At the beginning of the season Manchester United fans endured watching their team throw away a number of points, often from healthy positions within matches, and despite the promises from the players and the coaches that matters would improve the truth is that, although the team remains unbeaten for a lengthy spell, the performances have not improved and the team is still drawing matches that they should be winning, at least if their title ambitions are sincere. In the early stages of the season Manchester United drew matches with Everton, Fulham and Sunderland when they would have expected to win and recently the team has continued the trend, drawing with West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford and Aston Villa and Manchester City away from home.
Although none of the results could be classified as tragic, and it is indeed true that in nearly all of these aforementioned results Manchester United were the better side, even if perhaps only slightly, the actuality of the situation, that Manchester United sit three points behind a Chelsea team which has already stumbled to defeats at Liverpool and Sunderland, is that the sheer number of disappointing results is counting against Manchester United and de-railing their title ambitions. The hope is that Wayne Rooney will return and kick start the teams season as they enter a vital period of the campaign where they have a succession of relatively straightforward matches before they compete against Chelsea and Arsenal in the all important head to head clashes. Wayne Rooney, who has struggled for form since the end of March when Manchester United’s Champions League campaign came to a shuddering halt against Bayern Munich, has been injured and out of action with an anke injury. He recently spent a week in the United States of America performing some intensive fitness and conditioning exercises in the hope that the work out will help him rediscover his magic touch and thus put him on a run of good form, which in turn will benefit Manchester United.
As Rio Ferdinand recently claimed, when Wayne Rooney is in good fitness and good form he is one of the best players in the world. Manchester United fans will be hoping he has recovered his fitness and that his form will soon return too, hopefully against Wigan Athletic on the weekend.
