Miss-firing squad

It's a squad game these days someone once said. And Sir Alex Ferguson recently proclaimed this current squad to be his best ever. Better than the double winning squad of '94. Better even than the treble winners of '99. So, that being the case, where is it all going wrong?

The answer has been presumed that Sir Alex's confidence was miss-placed. However, perhaps the real answer lies in the fact that it is not necessarily a squad game. First elevens do actually win the trophies and not the reserves.

A lot is about timing it to perfection and in terms of having your first eleven available at the crucial time of the season when the wheat and the chaff are separated.

Just take last season, for example, both Manchester United and Chelsea had their first teams available and their benches were without absentees either. Memorably Park Ji Sung couldn't make the bench as even Louis Saha managed to put on a tracksuit without pulling a hamstring. The same could be said for Manchester United's final league game when their whole squad was available.


Then imagine that final last May without Ronaldo or Ferdinand or even Wes Brown. Would they have emerged triumphant?


Many talk about a lack of depth in Liverpool's squad this season, citing the fact that they can't cope in Gerrard or Torres' absence but there is no way Manchester United would win a significant trophy were there to be a prolonged absence for Rooney or Ronaldo.


The sooner the Red Devils can get their big guns back fit - Ferdinand, Brown (yes, he's a big gun), Berbatov - and their big guns who have been miss-firing - Ronaldo, Carrick, Vidic, Evra - back on form the better and perhaps Man Utd's season can be rescued.


I have a hunch that Wednesday night's return in Porto may see one of those special European performances to rival that of Roma at home in 2007 or Barcelona away in 1998 but I also had a hunch that Roy Evans would deliver Liverpool's first league for many years back in 1997... and they are still waiting.