Is the Quintuple dream on ?

The biggest question of all as the season approaches its finish line is not if Man Utd can retain the league title but it is if they can complete the historic quintuple. 

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to point out to the readers that if at all Man Utd go onto achieve the ‘ Quintuple’ it wouldn’t be an unprecedented achievement but just a historic one. The famous Ajax team of ‘74/’75 won eight titles in a span of two years , so surely ,which ever way one looks at it , they either won the quintuple in an year or achieved the quadruple for two consecutive years.

 Is Man Utd actually capable of realizing the almost impossible dream of achieving the quintuple? I, personally, don’t think so. I don’t think any Man Utd fan would be extremely upset if they don’t finish tops in all the competitions as it is like asking a normal human being to be a superman for a day.

 As Sir Alex, himself, put it Man Utd should ride their luck for way too long to come out triumphs in all the competitions. If the premier league is an indication of a team’s consistency and ruthlessness, the cup competitions always require a slice of luck. A wrongly judged offside goal, a wrongly adjudged penalty, there are way too many things that can change a match in a flash. Last years FA cup tie with Portsmouth can always be used as a good case study when trying to illustrate the kind of luck that is needed to win the cup competitions.

Secondly, if Man Utd actually complete the quintuple this year, I would be as amazed at their success as any other neutral fan. I wouldn’t be awe struck at their achievement but rather I would be amazed at the opponents’ incapability to stop them from achieving that feat. Any honest assessment of Manchester United’s season so far will have one believe that they have been far from their best and have nowhere attained the devastating form that they displayed in abundance last season. They have been having a rollercoaster season by their footballing standards, brilliant in one, subdued in the next. While some players haven’t hit strides yet such as Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney and Berbatov some, notably Anderson and Nani, are suffering from the proverbial second season syndrome.   To simply put, Manchester United haven’t yet hit fifth gear this season and look unlikely to do so.