Three straight league trophies in the competition rated the best in the world is a terrific success, even for a team of Manchester United’s stature. Sir Alex Ferguson and his team definitely have to be congratulated for that but their domestic domination looks set to end this season. Never mind the fact that Liverpool and Chelsea look more serious now than they have been during the last few years, but it is United’s own problems that are going to cost them what would be a record fourth successive Premier League title.

The downtrend of this team obviously started with Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid but that was definitely not the only reason. Even though I am far from being Ronaldo’s biggest fan, I have to agree with the general opinion that United are not the same without him. His goals and ability to link well with strikers is what Ferguson will miss the most as even last season when Ronaldo was utterly disappointing in most of the games, he still managed to score 26 goals, 18 of which were scored in the Premiership.

And it was when Sir Alex opted against signing a matching replacement for the Portuguese that we all knew United would fail in their title bid. Antonio Valencia is not the sort of player who can change the course of the game by himself, even though he is an excellent team player.

The team now desperately lack a creativity in midfield as Scholes and Giggs are well past their prime, while Anderson and Nani wouldn’t be leading players in the team like Bolton, let alone Manchester United. Carrick and Fletcher are very good players indeed, but they cannot be expected to provide those killer balls for Rooney and Berbatov.

The only bright spot this summer has been Dimitar Berbatov, who seemed to finally be at the desired level, but he has desperately lacked support from his teammates. Rooney is simply tracking back too much and he is more of a link between midfield and Berbatov than he is an actual striker. 20 goals per season are the best we can expect of him.

Than there is Michael Owen, who is starting to look more like a gamble and less like a bargain. His movement and working rate are top notch but he simply cannot score. He misses the chances he would have converted blindfolded during his Liverpool time and what use of him if he ain’t scoring.

The back line is still looking competent even when players like Vidic and Ferdinand are out with injuries, but rock-solid defence cannot win you games. It looks as though Sir Alex Ferguson will have some major rebuilding to do, or maybe he will decide to end his career when his team lose the title and let his successor do the job.