The glamour and spark has left United

IT comes to something when a battling goalless draw against a side that had just been beaten 5-1 by Liverpool is seen as a positive result for Manchester United; but that probably sums up where David Moyes’ side are right now, and sums up the size of their problems too.

On the surface a point is not a disaster — it leaves United still in seventh place with little changed in the Premier League table — and can probably be seen as one of their best away results of a difficult season. But it is almost heartbreaking to see how far the champions have dropped in terms of stature in such a short period of time.

Moyes will point to the hard work of a defence that kept only its third clean sheet in 10 games, to the threat of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney on the break, and to a save from Wojciech Szczesny that denied them victory.