Manchester United let slip a crucial opportunity to clamber into the Premier League's top four on Sunday night with a hugely-disappointing 2-2 draw with newly-promoted Cardiff City. Earlier in the day, the defending English champions watched derby rivals City flatten Tottenham Hotspur to take fourth place, but knew they could climb above Manuel Pellegrini's side with a win in the Welsh capital. Unfortunately, David Moyes's side dramatically blew it when substitute Kim Bo-Kyung's header secured a share of the spoils with minutes remaining - a result which still leaves them ostracized from the topflight's elite, back in sixth. The Red Devils had steadily recovered from their worst start to a season in 24 years prior to this encounter, having suffered damaging defeats to West Brom, City and Liverpool on their travels. Many had written the champions off, yet the crucial 1-0 win over pacesetters Arsenal prior to last week's international break looked to have put them right back on course to mount a serious title challenge. Yesterday though proved that problems persist, and that many of the symptoms plaguing United over the last two months have yet to clear up. And here, we've identified Man Utd's 5 Critical Flaws. Click "Next" to continue.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
