(Image from here)Michael Owen has scored only two goals this season following his free transfer from Newcastle.
While Dimitar Berbatov, 28, is yet to live up to his £30m price tag after joining from Spurs in August 2008.
And now I am beginning to have doubts about Valencia’s ability, too.
Despite the hype surrounding him and his supposed man-of-the-match display against Bolton, it has been a different story in the Champions League.
That has to be the marker for United’s stars to prove whether they are truly world-class.
And at the moment too many of their big names have not delivered on the top stage.
I get better analysis from pissed-up blokes down the pub than that. Where to begin? The so tired Berba-needs-to-improve refrain? The Michael-Owen-doubts rubbish? No, I'll start with the Valencia criticism. "Despite the hype surrounding him..." Did I miss that? As far as I recall there's been nothing but "he's not Ronaldo," is-he type mumblings ever since we signed him. The problem with columnists is that when they come out with such rubbish and preface it with "I am beginning to have doubts," it sounds like we're meant to be somehow impressed, as if Stan Collymore's opinion is somehow better than ours, the "I" coming across as egotistical - "you out there may have been fooled by the imaginary "hype", but I, I always had my doubts..." And then "it has been a different story in the Champions League," has it? Really? Two wins from two. And all of 2 games in which Valencia has had to impress in that competition. And, given he named Berba there, presumably he includes him as a top name who hasn't delivered, that's straight after Berba produced a masterclass of passing against Wolfsburg. Maybe Stan should stop believing the hype and form his own opinion (although given the quality of The Mirror's other columnists, his job's presumably pretty safe...) And as to Owen, only 2 goals? That would be two goals from 2 starts. Or 2 goals from 214 minutes, pretty comparable to Rooney's 6 goals from 706 minutes (at current rate Owen gets to 6 goals in 642 minutes...).
The pissed up guy in the pub (almost) gets a mention in The Sun's report:
Whatever result they get on Wednesday in the Champions League against CSKA Moscow, they are still undoubtedly heading for the next round of that competition.
But whether they can repeat the triumph they achieved in Moscow is another thing.
Last season's 2-0 final defeat to Barcelona raised huge question marks which have not gone away.
Right now, United are not the force they were the last time they visited the Luzhniki.
To suggest as much irritates the boss. Indeed, Fergie used a large part of his programme notes to criticise an unnamed questionnaire that had made that very point after the Wolfsburg win last month.
Well, if he had heard some of the fans heading out of Old Trafford on Saturday, he would have had to criticise them too.
The most interesting thing about this (and the only reason I mention this otherwise inane report) is the bit about the "unnamed questionnaire" (think he probably means questioner, but I'll let that slide) - he may have been unnamed in the programme notes, but The Independent remember who it was:
On Saturday the Manchester United manager used his programme notes to restate his apology to Alan Wiley, which should not spare him an FA charge today for questioning the referee's fitness. However, more space was devoted to rounding on a questioner from The Sun, who after their Champions League victory over Wolfsburg, had asked if United had been winning "without firing on all cylinders". "It should not be necessary for me to have to answer that kind of question," Ferguson wrote, beginning nine paragraphs of justification of Manchester United's season thus far, pointing to impressive displays at Tottenham and Stoke "where we gained a significant win with 70 per cent of possession".I wonder if that is why The Sun reporter gets a little defensive...
The Independent continue with some talk of our attacking quality:
The champions dazzled for an hour and the dancing feet of Ryan Giggs demonstrated why he has been nominated for the European footballer of the year award. Dimitar Berbatov, who had dashed back to the team hotel on Friday night after the birth of his daughter in Bulgaria, displayed the same levels of confidence and control that had driven United to victory over Wolfsburg.
While The Guardian is notable in that all the reports quickly brush over the fact that we're top of the league, to concentrate on just how bad we are (on a similar subject, Lee Dixon on MOTD2 last night said that Chelsea were "still the team to beat," as if they'd won the Premier League for the last 3 seasons...), but they point out the pertinant fact:
Nevertheless, this was an afternoon that emphasised a difference between Liverpool and Manchester United. Last season Carlos Tevez described the combination of himself, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov as "the best forward line in the world". Ferguson was able to call on only one of these against Bolton. He won. At Sunderland Rafael Benítez was without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. He lost.
The only other story is of Michael Owen being quoted on the Liverpool game:
Owen is acutely aware that many supporters at Anfield cannot forgive him for switching allegiances to United, but the striker considers it unfair for him to be accused of disloyalty. To illustrate the point, he said he planned to celebrate as normal if he scored in Sunday's game.
"I'm human," said Owen. "I'd prefer people to sit down and recognise what you did for them and for the team in years gone past but I'm pretty realistic as well. Now that I'm playing for their local rivals – I'm not holding my breath, put it that way.
"People talk about loyalty in football, and for a football supporter it's easy to preach about that. As a father and a brother and a son there's no one more loyal than me. But when you're a player, you're not a fan. I've got to earn a living, provide for my family. I supported Everton as a kid. I never supported Real Madrid, but I played for them. It's a job opportunity, just like anyone else's work.
"The longer you're at a team, if the fans make you feel welcome and the players take to you, then you build an affinity. So now obviously I look for Real Madrid results and Newcastle results, but it doesn't make me any less loyal to Manchester United."
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