Manchester Utd, 1 Middlesbrough 1:Manchester United are still in pole position to prevent Jose Mourinho from making it a hat-trick of Premiership titles but they have picked a lousy time to begin to lose their way. Five points have been dropped in the past three games and the sense of foreboding at Old Trafford was so acute on Saturday that it was as if the club had surrendered any advantage.
Had Chelsea managed a goal at Newcastle yesterday the lead at the top would have been slashed from 12 points to one since John O'Shea's late winner at Liverpool on March 3rd. Happily for those supporters who watched United's least authoritative display of the season through their fingers, the scoreless draw at St James' Park meant that Middlesbrough's businesslike performance caused only superficial damage.
United's goal difference is so superior that they can afford even to lose at Stamford Bridge on May 9th provided they win their other three games. They have so many injuries, however, that nothing can be taken for granted other than that Milan should now be regarded as favourites to reach the Champions League final.
In total Alex Ferguson has nine players, including his entire first-choice defence, on the injury list, plus a further dozen out on loan, at least three of whom - Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson at Sunderland and Phil Bardsley at Aston Villa - could have saved the United manager from the position where he may have to deploy a midfielder, Darren Fletcher, as an emergency right-back against the Rossoneri.
"The injuries have killed us," said Ferguson, but the mitigating factors go only so far and there are signs that Cristiano Ronaldo is looking weary. This was his second substandard performance in succession. It hardly constitutes a slump but there had hardly been one throughout the previous nine months.
The most alarming part for Ferguson was the frequency with which his players tried to force the pace of the game rather than relying on their usual imagination and penetrative movement. "We were overanxious, rushing our passes when we needed some calm," said Ferguson, and he will be particularly disappointed that the malaise spread from Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney to more experienced players such as Ryan Giggs. Kieran Richardson may be the player the fans dislike the most but his contribution, including the opening goal, was more substantial than Giggs's.
Southgate was labelled "naive" by Ferguson earlier this season and, though nobody could use the same adjective to describe United's manager, there was a certain irony that this was a match in which the Premiership's oldest representative made two serious errors of judgment.
When, just before half-time, Rio Ferdinand indicated to the bench that he had suffered a recurrence of a groin strain, the logical step would have been to bring him off as quickly as possible. Instead Ferguson raised a clenched fist as if to say "grit your teeth until half-time" and within moments Ferdinand, reduced to a pedestrian, watched as Mark Viduka headed in Middlesbrough's equaliser. Closer analysis revealed that Wes Brown, who had a torrid afternoon, should have averted the danger but it was perverse for Ferguson to ask a player to try to run off a pulled muscle.
Middlesbrough seemed the more likely to score, denied only by the referee when John O'Shea brought down Dong Gook Lee inside the penalty area. When Ferguson scrutinises the league table today he will reflect that the leaders got off lightly indeed.
United, meanwhile, are to take the unprecedented step of flying out their own stewards to the Champions League semi-final in Milan to help prevent a repeat of the crowd trouble which tarnished their visit to Rome in the quarter-finals earlier this month. The club have been granted permission by Uefa to increase the security at San Siro with the presence of 30 stewards.
A delegation from the club's security firm, CES, will also travel with the supporters, along with a contingent from Greater Manchester police.
