United facing pivotal period

THE RALLYING cry came from the mouth of a babe, yet no matter whether Manchester United are successful in their quest for an unprecedented fourth successive title, Alex Ferguson has some big decisions looming.

Ten days ago, Ferguson accepted the week that lay ahead was season-defining. Now, as he assesses the wreckage, the United boss must pray he was wrong.

So crushing was the disappointment he felt after their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich, Ferguson spoke of the unusual situation United faced in bouncing back from three straight defeats.

In actual fact, the third was a win. A futile one as it turned out.

It leaves the Red Devils staring into the abyss, having to decide whether to stick their chests out and respond, or quiver and fade. Darron Gibson knows which it will be.

“We cannot lie down and let the whole season go. It is either that or we stand up and fight and go for the championship,” said the Republic of Ireland international.

Ferguson shares the sentiments. He just delivers them in a slightly different way.

“We have had to face this many times,” said the Scot. “But the nature of our club; it is part of our history. It happens. We have five league games to go and we need to win them, starting at Blackburn on Sunday.”

Yet away from the tub-thumping and distanced from a still winnable championship, Ferguson already seems to have started some rebuilding work.

A contract extension for Ryan Giggs is already signed, offers to Paul Scholes and Gary Neville remain on the table.

But whether the latter two are taken up or not, by leaving all three out of his starting line-up last night, Ferguson was signalling a changing of the guard.

A bold selection was vindicated by quite possibly the best opening 43 minutes his team have produced all season. The verve provided by Nani, Antonio Valencia, Gibson and Rafael was a reminder of what United have missed for so much of this season, when faults have tended to be obscured by the brilliance of Wayne Rooney.

So often shunted to the periphery during Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at the club, Rooney has relished the conversion to main man.

Suggestions of him being the world’s best player may have been exposed as folly by Lionel Messi’s magical performance in midweek, but Rooney remains a rare talent, which Ferguson can confidently build a team around.

The problem is all three striking colleagues are incapable of fitting the system that has proved so durable, particularly in Europe.

Federico Macheda is too young and inexperienced to carry such responsibility on his own.

Michael Owen is not physically strong enough and, after claiming all season the tag of ‘injury-prone’ is a myth, he has been injured at the one stage where United really needed him.

Then there is the enigma of Dimitar Berbatov. A brilliant player, capable of sublime moments of skill, but most definitely not a bulwark. Both legs of this season’s quarter-final, last year’s semi and the final in Rome, Berbatov has started so many big occasions on the bench.

Having spent a club record £30.75million on Berbatov, Ferguson needs to either find a more central role for him or accept, much like Juan Sebastian Veron, whose big-money arrival also ended in a few trophies but overall disappointment, his individual skills are just not suited to Old Trafford.

To an untrained eye, United need two strikers, so rumours of a renewed attempt to sign Karim Benzema, who snubbed Old Trafford for Real Madrid last summer but has failed to settle in Spain, is to be welcomed.

A creative central midfielder who can assume the mantel of Scholes and edge out Michael Carrick, whose performances this term have been a big disappointment, should also be on the hit-list and a keeper who will replace Edwin van der Sar, since Ben Foster failed his audition and Tomasz Kuszczak is plainly not good enough.

Ferguson has spent all season insisting it was his decision alone not to spend the bulk of the £80million he received for Ronaldo.

The outcome has been a reduction of standards which is more pronounced than Chelsea have suffered, if not quite as bad as Liverpool.

Arsenal have improved, but they were a long way back. For the first time in seven years, England does not have a Champions League semi-final representative, and, even if Ferguson denies it, that does tell a story.

“I am sure you can read something into it,” he said. “All the English teams were expected to get to the semi-finals as they have done for the last few years.

“But I don’t think that casts a shadow on the game. It is still the best league in Europe.”

nUEFA will take no action against Alex Ferguson for his “typical Germans” jibe at Bayern Munich over the sending off of Manchester United defender Rafael.

The remark rankled with Bayern coach Louis van Gaal: “I thought England was noted for fairness but that’s not what I call fair play. I think Sir Alex was disappointed.”