FOOTBALL: I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES

I WOULD be the first to admit that at times we have been a complete shambles this season.

No excuses - we have presented our rivals and the critics with the perfect opportunity to pile in and accuse us of all sorts of things.

While individual errors have been our downfall, erratic form and the lack of consistency must be shared by us all.

We know we have been embarrassed against opposition we should beat if we want to maintain the success we've enjoyed in recent years.

So it is only natural that the critics put the knife in when you are down. Because it's Manchester United, it seems to give them that much more pleasure.

People have come up with all sorts of theories to explain our form, or lack of it. But the vast majority of what has been said is ill-informed. It is usually the views of people who should know better but love to jump on the bandwagon.

To have lost six games just 15 matches into the campaign is a disaster. It puts us in the position of relying on our rivals to slip up - and we are just not used to that.

Contrary to reports, we have not thrown in the towel - and we won't. Every effort will be made to land an historic fourth consecutive title until it is mathematically impossible to do so.

I know the manager has said it is going to be very difficult, and nobody is carrying the burden of hurt more than him. And I can understand why his door, which is normally open to the media, has been slammed in their faces.

He wouldn't be human if he wasn't hurt by some of the criticism which has been way over the top. When people question his motives, claim he has a careless attitude in his final season and has gone soft, they shouldn't expect any favours.

I know he is disappointed because, although he tries not to betray his own emotions, he has found it difficult to hide what he is feeling.

And it is not just the manager who gets a bit sensitive. Some of the players are equally affected, particularly those who have been singled out for criticism like Fabien Barthez, Laurent Blanc and Wes Brown.

Normally, United players perform better in the face of adversity but it's difficult to give that theory any credibility with some of the results we have had in the League lately.

At the moment we are finding that, just when we feel we've turned the corner, we are hit by problems in the next game.

For example, we went to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and held them to a draw. We thought that was a good result and came away feeling confident. But then came the nightmares against Arsenal and Chelsea.

We knew how critical it was to get a result against Chelsea, and that fact couldn't have been emphasised more by the manager before the game. But for whatever reason we were soundly beaten on our own ground and we had to listen to yet more talk of a crisis.

In truth there is no quick fix to our current problems. It's been suggested that Steve McClaren's departure hasn't helped - but the training remains the same. Besides, it doesn't matter how effective you are on the training ground if you don't perform in matches.

In the past, seven or eight players have consistently played extremely well which allowed us the luxury of carrying those who occasionally underachieved.

Unfortunately this season there has been too much under- achievement throughout our ranks, which has left us exposed.

Going into the season expectations were high. The incentive was to give the manager the best possible send-off in his final season. But we're still chasing a straight fourth title and we still have the chance to give him the perfect leaving present...winning the European Cup on his home soil at Hampden Park.

The Premiership is always our priority and we expected the challenge from our rivals to be at its strongest this season. But what we didn't expect was to help them by making so many errors.

Without making any excuses, aside from the slump in form I have never seen so many mistakes punished with such clinical efficiency.

People claim players who make individual errors should expect to be dropped. But Sir Alex has too much experience to axe people at the drop of a hat. If you do that you run the risk of destroying their confidence.

No one is playing particularly well at the moment so what is the manager going to do, drop everybody?

There is no room for complacency at Manchester United, and there never has been. We all live under the threat of the axe and as the manager has proved this season, he can be ruthless when he feels it's necessary.

I'm some three weeks away from a return to first-team action. The injury to my hamstring is not as serious as first thought. It was an old injury from five years ago and tests showed the scar had not healed from the original operation.

I'm back in light training and, like the other players, I'm desperate to prove a point - nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to see our critics choke on their own words.

Writing us off would be premature, to say the least.

Interview: PAUL SMITH

Copyright 2001 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.