United back in the old routine
For all their supporters’ bravado, the Champions League exit in Basel will take some living down and the reality is that in four group games against the Swiss and Benfica, United failed to register a single victory.
Even a United squad that was not favourite to win the Premier League should have negotiated a safe way through that group and yet there are no obvious quick fixes in the transfer market for Ferguson.
Would Wesley Sneijder, who appears to have downed tools at Inter Milan, be his answer now if he was not deemed to be so during the summer? Or Luka Modric? Or, three years after Owen Hargreaves joined the injured list on a permanent basis, an energetic, holding midfielder?
A world-class central midfielder would improve United instantly but even before the embarrassment in Switzerland, the 6-1 thumping by City and the Carling Cup exit against Crystal Palace, Ferguson was discussing how difficult it would be to find a player who will improve his current staff.
Yet this morning they are just two points behind City, who have a game in hand at Stamford Bridge tonight and then host Arsenal at the weekend.
And United’s games against QPR, Fulham, Wigan and Blackburn offer an inviting little run for the current champions.
They may not win a 20th title this year but certainly, if they play with the kind of vigour they showed in making light work of Wolves, they will not be as far off as many people would have you think.
It is easy to forget that this United team, admittedly with Tom Cleverley and Anderson in central midfield, was scoring as many goals as City in the opening weeks of the season.
But this was the first time since the 2-0 win over Norwich on October 1 that they had managed more than a single goal in the Premier League.
“I suppose it’s a relief but we’ve been creating chances, it’s just about putting them away and we’ve shown that because we could have had a few more if we’d been a bit more clinical,” Phil Jones, deployed in central midfield at the weekend, said.
“It was fantastic and credit to the lads because we played terrifically well, especially after the disappointment in midweek but we picked ourselves up quickly and gone again with a spirited performance and we can push on from here.
“That’s the way Manchester United go about their work. As the manager has said, there’s no point in dwelling on it and thinking about what we could have done because it’s gone now and we move on quickly.”
The attitude was clear from the start and they took just 16 minutes to make the breakthrough, with Nani cutting in from the left and thumping a low drive into the bottom corner.
Wayne Rooney managed his first goal in nine Premier League matches, avoiding his worst ever run for United, with a fine finish from Nani’s pass and the hosts were rampant.
In-form Steven Fletcher pulled one back with a firm header just after the interval — his 11th goal in 16 league games — but Nani stabbed in from Antonio Valencia’s cross before Rooney turned in a fourth from another ball in from the Ecuador winger.
Michael Carrick and Jones were outstanding in midfield, while Danny Welbeck hurt Wolves time and again when he received the ball within 50 yards of goal, raising eyebrows with the intelligence and vision of his passing.
“Playing for Man United, the standards are so high,” Wolves manager Mick McCarthy said. “They are perceived to have dropped below that standard — and I guess they have because they’ve not qualified.
“But experiencing that will make them better even if they aren’t feeling it at the moment because they won’t want to experience that, the amount of negative media coverage surrounding it, ever again.
“Somebody said to me ‘Your players keep going’ but that’s a prerequisite, and it’s a prerequisite for Man United to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League.”
United keep going too and, on this evidence, they are not going to stop soon.
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