Ferguson’s men are 11 points behind Arsene Wenger’s league leaders after 65 million pounds ($117.2 million) worth of United striking talent fired blanks in a 0-0 draw with Birmingham City.
Arsenal extended their record unbeaten league run to 49 matches with a swashbuckling 3-1 win over Aston Villa and would love to bring up the half-century at Old Trafford next Sunday.
“The Arsenal game is a must-win one for us and we want to win it, that’s the most important thing,” Ferguson told MUTV. “Showing great desire will be important next week.”
As for critics who are writing off his team after only nine games, Ferguson said: “They’ve every right to because we’re points behind everyone. But football’s a funny game and it can change.
“We’re capable of winning the league but we need to get the form that’s capable of winning the league — and we’re not showing that at the moment.”
The main problem facing United is a strike rate averaging only a goal a game despite all four strikers — Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Alan Smith and Louis Saha — being on the pitch at the same time in Saturday’s second half.
“I didn’t know about the statistic of only nine goals in nine games until somebody told me but it would be a concern,” said Ferguson after his side clocked up a fifth league draw.
“We are renowned for scoring goals and there is no doubt that we have got the players who are capable of doing that.
“But sometimes when players return from two weeks away on international duty there is some tiredness and they have been having different preparations for their games with national teams than they do with us.”
“But we’ve faced that in the past and dealt with it — we have to make sure we bring in more freshness next time.”
(Reuters)
