[richie_rich]

What Went Right?

Wayne Rooney went very, very right until his ankle went very wrong, while Own Goals also had a brilliant season - getting well into double figures. Defensively, United were excellent despite a catalogue of injuries that saw Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher retreat into the back four, while Paul Scholes had the kind of season few would have predicted this time last year and Luis Valencia proved to be an excellent if expensive buy. The League Cup brought some silverware and one of three late wins over Manchester City that kept the noisy neighbours quiet for one more season.

What Went Wrong?

The natives in green and yellow got more and more restless, and were not placated by events on the pitch - defeat at Burnley was an ultimately-costly low, defeat against Leeds was just plain embarrassing, two defeats at the hands of Chelsea gave them an uphill task in the Premier League and complacency against a limited Bayern Munich side cost them a Champions League charge. Without Rooney they struggled and failure to score at Blackburn is the easiest place to look for the two points that would have won them the league. Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Carrick both struggled for form while Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand continually struggled for fitness. That they eventually came so close to winning the title is astonishing in the circumstances.