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With Raheem Sterling seemingly holding out for the sort of pocket money we could have only dreamed of as a youngster, Liverpool appear to have diverted their attention towards Arsenal’s Theo Walcott.

The Gunners ace is very much seen as a ‘plan B’ man at Anfield, with keeping their 20-year-old starlet the aim, but with his future at the Emirates Stadium unclear, he’s an intriguing option.

Walcott has long campaigned for a central role under Arsene Wenger and despite his obvious skills and pace, the England international has struggled to hold down a regular spot while never been truly becoming an essential player in north London… and the got us thinking, which other ‘unappreciated players’ could Brendan Rodgers save?

He gave Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho fresh chances and that worked, so here are FIVE potential ‘garbage to gold’ additions…

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James Milner

As the weeks go by, James Milner looks more and more likely to leave Manchester City on a free transfer this summer.

The England international’s current contract expires in just a few months’ time, and with his playing time having been minimal in terms of minutes and varied in terms of position, the 29-year-old is thought to have his eye on one last big move to play regularly in his favoured role – central midfield.

Liverpool are firmly in the hunt for the one-time Leeds prodigy, and it’s easy to see why. Although unfashionable, Milner offers a great level of work ethic, desire, commitment and know-how, while being a superbly adept technical footballer.

Although he’s now after a settled role, he can also fill in on either flank, play anywhere in midfield, function as a ‘false nine’ or even play as a right-sided wing-back or full-back.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen

Although Simon Mignolet has revived to the point that he’s now one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League on current form, it’s not yet clear as to whether or not Liverpool will seek to replace him this summer. At the height of the Belgian’s slump – December to January – the Reds were linked with a host of names, with Ter Stegen firmly in the mix.

The German signed for Barcelona last summer from Monchengladbach with a reputation as one of the best emerging glovesmen in Europe, but he’s yet to make a single appearance in La Liga, with his only game time having come in Champions League and domestic cup action. The 22-year-old is certainly worth more game time than he’s currently getting and could well be a long-term upgrade on Mignolet, despite his recent improvements.

Stevan Jovetic

The 25-year-old was an exciting addition for City almost two years ago, but his game time has been… erm… minimal. Able to play in almost any attacking role, Jovetic should have established himself in the sky blue shirt, but injuries have played their part in his struggles, as has Manuel Pellegrini’s reluctance to truly put faith in him.

Brendan Rodgers has shown a talent for turning trash into treasure in recent seasons – Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge were unwanted at Chelsea and Inter Milan – and with Jovetic still only 25, there’s time for a top coach to extract his full potential. There have been links…

Micah Richards

Somewhat the forgotten man of English football, Richards has recently put himself back on the radar by claiming that he’s interested in heading back to the Premier League. A return to City when his current loan deal at Fiorentina ends is unlikely due to his contract’s looming expiration date, so a free transfer appears likely… and Liverpool are believed to be keen.

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With another centre-back a potential addition due to Emre Can’s unorthodox role in a back three, Richards could be an addition that makes sense. With experience as a right-sided full-back, the 26-year-old possesses the attacking intent to feature in Brendan Rodgers’ system, and could thrive now he’s over his injury woes.

Yohan Cabaye

Although Steven Gerrard is by no means a pivotal figure at Anfield now – in terms of first-team importance – replacing his departing captain when he joins LA Galaxy this summer is an issue for Brendan Rodgers.

Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen look to be a good combo, but an experienced Premier League campaigned like Yohan Cabaye may be a wise addition. The Frenchman left Newcastle just over a year ago, and despite his emergence as one of the top playmakers on the block, his game time has been rationed at PSG. Liverpool have been linked with the pass-master, who could offer some stability and an alternative option.

side host Norwich City in the Capital One Cup at Old Trafford in yet another crucial game for David Moyes.

Moyes has enjoyed an indifferent start to life as United boss and he of all people realises how important it is to win silverware in his first season at the club.

After narrowly edging past Stoke City on Saturday, the United faithful will no doubt demand a comprehensive victory here against a Canaries side who are not just struggling for goals, but also form in general.

But Norwich can take hope in the fact that they have never lost a League Cup fixture against United, winning two and drawing one, while they have netted a combined nine goals in the previous rounds of this competition this season.

However, United’s home form in this competition is strong with just one loss from their last eleven at Old Trafford, which doesn’t make pretty reading for Norwich who have failed to win a match at Old Trafford in any competition since 1989.

