Manchester United have sole claim this week to the title of best team in the world now that Barcelona have endured another scatterbrained defeat in La Liga. Sir Alex Ferguson's side inexorably seized their second trophy of the season with the Carling Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur, even though shoot-outs are meant to be unpredictable. No one can safely dismiss the argument that this squad is unequalled in the club's history. There is, all the same, a curious aspect to the mastery.
Ferguson has added to the status of the team by reducing its risk-taking. It would be harsh to find fault with Danny Welbeck, the promising 18-year-old who was probably flustered by the realisation that he was on the pitch at Wembley. However, the present side is designed not to cut loose and United's dominance is of a different character from the type established by Ferguson in the past.
In the 26 Premier League matches to date his side has notched 46 goals. That is the smallest haul for Ferguson at this stage in the campaign since Chelsea, under Jose Mourinho, were taking command in 2004-05. United came third that season. The Old Trafford manager, though, has survived through adaptability. The treble of 1999 seemed to depend on a quartet, with Andrew Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all on the books. Each had a dash, or more, of the predator about him.
Nowadays Ferguson has three established strikers but Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney often resemble schemers and Carlos Tevez's industriousness leads him to go back in search of the ball. Nearly everything that happens is precisely as intended. Possession has become the key. United's brilliant defensive record owes much to the fact that rivals spend most of the game chasing and covering until their stamina or concentration collapses.
This is precisely as modern thinking stipulates and the side, with its talent and movement, is an impressive embodiment of the concept. Jonathan Wilson's ground-breaking book Inverting the Pyramid traces the evolution of tactical theory that has led to this insistence on a single attacker. Still, it would be presumptuous to assume that this approach will go unchallenged. Apart from anything else, most sides lack the talent to deploy five midfielders without clogging up the pitch and becoming an obstacle to themselves.
United must, very occasionally, hanker after a touch of the old devil-may-care outlook. An equaliser from Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford recently caused perplexity and the visitors, who lost 2-1, could have taken a point. Far more relevantly, United put on an excellent display at San Siro last week to outclass Internazionale but neither team scored. While United have the talent to deal with Mourinho's line-up in the second leg of the Champions League tie, they have to block out thoughts of the impact an away goal could have.
Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo have been known to score profusely but few would term him a poacher. The leading clubs, indeed, are conducting a breeding process that will make opportunist scorers extinct. If there is to be a sole striker in the formation, he has to be a linkman with a midfielder's capacity for orchestrating the team- mates coming towards him. An attacker who is a scavenger will not start the game. Perhaps, indeed, such a person will just come to seem an anachronism.
In truth they are invaluable. Newcastle United's hopes of dodging relegation may depend on Michael Owen coming back into the side and staying fit. His pace is gone and his body is mutinous, yet still he has eight league goals having started 15 games this campaign. Such attackers should be prized for their mysterious knack. Ferguson himself has appreciated that in days gone by and there was a compliment embedded in his remark that Filippo Inzaghi was born offside.
Often, of course, the Italian is on the right side of that law. United and their fans actually cherish one individual who had that rare gift of knowing when and where to be in the box. No one worked harder in the technical area than Solskjaer when he was biding his time as a substitute. The Norwegian appeared to analyse the opposition's defence in detail before coming on to crack it open. He did not enter the 1999 Champions League final until the 81st minute but still notched that winner over Bayern Munich.
Solskjaer was a specialist and Sheringham claims that the Norwegian's goal celebrations were never quite so enthusiastic if he had not struck the shot precisely as intended. As United's reserve-team manager he is now under an obligation to give the fledglings experience of the club's preferred system but it was pleasing to learn that his lone striker Kiko Macheda did score in the most recent game.
