Back in September, the Reds lost their way at Anfield after Tevez scored the opener. They subsequently saw all three points blow away by a Brown own-goal and a Babel winner.

The following week at the Bridge, Man United succumbed to Chelsea’s pressure and had to settle for a controversial 1 – 1 draw.

Now in Saturday’s early kick-off, the Champions lost 2 – 1 to Arsenal at the Emirates, meaning that they have earned only one point out of the possible nine against the rest of the Big Four.

Substitute Rafael Da Silva pulled a goal back at the 90th minute but it was too little, too late. Even 6 minutes of added time wasn’t enough for Manchester United to get something out of the game. At the end, the hosts went away with all three points thanks to Samir Nasri’s double.

Inefficiency in front of goal

In fact, Manchester United have been inconsistent this season and even playing beautiful football is not the answer to their problems.

The Reds had a good performance against the Gunners and managed somehow to ease the pressure that Arsenal created each time they launched an attack.

Manchester United had the better of the ball in the second half and created an awful lot of chances. However, this could not help them win the game; as Gary Megson said it before, goals really do change fortunes.

Carrick blew his shot wide in the first moments of the match. Rooney also had a wonderful opportunity to score his 100th goal but the striker astonishingly fired over the bar, though he was right on the penalty spot.

Converting chances into goals has indeed been Manchester United’s main problem this season: the Reds really should have scored at least 10 goals against Hull City last time, and against the Hoops in the Champions League, a bit more quality in front of goal will have seen Manchester United cruise to a comfortable win at Celtic Park. Unfortunately, for the Champions, this case should not have occurred at all against Arsenal who are now two points above them in the Premiership standings.

Let’s think twice. It is obvious that Manchester United supporters will be puzzled by this goal-scoring problem: how can this be when there are so many strikers in the team?

Fergie’s fault

Well, it is the coach’s fault if Manchester United struggle to find the back of the net! Carlos Tevez was certainly right to suppose that.

The Argentine forward has been left out on the bench for much of the season so far, for an obscure reason. Fergie seems to have faith in Berbatov and Rooney as the perfect pair upfront for Manchester United… but he might be wrong to think so.

The Bulgarian, who is often criticized for being a lazy footballer, just doesn’t feet in the team although he contributes at times to the team’s success.

Unlike this 32 million pounds signing, Tevez is more the dynamic and dangerous player who can grab crucial points for the club. People may well remember how he saved Man United against Lyon in the Champions League, as well as against Blackburn or even Tottenham in the Premiership last season. And after all this hard work, the bench is his reward this year!

Well, perhaps there is a valuable reason why Tevez hasn’t featured enough for the Reds since the pre-season tour… a reason that everyone would love to hear.

Talking about the defensive area, Manchester United are not a team who usually concede that much but their recent results have been shocking.

Since Fellaini’s equalizer who broke their five consecutive clean sheets record in all competitions, Manchester United have let in five more goals in three EPL games, and six goals in all.

What is the cause of this problem? It’s simply the recent form of Ferdinand, Vidic, and Gary Neville. These three men have lacked concentration in defence lately. Consequently, Manchester United conceded three goals against Hull City (for the first time since AC Milan beat them 3 – 0 at the San Siro back in 2007).

Rafael Da Silva and Johnny Evans have been impressive and they certainly have enough quality to deal with the challenges that forwards can pose at the back.

In a very direct way, Ferguson got it all wrong against Arsenal on Saturday.

The coach kept Rooney – who wasted a bunch of chances – for far too long on the pitch. Giggs, who is best known to have a good performance on watered surfaces, came in only 20 minutes from time while Berbatov played the entire match; this really shouldn’t have been. Tevez was not in the starting line up and Cristiano Ronaldo’s dynamic Portuguese mate never came on. Evra was out on the field almost as an attacking player while Ferdinand, Vidic and Gary Neville struggled whenever Arsenal counter-attacked.

