As bad as it gets. David Moyes could have made a rod for his own back with that statement after the slip-shod home draw with Fulham. If Arsenal win comfortably tonight, the pack will be howling outside the Manchester United managers door. There was bound to be a downturn after Sir Alex Fergusons long reign. It was his managerial brilliance that kept the team winning things when it was already in decline. Moyes took over needing to replace two magnificent but ageing central defenders, sign a pair of new vibrant and defensively secure full- backs and a creative and goalscoring midfielder in the Paul Scholes mould, and revitalise Wayne Rooney. Hes succeeded in that. Rooney has been the star of a gloomy season. Juan Mata has been brought into the Scholes role. But the Scotsman needs more time to finish the work hes just started, even though the facts make dismal reading. United were 10 points clear at the top this time last season. They are now 15 points adrift of the leaders, and nine away from fourth. This is their last chance to make inroads to the top four. Arsenal are vulnerable after their humiliation at Anfield and this is the time where their season has imploded of late. A year ago, defeats against Blackburn, Bayern Munich and Tottenham ended their FA Cup, Champions League and title hopes. In 2012, Milan and Sunderland knocked them out of the cups in a wretched four-day nightmare. With Liverpool looming again at the weekend in the FA Cup fifth round and then Bayern Munich and Sunderland, all at home, its a huge 11-day period for the clubs future. Arsenals prospects rest with one of the games unsung heroes. The Gunners need Mathieu Flamini back from suspension. Without him, they have no-one who can effectively protect the back four. Without the defensive foundation, Ozil cannot flourish. He is looking jaded. Hes still a wonderful player whose arrival persuaded others to stay. But he needs to physically exert himself more and stamp his class on a game. Tonight is a golden opportunity to do that. Arsene Wenger is right to say the defeat at Anfield raises some questions. He has to come up with the answers otherwise the two clubs who dominated the early years of the Premier League could be mere also rans by the start of March.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 19:02:34 +0000