Old Trafford - an impenetrable fortress? More like a free for all. Once a feared place to tread for opposing teams, visitors now go to the "Theatre of Dreams" with increasingly-more confidence they can get a result. West Brom were the first to prove that, when on the 28 September they travelled back to the midlands with all three points following a 1-2 win. Everton then went and earned a deserved victory last Wednesday before Newcastle's win meant the Red Devils suffered back-to-back league defeats at Old Trafford for the first time since the end of the 2001-02 season. United have dropped 13 points out of 24 in front of their own fans this season - just one of the reasons why they're not going to retain their title. Everyone laughed at BBC pundit Robbie Savage when he said at the end of October that United wouldn't finish in the top four. But he hit the nail on the head when he cited the loss of their 'fear factor' as one of the reasons for their decline, saying:
"In previous years, when you lined up in the tunnel before kick-off and glanced across at a cast of household names, you were beaten before a ball was kicked. "As a midfielder, you knew David Beckham would pass you to death, Roy Keane would be relentless, Paul Scholes could do everything and Ryan Giggs would dribble until you were dizzy. "As a defender, you knew that if Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole werent playing, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would punish every mistake. "And as a striker, you knew there would be no change out of Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister, Gary and Phil Neville or Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. "But do opponents look across the tunnel now and raise the white flag? "I dont think so."
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.
