GettyImagesIs Sir Alex Ferguson picking sides just to toy with Manchester United's fans?

I have a much-loved uncle who used to tease us without mercy. We call him “Uncle Roundabout”. Years ago, when he was visiting from the US, he drove us all to the nearby town of Uxbridge, in West London, for a treat of our favourite meal, a McDonald’s.A visit to McDonald’s was an event. You had your own booth and your own tray. It was like eating out at a gourmet restaurant.

Uncle Roundabout knew this. Our hearts were ever more heavily beating in keen anticipation of our next Michelin-starred meal as we approached the restaurant, which was now in sight. All we needed to do was take one exit of this roundabout and we’d be there. And that’s when Uncle Roundabout, who must have had the wickedest glint in his eye, decided not to take the exit to McDonald’s, but instead proceeded to go round, and round, and round, and round, and round.

The horror. At first we looked at each other in disbelief. The promised food was so close at hand. It was right there – if we opened the window we could almost smell it. But Uncle Roundabout didn’t seem to notice. He just kept on going round and round this roundabout, as if stuck in a loop. We yelled at him to stop and turn off. “Look, McDonald’s is right there, it’s right there,” we cried, our shrill voices rising with desperation. But he just kept on going, round and round. We screamed at him, but he was impassive; we wailed at him, but he was oblivious; and then, defeated and whimpering, we began to count how many times he went round, as the bright lights of McDonald’s kept on flashing cruelly by. Some of us were quietly fearful that we might never escape. At one count, he made seventeen full laps of that roundabout, until with a wide smile he relented, turned off and let us scramble out of the car. A Happy Meal has never tasted so sweet.

Sir Alex Ferguson was Uncle Roundabout against Old Trafford at QPR. As Manchester United’s fans sat in the back of his car, clamouring for him to make apparently the most obvious and logical choice for a starting midfield, he instead went round and round on the same loop. He selected Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes, whom he had rested during the midweek game against Galatasaray, to link up with an attack of Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie. The problem with such a selection is that, whilst that front four is hardly lazy when it comes to defensive duties, they need someone who will shuttle between them and the deeper positions to make play; otherwise, they become isolated. The blend in midfield was therefore wrong. Neither Scholes or Fletcher, for their many gifts, truly provide that linking function. The only one of Manchester United’s present crop who could do that was Anderson, but Sir Alex Ferguson had left that particular Happy Meal on the bench.

In the absence of that midfield drive, Manchester United and their fans endured a curiously stagnant first-half, which ended goalless. There seemed a strange lack of urgency, which was typified by Scholes, who was just having one of those days: on 26 minutes, he played a pass square on the edge of the area when in sharper form he would probably have volleyed it, and then a minute or so later he was caught in possession in his own half by Jamie Mackie, who surged on towards goal and was only stopped by a powerful challenge from Jonny Evans. This torpor lifted briefly after this odd couple of uncharacteristic moments, with Rooney twice in quick succession testing Julio Cesar from distance, but the first-half ended with the abiding memory of Stephane M’Bia causing severe discomfort to the home side’s right flank with a series of incursive dribbles and runs off the ball. When the half time whistle came, it was Manchester United, pressed and often out-passed in key areas, who would have been the more relieved. Harry Redknapp, watching his first game in charge, should have been quietly delighted.

The second-half, alarmingly, offered more of the same from Manchester United. QPR, and particularly Mackie, remained dangerous, and it was he who gave them the lead on 52 minutes. Adel Taarabt, having played an excellent one-two with Kieron Dyer, cut along the left byline and fired in a low drive which Lindegaard parried into Mackie’s path, and Manchester United were yet again behind. This was the thirteenth time in twenty matches this season that they had conceded the opening goal. QPR, now bursting with confidence, soon burst forward on the break, finding themselves in a two-on-one situation against Darren Fletcher; it was only poor decision-making on their part that saved Manchester United from what probably would have been a two-goal deficit.

Seven minutes later, Sir Alex Ferguson finally relented and gave the Old Trafford crowd their Happy Meal, in the form of a double substitution of Paul Scholes and Ashley Young for Anderson and Javier Hernandez. Twelve minutes later, after a three-goal riposte between the 64th and 71st minutes, Manchester United were ahead, and Robin van Persie was very close on two occasions to adding a fourth goal. The first two goals came via headers from corners supplied by Wayne Rooney, an area from which the home side have become startlingly dangerous this season, and the final goal came from a combination of the two elements that they had been missing before the introduction of the two substitutes: a swashbuckling sprint through the heart of the park from Anderson, and then Javier Hernandez meeting his precise pass with an equally precise finish.

The game ended in a 3-1 scoreline, and Manchester United’s return to the top of the Premier League, but the manner in which it was achieved again leaves cause for disquiet. Ashley Young was yet again abject, and it appears that the winger is suffering a protracted loss of confidence. Ferguson has shown him great loyalty in continuing to play him, perhaps hoping that he is only one spectacular performance away from emerging from his current slump. Scholes will be suspended for a game as a result of collecting another booking for a needless tackle, and maybe this will give Ferguson the impetus to pick Anderson as a first-choice midfielder. There has been a great deal of talk that Manchester United will sign Kevin Strootman, the young Holland international, from PSV in the January transfer window, and given that he has a similar yet complementary skill set to Anderson his arrival would be highly desirable. Other teams will not be so obliging as QPR were here. In the meantime, though, Manchester United’s support are merely grateful that their manager gave them their Happy Meal: and only hope that next time he does not tease them so mercilessly before doing so.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email