You can never write off Manchester United

With all the talk about Manchester City and their Premier League domination this season their city rivals Manchester United have rather taken a backseat.

United have become the dominant force in recent years, the team beat. However they currently find themselves five points behind their mega-rich rivals.

Cup

United face Crystal Palace in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup tonight and some have suggested that the league cup takes on a bigger meaning because of City’s dominance. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously doesn’t’t feel the same way as he is set to field some of his youngsters.

Patience

The United players don’t believe they should be written off just yet. Midfielder Michael Carrick told Sky Sports: “With United, it always seems to be the case that if you lose a game or have an indifferent match or two the roof caves in, or that is what people on the outside think,”

“We have been here before. We have had bad results and bad runs, a lot worse than the one we are on at the minute. Experience tells us to be patient. People can write us off if they want but hopefully we will be there at the end of the season.”

Experience

Carrick is right Manchester United are accustomed to this situation. United haven’t got up to full speed yet. They have been there and got the t-shirt when it comes to challenging for the Premier League title. They have far greater experience of this situation than Manchester City have.

The Manchester United’s player experience of challenging for the big trophies down the years has meant that they never give up till the end and it’s a reason why the club have been so successful.

Slip-up

Manchester City have looked in good form this season and do look like they could win the Premier League title. However I’m sure Manchester United will be right on their heels if they do slip-up. The Red Devils will compete till the last kick of the season.

Every club has a slump in form at some point. With Manchester City though they have two sets of players, so if players are suffering a dip in form City boss Roberto Mancini can rotate his squad. The key factor will be can they handle the pressure?

Form

There is reasons to be optimistic as a Manchester United fan because this is the time of the year  that United have found their top form in recent seasons. The champions form this season has been decent but its not been outstanding.

Any other season though they would have probably been top of the Premier League table. However their neighbours have been in such outstanding form that they have had to settle for second for much of the season.

Quality

Manchester United will always be there or thereabouts in the title race because they have such quality players. The likes of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Nani are top attacking players that can win games on their own.

However they have in some games lacked a bit of midfield creativity and Sir Alex Ferguson has even played Rooney in midfield to try and solve the problem. I’m just wondering if Fergie now regrets not signing a creative midfielder in the summer.

The Scot hasn’t got many things wrong as United boss but it looks increasing likely that he made the wrong decision over signing a creative midfielder. That is likely to corrected in the near future.

Difficult

One thing you can be sure of with Manchester United is that the winning habit never goes away. The champions very rarely go two games without winning. United as a club are accustomed to winning games and trophies and that doesn’t just disappear overnight.

Manchester United won’t make it easy for Manchester City to win the Premier League this season and I think they will push the Citizens all the way. I have learnt from watching football in the last 20 years that you can never write off Manchester United.

Can Manchester United win the Premier League?