When the waters close over a manager's head it is usually the leaden signings that are tied round his ankles. That baggage tugs at Alex Ferguson as he flails to keep himself and his club afloat in the Premiership contest.
He is not alone in finding his players inadequate for their mission but the burdens that tug him down are greater because so many people believed Manchester United would grapple with Chelsea at close quarters. His squad actually looks puny on the page when set beside Jose Mourinho's but at least Ferguson can explain that his budget has withered following the Malcolm Glazer takeover.
There is a more harrowing comparison than that for the Scot, who must think of what he has lost as well as what was achieved whenever he recalls the peak of his career. Six years ago United's resources were impregnable. Bayern Munich could eventually be overcome in the European Cup final despite the absence of the suspended Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. There were tolerable replacements for that pair in a rejigged line-up and Ferguson still had in reserve Phil Neville who, despite the sniggers, has now won 52 caps. With Quinton Fortune injured, the peripheral Liam Miller is, by contrast, the sole recognised back-up in midfield at present.
In 1999 United's means were most gloriously apparent in attack, where all three components of the treble were clinched by the people who came off the bench. With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham typically on call to relieve Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, alarms must have rung in the opposition's dug-out whenever the fourth official switched on the substitutes' board.
Ferguson has been unable, despite all the outlay, to maintain that strength. The United case histories are infamous, with a total of £30m spent on the forwards Diego Forlan, Louis Saha, David Bellion and Alan Smith. With the exception of the last, who is in the throes of speculative retraining as a midfelder, they have either gone from Old Trafford or look earmarked for off-loading. A further £28.1m went on Juan Sebastian Veron, with just half of the sum recouped, and Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson were hopelessly ill-equipped to bolster the squad.
There has been a litany of misfits but several have thrived elsewhere. While Ferguson's knowledge of the game is formidable, it is often the talent to discern how a foreign signing will cope with a switch of football cultures that fails a manager nowadays. The recent acquisitions will, at best, be qualified successes. The introduction of Edwin van der Sar, 35 next month, is a belated masterstroke. Park Ji-sung should be useful but it is hard to forget not just the trouble he caused Milan in the first leg of PSV's European Cup semi-final but also his knack of getting them out of it with a nervy touch at the death.
Identifying the right players is tricky and Chelsea's daunting personnel put rivals under terrible strain. The knack has nearly vanished of making astute signings at affordable prices. Six years of good service have passed since the centre-half Sami Hyypia cost Liverpool a mere £3m. The club seeks cover for that position but the introduction last year of Mauricio Pellegrino was futile. He helped only Stephane Henchoz, who was then being shunned at Anfield.
The Swiss, now with Wigan, watched the Argentinian at training, asked himself "Am I really worse that that?" and began to feel his confidence flow back. Poor Pellegrino had got old but the Liverpool manager has still to come up with another centre-back. He was stymied, too, in the quest for a right-sided midfielder and seems to be waiting for the Chilean Mark Gonzalez to become eligible to play in England next year.
It was frustrating at the weekend to see how ill-equipped Chelsea's ostensible rivals are. There was disproportionate anguish for Arsenal over the injury to the holding player Gilberto Silva. In attack Robin van Persie and Jose Antonio Reyes are intermittently exciting but it is evident that neither is remotely ready to fill the boots of a missing Thierry Henry or Dennis Bergkamp.
Arsene Wenger will get a light grilling over the lack of transfer activity but Arsenal fans know that he works with limited means and a Premiership title is still seen as a blessing rather than a right. Rafael Benitez enjoys the invulnerable reputation of a reigning European Cup winner. It is Ferguson, from whom so much is expected, who has much to fear. Guardian Service