Despite Moyes’ need for silverware and the fact that that the Capital One Cup looks like a golden opportunity to do so this season, he is still expected to rest some big names on Tuesday night. Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney are likely to sit this one out, paving the way for Saturday’s match-winner Javier Hernandez to get the nod up-front. Wilfried Zaha may also start to United, with the England U21 star hoping to impress Moyes in order to earn a chance to play a part in the Premier League.

Considering Hughton’s need to get the Canaries’ league form back on track, he is expected to make a host of changes to his side. Ricky van Wolfswinkel will definitely miss out due to a toe injury, Johan Elmander and Gary Hooper fighting for a starting spot, although Hooper looks a more likely choice after impressing with a match winning brace in the previous round against Watford.

David Moyes knew how much pressure the United job came with, but he will not have expected to be under so much pressure from the fans so soon in to his Old Trafford career, which makes winning this tie more important than it perhaps would have been normally.

Hughton will not want to see he side roll over for United and will, of course, welcome an upset here. And he will telling his players to take a leaf out of Swansea and Bradford’s books from last season after they both caused big upsets to reach the Capital One Cup last season.

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It was not that long ago when Arsenal fans were worried that Hector Bellerin would be snapped up by his former club Barcelona.

In November last year, the right-back signed a new six-year deal at the Emirates, which was met with joy from the fanbase.

Now, though, some are calling for the Spaniard to be dropped in favour of outcast Mathieu Debuchy.

The Frenchman has not featured in a single Premier League game this season as he was seemingly removed from manager Arsene Wenger’s plans.

In fact, the 32-year-old has only played in 13 top-flight matches since the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

On Tuesday night, Debuchy was handed a place in the lineup for the Gunners’ Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against West Ham United at the Emirates.

Danny Welbeck’s goal was the only thing to separate the two sides as Arsenal grabbed a place in the semi-finals.

The game itself was not the most thrilling, but Debuchy caught the eye, particularly after providing the assist for Welbeck’s goal.

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Now some fans are urging Wenger to play the Frenchman ahead of Bellerin.

Arsenal are notorious for bringing in foreign imports to the Premier League and turning them into global superstars.

Emmanuel Petit, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry immediately spring to mind. Now, after calls from the fans and the board of directors at the Gunners, the latest trend for the North Londoners is to buy already established stars in order for them to claim their first Premier League title for the first time since 2004.

The likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have forced manager Arsene Wenger into putting his hands in his pockets and splashing more cash than he has done in the past. Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis said in a recent interview with the BBC: “The last five years of unlocking our international and our commercial revenues is so important for the club. It allows us to go out and, if the manager believes in someone like Mesut Ozil, he can buy him.

“It’s the same with Alexis Sanchez. Unlike the situation two or three years ago when we were really financially challenged and losing our top players, we are signing our top players to long-term contracts – guys like Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey.”

However, one player signing that was considered one of the best attackers in Germany but has struggled since he arrived in England in 2012 is Lukas Podolski. The former Bayern Munich ace was a signing from his beloved FC Koln after a disappointing spell with the German champions, only managing 71 appearances in three years at the Allianz Arena.

Despite having a thunderous left foot strike, a good eye for a pass and is good in the air, it looks as though the German is now surplus to requirements at the Emirates Stadium. Podolski endured his most frustrating spell in an Arsenal shirt in 2013/2014 where injuries came back to haunt him, only managing 14 appearances including six off the bench. The quality of a player like Podolski is still there, still managing to score eight goals and make two assists in that season. The 29-year-old World Cup winner has played just 128 minutes of football in this current campaign, and has already stated that he might have to leave in order to gain regular first team action.

The arrival of Sanchez and fellow compatriot Ozil has prompted in Podolski’s only real involvement this year is from the bench, or even worse, out of the match day squad all together. With the inevitable return of winger Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck acting as Arsenal’s main striker outlet, seeing Podolski back in an Arsenal strip is looking more and more unlikely.

Failure to beat Southampton in the Capital One Cup third round is even more bad news for the German, considering it is his only chance of gaining valuable minutes on the pitch.

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The proverb has it that every cloud has a silver lining, but if you’re a Tottenham Hotspur fan, bar a spot in the next quarter finals of the Europa League you can’t imagine there was an awful lot of positives to take out of last night’s 4-1 mauling at the hands of Inter Milan.

