Few fringe benefits from our cup misfits

WE can’t say we haven’t got the Magic Of The FA Cup now, I guess.

Drawing Crawley sets up what would surely constitute the greatest upset in the history of the FA Cup — ie United’s utterly useless second stringers somehow managing to overcome the high-spending, cogent and motivated Crawley outfit...

I exaggerate somewhat, of course. But there was no mistaking the howling of my Red comrades during last weekend’s cup tie as they contemplated the embarrassingly underwhelming display of several fringe players who, given a big chance to impress, turned tail and ran.

Poor Gibson in particular has gone from being the Great Irish Hope of Old Trafford to its unloved runt, openly derided by all for his woeful passing and movement, and now occupying the hallowed position of Official Club Scapegoat, it would seem.

Meanwhile another oft-slaughtered second-stringer, Gaby Obertan, has apparently had enough and wants to go home — if anyone will have him. When he first signed, I did report that Laurent Blanc seemed suspiciously happy to let him go, and I wondered whether Fergie’s old pal had in fact pulled a fast one on him, much as French peasants are apt to offload substandard Merlot onto unsuspecting Yanks expecting Pinot Noir.

Watching the incredible hoopla of transfer deadline day just tended to exacerbate this feeling of dissatisfaction with personnel — from fans following a team that’s unbeaten, remember! — as records tumbled and diehards crumbled (What was Andy Carroll saying only two weeks ago about staying at St James’ for ever?) The allegedly penniless United watched on, impotently — although one colleague adopted a brighter outlook, comparing Monday to being in a pub, spectating on a ludicrous all-in brawl at the other end of the bar from a safe distance.

True, there was a frisson at teatime when rumours spread that United had mounted a late move for Charlie Adam — the player is a boyhood Red who still attends half-a-dozen O.T. games per season — but it was all to no avail. Fergie, as you will probably wearily recall, has decreed there to be “no value” in the market, so that was that.

I have pointed out before that this is an entirely bogus formulation: the market sets a value for a player, and you either meet it or not, and then find yourself an excuse for that decision if you must. If he means there’s no sneaky bargains to be had, he may be thinking back to such deals as Vidic, Evra and Hernandez, all of whom look like absolute steals in retrospect. But this is a boss who also happily paid wildly over the odds for Cole, Veron, Rio et al; when a manager really wants a player, the price become immaterial. Incidentally, in respect of the particular record-breaking megadeals this time around, United had their chances.

Carroll was being suggested to us by his new agent as long ago as October, and Torres was watched for two years before Fergie’s henchmen absurdly concluded he wouldn’t score enough in the Premier League.

Yet after all these envious whinges, who would you give up from United’s strikeforce? Hernandez and Berbatov are untouchable, Rooney is still trusted to come good again, and strong pockets of support remain for the future claims of Macheda and Welbeck. So: whether you believe Fergie has the money at his disposal or not, it’s still hardly that easy to argue we should’ve been in for any of the half-dozen top strikers that went for sale. Midfielders, however, would have been a completely different kettle of fish… so to Wolves, would-be easy pickings for the Slightly Less Crap Than Before Christmas Invincibles. (Hmm. We need to work on a nickname for 2011).

What we had is what we have, and what we have we hold.