It is probably a good measure of Manchester United’s difficulties that if David Moyes’s side are defeated tonight it will be the first time they have lost three consecutive home games since a week before the Cuban missile crisis. Moyes was not even born when Manchester City, Burnley and Blackburn Rovers all won at Old Trafford over the space of three weeks in the autumn of 1962. And the last time United racked up a hat-trick of home defeats in one week? Forget it. It has never happened in the club’s history.

A negative tone, perhaps, but that is what happens when a team have just lost a 21-year unbeaten record at home against Everton, and a 41-year one against Newcastle United, during four traumatic days that have dropped them into ninth position in the Premier League.

They are 14 points worse off than the same stage last season, with a 28-point swing in favour of Arsenal, and Moyes probably did not help himself a great deal when he was asked whether he needed something to lift his spirits. “No, not after the [Newcastle] game,” he replied. “That raised my spirits.” Work that one out.

More sense
United's manager made a lot more sense when he talked of it being a "tough" moment in his professional life and, though his team have already qualified for the next stage of the Champions League, the visit of Shakhtar Donetsk has the potential to be another less than straightforward occasion.

The Ukrainians have to take three points from Old Trafford to qualify and, in that scenario, Moyes’s men would finish as the runners-up in Group A, exposing themselves to the possibility of playing Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and, almost certainly, Bayern Munich in the next round.

Moyes admitted he is considering resting players for Sunday's game at Aston Villa but he also has injury issues to contemplate – Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling and Patrice Evra all joined Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini on the list of absentees in training – and has to be aware of not taking too many risks. "It's important to give ourselves the best possible chance in the next round," he said. "The big job was to make sure we qualified. We have done that, and hopefully we can finish off the group unbeaten.."

Paradox
The paradox is that it is only a couple of weeks since United travelled to Germany and thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 5-0, their most emphatic away win in the European Cup since 1957. United were unbeaten throughout October and November, and yet in the Premier League there is also the jarring statistic that they have scored only three goals from open play at Old Trafford all season.

“We’ve been inconsistent at times, we’ve played very well in some of the games in the Champions League, not so well in the Premier League, albeit we’ve lacked a little bit of good fortune in one or two games which might have made a difference,” Moyes said.

“I think it’s a bit of everything we could do better. We would like to play better generally, we would like to pass it better, we would like to create more chances and to defend better when those moments arrive . . . But it was only a few weeks ago when we had beaten Arsenal and Leverkusen, and we were talking very well about the team.”

At least there was no sign of a manager outwardly feeling the strain. Moyes was smiling as he took his seat, with a larger than usual audience for his press conference, but there was a telling moment when it was put to him that he had recently said the squad were good enough. Did he still think the same?

“The question I got asked was: “Is the squad big enough?” and I said: “Yes, the squad is big enough”. Your question is slightly different.”

But is it good enough? “I believe the squad is big enough, yes.”

It was a revealing answer.
Guardian Service