The big talking point in the media at the moment regarding Manchester United is obviously the omission of Ruud van Nistelrooy's name from the team sheet. Whether Fergie is right of wrong to drop the Premier Leagues top scorer is always going to be a matter of opinion, even though recent results seem to be showing that the man from Govan still possesses the midas touch.

However all the attention being paid to van Nistelrooy's future at Old Trafford has detracted the real problem with the current United team that this particular situation highlights. While Sir Alex has the luxury of benching his £19 million marksmen while Rooney and Saha terrorise opposing defenders, and new signings Vidic and Evra hardly get a look in with Wes Brown and co keeping it tight at the back he still seems to be very short of options in the middle of the park. Yes Giggs did a brilliant job at Cardiff, and O'Shea has looked steady, but neither of them would pick central midfield as their most favoured position. Smith is a long term injury and even then he has had to be converted from a striker while Scholes probably has one more year left in him. Fletcher has obviously fallen out of favour, as he has not played since his appalling display at Anfield in the cup even though he has been fully fit. So basically we have an abundance of talent, in both defence and attack, but no players capable of linking the two.

It is no secret that United's treble success and subsequent three league titles in a row was due to the awesome midfield quartet of Beckham, Keane, Scholes and Giggs. Perfectly balanced, they each brought a special talent that together produced everything needed to win any game. Keane battled for every ball, broke up the opposition play and then had the ability to turn defence into attack with a simple pass. Giggs' pace and ability to beat players enabled United to break quickly, and take opposing players out of the game. Beckham could just cross the ball from just about anywhere with such accuracy that even Andy Cole could convert them (only kidding). And if the strikers didn't get them, you could be sure that Scholes would be t

here having ghosted his way into the box, almost as un-noticeable as he is off the pitch. And if by chance, a player was to be unfit or rested, usually Giggs for league games at Old Trafford then a very accomplished Nicky Butt was ready to step in and do a more than amicable job. Having witnessed some of the 'battling' displays by the current midfield, I have questioned the Fergie's decision to sell him on more than one occasion, while I even wished we still had Phillip Neville after the debacle up at The Riverside earlier in the season. He may not be the most gifted of footballers, but at least he got stuck in and did a job, unlike Fletcher who never gets stuck in and doesn't seem to have a job.

The truth is it things really aren't that bad. We have only lost four games this season and drawn six which is better than our league winning season in 2003 when we lost 5 and drew 8. Yes the early Champions League exit was a big disappointment but the fact is that if it wasn't for Abramovic's millions we would be making up for that by picking up the Premier League trophy come the end of the season. In fact recent performances from the current champions and their recent game against Barcelona have got everybody noticing what I realised a long time ago. Chelsea are an extremely well organised outfit that are efficient at getting results. They are definitely not and entertaining side to watch or play the sort of free flowing attacking football that United and Arsenal produced over recent years. They remind me more of a typical German side, extremely rigid and annoying. United's current side almost matches up to them, with a couple of additions to the midfield in the summer,we'll more than match them.

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