Half Full or Half Empty?

It's always a matter of perspective.

Living in Minneapolis, there's a sportswriter named Sid Hartman, who's still writing pieces for the main, local paper at the age of 90. The man's a legend both for his ego-centric personality, name-dropping, AND for his general unwillingness to criticize sports athletes.

Essentially, he's developed fantastic relations with, and gained access to, even the hardest-to-reach athletes, as they know he'll likely write something positive about them or allow the athletes to answer their critics through quotes in his column. Readers either love him or hate his work.

So, how do we view United's first four matches?

The glass is half full when you consider:
- The performance of, say, Berbatov, Scholes, Giggs, Vidic, Fletcher, and van der Sar.
- United have largely played well, overall, especially looking dangerous in attack.
- You knew United's World Cup contingent would need time to find form this campaign.
- United employ Sir Alex Ferguson, arguably the best man-manager in the modern game.

The glass is half empty when you consider:
- Select performances of Evans and Evra or the absence of Anderson, Hargreaves and Ferdinand.
- United's sudden lapses of concentration amongst the backline during away matches.
- Four valuable points given – and I mean given – away in four matches.
- United's manager can not lead this club forever, as the drop-off is almost inevitable.

Thus far, the central questions with this club aren’t whether they'll score goals or about the depth in midfield. Rather, it’s “How many will United concede late-on the road this term?”

Upon reflection, after reading a number of articles, blogs, and posts amongst United supporters, I'm coming to my own conclusion: United supporters are spoiled when critiquing individual defenders.

I make no excuse for the mental collapses at Fulham or Everton; both are utterly shocking and inexcusable. Not up to standard. No way; no how.

But are they a momentary aberration or a trend? Are the issues fixable?

It's all your perspective.

United rightfully maintain exceptionally-high standards under Sir Alex Ferguson. Principally, the defense has become a cornerstone to United's success, especially the last four years. The Red Devils have been treated to arguably THE single best defense in the EPL over this four year stretch. Our perspective is born from watching United shut-up-shop repeatedly against the competition.

Thus, when I see people coming down full-throttle on Jonny Evans and some speculating that he's not up to United's standards, that's when I have a problem.

Yes, Jonny has been inconsistent at times and has looked out-classed during high-level Champions League matches. No argument here.

But go back to just prior to SAF purchasing Rio Ferdinand for a minute. Remember that defense?

Within that club, a player such as Jonny Evans at the tender age of 22, would have been better appreciated amongst supporters for his effort at learning his craft under fire. From that perspective, United supporters would have been overjoyed to have a good center-half with tremendous upside playing arguably the toughest position in football.

But not today. On the individual level, if your point of comparison is the Ferdinand-Vidic partnership, then your perspective toward player evaluation will be inevitably skewed.

On the collective level, however, in terms of team defense, the two late collapses are much more disturbing, especially the two injury time goals conceded yesterday.

Collectively, you don't want your club to focus on avoiding the negative from happening in matches. In the team psyche, you don't want any attention paid to your past performances. That's what's at issue here: the possibility of building up some late-game nerves and giving opponents more hope during the latter stages of matches during this campaign.

On a day where Sir Alex pulled a masterstroke of man-management by simultaneously protecting Rooney and reminding him of what he could throw away in one fell swoop, all while allowing the club to get on with the difficult match at hand, the conceding two late goals feel like an ominous sign, much like the early season loss to Burnley. Possible regrets duly noted.

Obviously, much remains to be seen, as you can line-up all the old cliches about this being “early days” and the like.

Yet, on a day where I feel the Sid Hartmanesque need to sing Fergie’s praises for the umpteenth time, here, with a seriously-disappointing outcome, it feels strangely off.

Unlike that same sports writer, this glass seems half empty. Let's hope we don't look back with another regret duly noted.

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Back at you next weekend after the Rangers and Pool matches. Cheers.