Indeed, the train wreck that was Spurs’ hammering at the hands of Andrea Stramaccioni’s side was a chastising experience for all involved, with not a single Spurs player  – or their manager, for that matter – coming out blemish-free from the San Siro.

Yet within the grander context of Spurs’ season, last night’s defeat marked only the third time this season that Andre Villas-Boas’ side have lost more than once on the spin, following their 3-2 loss at the hands of Liverpool last Sunday. And as we head in towards the final push of the 2012-13 campaign, that might be more of a blessing, rather than a curse.

Because in recent weeks, for a team that have traditionally been plagued inconsistency, Spurs have begun to develop an incredibly uncharacteristic steel to their performances.

It’s not very often supporters have been able to lay claim to an unbeaten run that’s stretched into double figures within the league, but when Tottenham fans claim to have not been able to remember a time when the side last showed such remarkable resilience, they weren’t joking by any means – defeat at Anfield on Sunday saw the end of a 12 game unbeaten streak; a club record within the Premier League era.

Now while it might seem naïve to suggest that supporters were getting carried away with recent events on the white side of North London, for all the new found confidence and resilience that might have been forged out of this recent run, a lot can be said for looking to keep one’s feet on the ground.

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It may sound strange, but for as vitally important as that 12 game unbeaten run has been to the club, it’s the recent couple of losses that could prove to be just as important in propelling them towards achieving success both at home and abroad.

Following the 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the recent North London derby, it’s difficult to remember a time when confidence had risen quite so high within the Spurs camp. A fitting reminder would perhaps lie within the 10 point gap they amassed – only to blow it come the end of the season – over the Gunners last term. But if patience is short within the beautiful game then memories are even shorter and the side’s recent success under Villas-Boas has done an awful lot exorcise the demons that resided after last season’s self-destruction.

Although even if last season’s scorching experiences have felt somewhat distant to supporters, then the last seven days should serve as a genteel reminder that the job is far from finished this season.

Contrary to popular belief, Tottenham aren’t Champions League qualifiers-elect within the Premier League and to a slightly lesser extent, their name most definitely isn’t on the Europa League trophy, either.

The sight of Arsene Wenger’s men trudging off at White Hart Lane looking like beaten men catalyzed a cascade of headlines crowning Spurs as the new top dogs in the north of the capital and further still, perhaps even the kings of London all together come the end of the season.

Seven days later however, and should both Chelsea and Arsenal win their games in hand, then they can end up placing one point ahead and four points behind Spurs respectively. With only nine games to play in the Premier League, there’s still the capacity for plenty more fluctuation and everyone from those on the pitch to those sitting in the stands would do well to remember that.

And within the nature of both the defeats to Liverpool and Internazionale, Spurs were handed a fitting reminder that there is simply no room for complacency or sloppy error – both within the playing staff and the management.

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The feeling after the defeat at Liverpool was that the pain of the defeat was eased as a result of their downfall being mainly induced by a couple of one-off individual errors, as opposed to being systematically outplayed. But regardless of a seven-point gap or not, there is never any breathing space in this league and the 3-2 loss served as a chastising reminder of that. Before kick-off, they were shoo-ins for the top four. 90 minutes later and they’re back to where they started before they kicked off against Arsenal.

Within the Inter defeat, too,  for as much maturity and adaptability that Andre Villas-Boas has shown this season, to turn up the San Siro and set the side up the way he did – regardless of the aggregate score – was incredibly naïve. The four goals that i Neazurri put past Brad Friedel were a brutal reminder of how quickly fortunes can fade and with Spurs having conceded seven goals in two games, the onus will now be on the Portuguese to shore up a rearguard that’s not without its faults.

But far from feeling overly dejected after the last two games, the fact remains that despite the nature of the defeats, Tottenham still remain well on course to achieve both a top four finish and a run to the final stages of the Europa League.

The last week might not be one fondly remembered for its results, but should it give Spurs the shot in the arm they require to try and get back on the horse and rack up another unbeaten one, it could prove to be one of the most poignant of the entire campaign.

According to reports in The Sun, Southampton will face competition from Chelsea if they want to sign West Ham United striker Andy Carroll, who is rated at £8.9m according to Transfermarkt, during the January transfer window, and they have been dealt a blow with the Daily Mail reporting that the Blues have made an official enquiry.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Sun reports that Saints are interested in the 28-year-old as they look to find a target man to replace the injured Charlie Austin, but the Blues are also keen on the centre-forward.