Well, Fergie’s strange decisions and Manchester United’s inefficiency in front of goal are the two major causes why the Reds lost to Arsenal – above other reasons like the Emirates Stadium factor and the controversial disallowance of a clear penalty after Clichy handled the ball in the box.

Manchester United’s run of twelve matches unbeaten has finally ended against the Gunners. Now they must look forward and start new. Learning front these two mistakes – inefficiency towards the goal post and strange decisions by the manager – will definitely power Manchester United to build a winning run of matches and go all the way to success.

Written by: Angela Asante

This was another ‘boss v former player’ meeting as Alex Ferguson faced one of his former Aberdeen players Gordon Strachan, now the coach of the Scottish Champions.

The quality of the football was undoubtedly one of the best performances of the night in which 14 other clubs were in action around Europe. Manchester United was ‘unplayable’, as stated by Celtic’s manager after the game. The Reds featured a very attacking side with Ronaldo, Rooney, and Berbatov all upfront while Nani came into the midfield. This line up gave the Scottish few options and they had to set their hopes on a reliable defence.

However, the referee’s officiating was not as genuine as everyone would have loved to see: Berbatov put Manchester United ahead in a controversial manner when he diverted in John O’Shea’s shot into the net from an offside position.

Celtic unfairly had their appeal turned down by the referee but at half time, Man United’s 1 – 0 lead was not as undeserved – in terms of justice – as one might say..

The Reds had a clear shout for a penalty denied when Rooney’s ball in the box hit the arm of the Celtic skipper.

Manchester United dominated the game by playing sweet football and their dominance was soon rewarded by a second goal. Berbatov reacted the quickest to strike the ball in the net after Ronaldo’s powerful free kick was punched away by goalkeeper Boruc. But once again, the goal should not have counted as the replay clearly showed the number 9 in an offside position during Ronaldo’s kick.

Ironically, Rooney had a clean goal disallowed for offside later on. Whichever, the man of the moment still managed to get on the scoring sheet when he fired the ball home to seal his side’s 3 – 0 win over the Scottish champions.

Supporters of Manchester United will certainly love to see their club repeat this sweet performance when the Reds travel to Glasgow next time, but one thing that we will all hate to see as football lovers is the controversy in the referee’s judgement.

Written by: Angela Asante

The Reds have managed only one win in four premiership games and have netted only four times in six matches – which include the European Super Cup and Wednesday’s Champions League encounter at home to Villareal.

Manchester United faces Chelsea at the Bridge on Sunday, a game which the Reds cannot afford to loose. The recent history between these two rivals tips the Blues as clear favourites to win this big clash… and that would worsen Manchester United’s current situation.

Soccer analysts in England are wondering about Fergie’s ability to lead his club to yet another successive campaign. The manager lost his former assistant Carlos Queiros in the summer and now has to deal with injury worries. Despite these excuses, pressure is mounting on the Scottish coach to get much better results, as Manchester is a squad made of talented star footballers. Ronaldo’s absence in Man United’s opening fixtures certainly affected the team’s unconvincing results. However, Fergie should have been able to manage the rest of the squad and commence the season on a high.

If getting good results has proved to be so difficult so far, whose fault is it and what it the cause of it?

Are players too tired to continue on the good track that they left after winning the double last season?

Is the team facing reality after relying on only one player – Ronaldo – to achieve success in these last couple of years?

Is it not time for Fergie to leave the club and give way to someone else, perhaps less older than he is and who will be able to cooperate with modern day football?

If answers to all these questions cannot be given, at least, one thing is clear: Manchester United needs a revolution as quickly as possible to shake off its slow start this season.

The Red Devils face Chelsea on Sunday, in a game where victory should be Manchester United’s sole aim.

No team has ever beaten the Blues at Stamford Bridge for more than three years in the Premiership. Now, it is about time that Fergie’s men break this amazing home record.

Written by: Angela Asante