Saha urges United players to stick together

LOUIS SAHA has called on his Red Devils team-mates to put on a united front and face down the critics ready to dismiss them as Premiership failures.

Sunday's goalless draw with local rivals City has left Manchester United's title hopes hanging by a thread. Even Alex Ferguson has admitted the Old Trafford men will have no chance of reclaiming their title unless they dramatically improve their form.

United's problem is a pretty obvious one. In 12 league outings so far, the normally prolific scorers have netted just 11 times. A multi-talented £65 million strikeforce comprising Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith and Saha has mustered just six goals between them, two fewer than Crystal Palace's Andy Johnson has managed on his own.

David Bellion and Mikael Silvestre are currently level with Van Nistelrooy as second highest United scorer in the league with two, a damning statistic considering the only man in front of them is Smith and he has only got three.

Saha has yet to score at all and blew two good chances to break his duck on Sunday when Stephen Jordan cleared one early effort off the line before the Frenchman somehow failed to find the target with a header from point blank range as the game entered stoppage time.

Ferguson is demanding answers and it will be interesting to see how many of his line-up find themselves on Carling Cup duty against Palace tomorrow.

Saha will probably be there, even if Smith is not after he added a United red card to the nine he has previously picked up on duty for Leeds, England and England U21s.

And the Frenchman, who predicted United would be back in the title running by January before the match, has told his team-mates they must stick together if they are to stand any chance of getting out of the mess they find themselves in.

The fitness problems that have plagued Saha since his £12.8m move from Fulham last January seemed to return to haunt him on Sunday. Saha just shaded Cristiano Ronaldo as the most effective offensive player in the United side. But the rustiness still in his game was probably a contributing factor in his horror miss at the end when he rose to meet Ronaldo's cross with the goal gaping, only to glance a header narrowly wide.

"It wasn't good," he admitted. "You have days like that. You play well, the passing is right, the chances are there but the final touch isn't. In the end, that has cost us the points. We know it is going to be very hard to catch the leaders but we need to start winning games. We are drawing too many and that has to change."

Sunday's trip to Saha's former club Newcastle will not see many United fans' hearts swelling with optimism even if United have a decent record at St James' Park and the Magpies will go into the game on the back of an even worse result following their 4-1 home humiliation by Fulham.

Before that though, comes a potentially stormy AGM at Old Trafford on Friday when chief executive David Gill might not only have to fend off questions regarding a possible takeover but also concerns over United's league position.