisitions. There is a constant accusation of stubbornness.

And yet Arsenal have just had three successive home clean sheets. They are not scoring enough – that is claimed to be another part of their failure. It is true Arsenal have not won in the league since February 23rd, yet in the league only United have scored more. Arsenal have scored 18 more goals than Tottenham and have conceded less.

Perhaps Wenger went away from the Blackburn game last Sunday and reviewed these figures. Perhaps they refreshed him. Tomorrow Arsenal go to Blackpool. They should score there. They could yet make the league run-in anxious for United, who have yet to visit them.