The Daily Mail has added that the Premier League holders have already enquired about bringing the England international to the club on loan until the end of the season.

How has Carroll done this season?

He has, once again, struggled with injuries that have stopped him getting a consistent run in the West Ham side, while he was also suspended after picking up a red card against Burnley earlier in the campaign.

The 28-year-old has netted twice in 12 Premier League appearances, although both of those came in the vital 2-1 victory against fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion at the London Stadium on Tuesday.

Carroll is known for his heading ability and strength in the air, and according to WhoScored.com he has won 70 of the 118 aerial duels he has faced in those 12 league games.

Would he be a good signing for Southampton?

He certainly would be, as long as he can keep fit.

Saints enjoyed most of their success in recent years when they had Rickie Lambert and Graziano Pelle as lone strikers, and there is no doubt that Carroll has similar physical attributes.

His strength in the air and ability to hold the ball up and bring the rest of his attacking teammates into play could be crucial for a Saints side that are struggling for goals and lie above the relegation zone on goal difference.

Will they get him?

It doesn’t seem very likely.

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While Chelsea may feel that they could get Carroll on loan until the end of the season, the same won’t be said of Southampton, who look to be a relegation rival for the Irons right now.

If Saints are willing to pay over the odds to get the 28-year-old then a permanent deal could happen, but that seems unlikely even with the predicament they currently find themselves in.

Louis Van Gaal’s additions to his Manchester United squad last summer included one of the world’s biggest stars, an incredibly talented teenager, and a Dutch midfielder who shone at the World Cup.

But, would the team that Louis Van Gaal is fielding week in, week out make the cut under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson?

Sir Alex has worked with some of the world’s best footballers – but he has also worked with some average ones, too. If Fergie could get his hands on Manchester United’s current squad, I’m sure some would not make the cut for him; but he would also be impressed with quite a few.

There is no question about whether David De Gea would get make it in Alex Ferguson’s squad – he’s the man who brought him to Manchester of course. Following in Edwin Van Der Sar’s footsteps was no easy task, but after some early struggles, he is now regarded as United’s most valuable player – his improvement over the last two years has been outstanding.

Defensively, Alex Ferguson had some class players in his squad, such as Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, all of which have since moved on. The current defence at Manchester United would not be able to compete with these players – Chris Smalling and Phil Jones for example, part of Fergie’s squad, just would not be strong enough. Paddy McNair would’ve had a chance (as a substitute, most likely) under Sir Alex, who was always aware of the importance of youth players in his side.

United’s current midfield is pretty formidable, but not exempt from making mistakes. Marouane Fellaini would have a hard time making it in a side under Sir Alex. Although he has improved massively over the last nine months, Juan Mata would be the choice under Fergie; mainly for the creativity aspect, and the goal scoring ability. Something that is interesting to consider, is how Angel Di Maria and Sir Alex would have fared working together – very well, I’m guessing. Daley Blind could make it into a starting line-up with Sir Alex Ferguson as a manager because his work rate is key to the squad.

One player who would not have been dropped back to midfield under Fergie is Wayne Rooney. Rooney is an all round player, but he is a striker. Sir Alex recognised this as his best position, and that was where he was played.

And of course, Robin Van Persie is sure to make it into both starting elevens. Van Persie had an outstanding first season for Manchester United under Sir Alex, and had said he was gutted when his boss announced his retirement.

If Sir Alex was still at Manchester United, would Danny Welbeck still be at the club? I think so, Ferguson rated him and put faith in him. Welbeck’s almost full season under Moyes, though, was the writing on the wall for his career in Manchester.

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One thing the current Manchester United squad could use, that Sir Alex was fond of, is the hairdryer treatment at half-time!

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Marseille manager Elie Baup has said Andre Ayew will not leave the Stade Velodrome, despite interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, The Express reports.

Ayew has been strongly linked with a Premier League move this summer after clashing with Baup over his desire to play as a central striker.

But Baup, who has preferred deploying Ayew out wide, has spoken out on the issue, backed by Marseille president Vincent Labrune.

“Let me be clear: I am counting on all the players who are here,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of Ayew playing through the middle, he added: “Who has promised to change our structure? Certainly not me.”

Ayew himself spoke last month about his desire to play in the Premier League, particularly at Anfield.

“The English league would be a dream,” he said.

“It is the most followed league in Ghana so, yes, I have a big preference for England.

“I’ve always supported Liverpool.”

