Fergie waits on Berba knee news

STRANGE times indeed at Old Trafford.

Financial worries are starting to take a grip and this is only the start of the mutiny against the Glazers by fans who can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times their team has been in top gear this season.

A 5-0 victory away to a Wigan? The impressive 3-1 win at Tottenham despite having Paul Scholes sent off? What else?

Darren Fletcher may have developed as a player over the last couple of years but it comes to something when his absence hits United as badly as it did on Saturday. But, with confusion and mixed feelings at every turn, that sums up the way things are at the club at the moment. Dimitar Berbatov made the breakthrough and set up United’s second goal. As a striker you can not ask for much more but fans trudged away shaking their heads at another sloppy performance. Nani irritated and Scholes and Gary Neville did little to dispute the view that their time at this level has well and truly gone.

Alex Ferguson, who will decide whether Berbatov needs knee surgery today, claimed his team were frivolous in front of goal and he had a point, as, for all United’s consistent possession in the opposition half, Burnley’s goalkeeper Brian Jensen was barely stretched into a noteworthy save before Berbatov beat him.

What seems clear is that whatever the motivation is, whether there is no money to spend or Ferguson is just unwilling to spend it, there will be no new blood injected into a squad that looks flat ahead of an exhausting final four months of the campaign. “We were trailing Chelsea by a point at kick-off so it was important to win and stay close to the leaders,” the veteran Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, back after two months out, said.

“That’s what we did so hopefully now we can go from strength to strength. We’ve got a few players coming back from injury as we come to the business end of the season. It’s good to be back. I felt pretty good out there, although I was a bit nervous before the game.”

Van der Sar has been absent due to injury and helping his wife recuperate after a brain haemorrhage and his return will help settle a defence that has lacked the convincing feel of last season, with only Patrice Evra of Ferguson’s recognised back five avoiding a stint on the sidelines.

Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand are not too far away from coming back from their own problems and John O’Shea could be back in action next month. The restoration of that granite-like backline will undoubtedly help but it is Ferguson’s front six that remains the issue.

Nani came back from a month out with an ankle injury to again show that only he thinks that he can fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo, while Michael Carrick still does not have the manager’s complete confidence.

They were able to work acres of space for Antonio Valencia, who continues to be a major positive, but made little use of the Ecuador winger’s endless neat crosses into the area.

It all seems to raise the question, where have all the stars gone? Apart from Wayne Rooney, who are people flying thousands of miles to watch?

But for all that, they are still just that one point behind Chelsea as they look for a record-breaking fourth straight title and not all of their supporters are feeling down.

“I have been a United fan all my life, so in my heart I hope they can win it but it is a really strange season,” the Burnley goalkeeper Jensen said.

“Chelsea are looking good and Arsenal are playing some good football so I just don’t know. It will be a fascinating climax.”

Berbatov came up with the long-awaited opening goal just after the hour, lifting past Jensen after he was played through a gap by Rooney.

Rooney took his tally to 15 Premier League goals for the season – he has only beaten that record in one previous campaign – with a calm finish after Jensen blocked Berbatov’s low drive, before Senegalese forward Mame Diouf headed in after racing through on to Valencia’s hoofed clearance.

Burnley impressed in their first game under Brian Laws but, with just one point on their travels all season, he admits he will have to alter their approach away from home.

“We felt that if we counter-attacked with pace, it has been evident in recent weeks that United have found that an issue,” Laws said. “I’ve watched a few DVDs of their games and using good pace in the right areas has caused them problems.”

Unfortunately for Ferguson, it is just another issue on an ever-lengthening list.

REFEREE: Lee Probert 7 – Might have cautioned Valencia for his challenge on Steven Fletcher but did not show a yellow card all day and ran the game well.

MATCH RATING: *** – Good stuff. Burnley came to have a go and held out for much longer than they can have hoped. Entertaining and positive from both teams.