So, are Manchester United finished? In a word: No. Can they still get it right this season? Yes, definitely.

I tipped them to win the league back in August and I'm not going to tip anyone else now. I don't honestly believe they need major surgery, they just need Alex Ferguson to bite the bullet and revert to 4-4-2, go back to the basics that brought so much success this past 10 years.

I still believe there is a very good side in there but, because they've been so successful, every little thing that's going wrong now is being magnified. The assumption is that the empire is crumbling, but it's not all-of-a-sudden 'doomsday', as everyone seems to be thinking.

Remember, this is the team that, last Tuesday, played so well and should, and could, have won in Munich but finished with a point, one the rest of Europe would happily have settled for away to the European champions. After 80 minutes on Sunday they were drawing 1-1 with Arsenal at Highbury, until individual errors threw it away.

Look at the English clubs in the Champions League. Who would you back to come out of the second phase, Arsenal, Liverpool or United? United, of course. And they're just five points off the top of the Premiership - ask Arsene Wenger, Phil Thompson/Gerard Houllier and David O'Leary who they fear most and they would still say: United.

Yes, of course, they have problems. For me the major points are (a) the sale, Lord knows why, of Jaap Stam, (b) the fact that the goalkeeper has gone walkabout and, most importantly, (c) the fact that the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron, outstanding player though he is, has completely upset the balance of the team.

This team has played 4-4-2 for 10 years and brought Manchester United the most successful period in its history, but Ferguson has tried to change it with a view to being more effective in Europe. Evidently, though, a number of players are not comfortable with the system, consequently they're not playing well, consequently they're losing their confidence - and that's been aided and abetted by mistakes being made by their defenders and goalkeeper.

I think the time has come to leave Fabien Barthez out for a few weeks. He can't win now, even if he's brilliant in the next four games everybody will just be waiting for him to make a mistake and say, 'I told you so, he just can't do it'.

This fella is a World Cup and European Championship winner but at the moment he's got no confidence and looks like he will make a mistake in every game.

I don't think it would be that huge a decision for Ferguson and it would actually be doing Barthez a favour. Take him out of the firing line for a few weeks - Roy Carroll looks like he's going to be the part anyway, so stick him in.

The key, though, to all their problems, is Ferguson's attempt at accommodating both Veron and Paul Scholes. Veron can be absolutely brilliant or he can be the decoration on top of the cake, it's either one or the other - the problem is he's just not consistent. Also, he plays all over the place, wanders everywhere, so it's difficult for the other players to take their positions off him.

Yes, they paid massive money for Veron but his inclusion in the team is making Scholes look a very average footballer and the whole team very vulnerable. Scholes looks absolutely lost. He's always been a player who was involved in everything - heading, tackling, shooting, passing, scoring, working. There were occasions when people talked about the aggression of Roy Keane in the central midfield area, but sometimes that came from Scholes too - but that's all lost on him now.

The solution, for me, is for Ferguson to grit his teeth and drop Veron. I honestly believe if they get Keane and Scholes back in midfield, in front of the back four, that will alleviate some of the problems straight away. It won't eliminate all the individual mistakes but if the results start coming, confidence will start to build up again and all of a sudden players who are looking average at the moment will start to look like the very good players that they are.

There is no argument about it, Veron is a world class player, on his day, but the problem is he upsets the balance of the side - and that's a major problem, especially in a team as balanced as United have always been.

In the past you could close your eyes and you'd still know where every United player was, they all knew their positions and exactly where they should be - the problem with Veron, is his team mates haven't a clue where he's playing.

Apart, obviously, from having outstanding players - and the important thing to remember is they still have them - the reason they've been so good for the past 10 years is that the players were marshalled into a system of 4-4-2 with no grey areas, they all knew exactly what their roles were.

At the moment there's one or two of them who have an excuse if they're not playing well - they can say, 'well, I went over there because there was a big hole and nobody was filling it'.

Right now nobody is quite sure how the new system works or if it works, which is the big question - and even if it does work it doesn't work often enough. I always believe in any situation like that you go back to basics, back to what served you well in the past.

Scholes is primarily a midfield player who gets goals, not a forward, so the deeper he can make those runs from, the more effective he will be. Ruud Van Nistelrooy looks very lonely up front, he has to do all the work on his own - when they play two up front more defenders are occupied, and that's when Scholes gets his goals. Now, when he does get through from deep, he's getting picked up.

Yes, the defence is vulnerable and their lack of confidence means they're making mistakes, but they have less protection in front of them than they used to have and teams are making lots of chances against them. I firmly believe, though, that it's further forward that the problems start. If Ferguson recognises that and gets back to those basics I've been talking about, I think rumours of United's demise will prove to have been greatly exaggerated. And if they finish top of the league come May I won't be too surprised.

In an interview with Mary Hannigan