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With Baup and Ayew’s turbulent relationship set to continue, Premier League sides tracking the 23-year-old Ghanaian will not see reason to stop doing so.

Ayew, who reportedly was the subject of a £5million bid from Arsenal in 2010, scored ten goals in 39 appearances last season, taking his overall record at Marseille to 148 games played and 41 goals scored.

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The bi-annual circus that is the transfer deadline day has rolled into town once more, with the football world a dizzying flurry of last-minute activity. Jim White, the ubiquitous master of ceremonies and patron saint of deadline day oversees proceedings for the umpteenth time, whisking us off on a whirlwind adventure to the training grounds of the football league to bring us news of the latest comings-and-goings, with the now-mandatory pit-stop at Harry Redknapp’s car window along the way.

One destination which is conspicuously absent from this year’s itinerary, at the time of writing at least, seems to be Arsenal’s London Colney training ground. On the most hectic day of the transfer window Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger appears more concerned with philanthropy than wheeling and dealing, having decided to attend a charity match in Rome organised by Javier Zanetti and the Pope for disadvantaged children in Argentina. While almost every other manager will be sat at his desk, phone glued to ear and dusting off the fax machine (which for some unfathomable reason seems to be the communication device of choice on deadline day, the equivalent of walking into a bike shop and asking for a penny farthing), Wenger seems happy to let the day’s cataclysmically hyperbolic events pass him by. One can almost imagine the Frenchman reacting to news of Falcao’s move to Manchester United, a bona fide deadline day coup, with nothing more than an indifferent Gallic shrug as he basks in the sunshine of Rome in the company of His Holiness and the equally venerable Zanetti.

Admirable though his participation in the charity event may be, one can’t help but feel that Wenger is repeating the same mistake he seems to have made for the past two seasons – a failure to sign a world-class striker. Since Robin van Persie’s departure to Manchester United two years ago, Wenger has obstinately decided to persist with Olivier Giroud as the club’s only recognised – and proven – out-and-out centre forward. Much of the criticism Giroud receives is unwarranted; the 16 league goals he scored last season is a respectable return for a striker who cost a modest £9.6 million. However at 27 years of age Giroud will never be a world-beater and Wenger surely cannot believe that the Gunners can realistically rely on his goals to fire them to the Premier League title. A club with genuine title ambitions need a striker who is expected to score at least 20 goals a season, or at the very least a striking partner who can be trusted to share goalscoring responsibilities. As it stands, Giroud’s competition comes in the form of the hardworking yet ultimately anodyne Yaya Sanogo, whose four goals against Benfica in a pre-season friendly indicate a false dawn rather than the emergence of a genuine goal machine, judging by his early-season performances.

The paucity of Arsenal’s striking options stretches further back than Giroud and Sanogo. The last world-class striker on the Gunners’ books, Robin van Persie, would never have been seriously threatened by the goalscoring exploits of perennial narcissist Nicklas Bendtner. Van Persie’s goals-per-game record in his last few seasons at the Emirates was highly impressive, however his history of injuries meant that Arsenal were constantly flirting with the possibility of losing their only decent forward.

Though Wenger has added world-class attacking talent to his squad this summer in the form of Alexis Sanchez, the Chilean is no striker in the traditional sense, and nor is the recuperating Theo Walcott. The duo will certainly contribute with their fair share of goals, but they are unlikely to become prolific as van Persie was in his Arsenal heyday – neither player has scored more than 20 league goals in one season.

The news that Olivier Giroud is to face a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury leaves the Gunners with no fully-fledged centre forward for the remainder of the calendar year. With Wenger once again refusing to increase his attacking options before the football world is left in a state of transfer paralysis for another four months, this case of déjà-vu may yet be the hardest one for Arsenal fans to swallow.

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It’s safe to say that it hasn’t been an easy start for David Moyes at Manchester United. The Red Devils have already lost nearly half the Premier League games they did last season, and we aren’t even at the end of October.

Granted, the Scot has faced a series of incredibly tough fixtures, taking on Swansea, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the opening five weeks of the new campaign, but all the United boss has proved so far during his Old Trafford tenure is that Sir Alex Ferguson is an almost impossible act to follow.

Of course, it doesn’t take the brain power of Steven Hawking to realise that a 13-time Premier League title-winning manager would be irreplaceable, but many expected the former Everton manager to have made better progress.

The theory was at the start of the summer that Manchester United’s talented squad, who claimed the English accolade last season,  along with the club’s monolithic infrastructure and efficiency off the pitch would be able to withstand losing such an iconic manager, even if his replacement bared no particular experience at title-winning or even Champions League level.

But the transition process hasn’t quite gone to plan, as the Red Devils find themselves in 9th place with 10 points after seven games, and the performances have been almost  as disturbing as the results.

So what is it that the reining Premier League champions are missing exactly without Ferguson at the helm? They have the same title-winning squad as last season, with the added midfield influence of Marouane Fellaini, and although the Scot’s talents are well-known, he’s hardly been the most hands-on manager over the last few years.

Joey Barton even quipped in a recent meeting with the press that Ferguson ‘couldn’t put on a training session to save his life’, and although few United fans would pay attention to the words of a  controversial midfielder who has spent the majority of his footballing career with the noisy neighbours and can’t even claim first-hand experience on the issue, it’s by no means the first story we’ve heard to suggest the Scot’s role significantly reduced in the latter stages of his managerial tenure.

Yet, Jamie Carragher believes the former gaffer was still worth in excess of ten points per season, for his ability to pressurise referees, galvanise his players and wind-up the opposition. An interesting valuation considering the Red Devils have dropped eleven points so far this year.

More than anything else however, or any particular positive managerial attribute to Ferguson’s name, I believe it’s the psychological edge over opponents Ferguson, or rather Ferguson’s image, provided that the Red Devils are suddenly missing this season.

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With a Ferguson side, you knew exactly what you were getting, because it was what the man came to symbolise over the years; work-rate and hustle for a full ninety minutes, an aggressive determination to succeed, and the confidence that they could beat any opponent, big or small, and overcome any burden to recover from a losing position.

The combination provided a fear factor the Red Devils, just as the famous ‘hairdryer treatment’ did for Ferguson’s players, a kind a preceding reputation, a myth of monolithic dominance, that insisted upon their opponents to play in a more negative and cautious manner to accommodate for it.

But now, for the first time in the best part of twenty years, United’s ability to overcome any endeavour has seriously come into the question, as has their in-build determination, and as a result, other Premier League clubs have simply stopped being scared of them. As West Brom proved a few weeks ago,  if you go to Old Trafford positively and well-prepared, without getting caught up in Manchester United’s tradition of success, then you can claim results, and other clubs are now beginning to follow suit.

And it’s not simply a case of what goes on during any particular match-day -Ferguson’s image of a man who should be feared, and subsequently United’s as a club that should be feared, was constantly maintained in the media and by pundits, as well as being a rather self-fulfilling phenomena.

Now however, we’ve already seen a wealth of criticism from the British press over Moyes’ failed transfer pursuits in the summer, not to mention his side’s performances on the pitch. If Sir Alex had made just a single addition to a title-winning squad, nobody would have batted an eye-lid. Similarly, if the Red Devils had started the season in such poor form with Moyes’s predecessor still at the helm, they would have undoubtedly been tipped to bounce back in the title race, rather than suddenly fade away.

It’s this psychological edge that Moyes must somehow try to reaffirm if he’s to make a success of his Manchester United tenure. It will be no easy feat, considering Ferguson’s powerful image was a cumulative effect of his maintained managerial successes over the years.

But if he can’t do it via results, there are other ways too. Ferguson regularly criticised referees and the press to put pressure on them, which was yet another showing of the Scot’s entrenched desire to succeed,  and something Moyes should strongly consider replicating.

So far, we’ve seen the United boss criticise the FA’s schedulers by alluding the tough start to his Old Trafford career in terms of fixtures could only have been a product of design rather than fate, but we need to witness further aggression and temper from Ferguson’s successor in the public eye.

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That being said, the Ferguson mark 2 act won’t be convincing without results – in fact, it could have the adverse effect – and although United’s performances have a long way to go before they start living up to the dominant displays that further helped provide the Red Devils’ fearsome image, the impetus over the next few weeks must be to claim as many wins as possible, and put notions that the United have become a soft touch over the course of the summer to bed.

Moyes has a great opportunity to do so however now that his difficult start in the Premier League is out of the way. Regular giant-killers Southampton may prove an issue, but after facing the Saints at Old Trafford this weekend, the English champions take on Stoke, Fulham and Norwich over the next month, which is a more than ample enough opportunity for Moyes to re-instate his side’s dominance and monolithic reputation.

Is it Sir Alex Ferguson’s psychological edge Manchester United are missing most?

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