The European Cup looks like Man Utd's last hope of a trophy

Wednesday is D-day for Manchester United if they are not going to end the season without a single trophy. They host Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the European Cup semi-finals, while Arsenal entertain West Ham. Chris Nawrat reports

IT IS four years since Manchester United last experienced a barren year and in that season they only lost seven games. This season they've already lost eight and a ninth would leave them hopelessly adrift of leaders Arsenal, who they have yet to play at Old Trafford. Even a victory then would only enhance Liverpool's chances of sneaking through on the line.

When Manchester United lost at home to Middlesbrough last month they had lost a quarter of their 32 matches, their worst record since finishing sixth in the League - behind the likes of Crystal Palace and Manchester City - eleven years ago. And this was to be the season, boasted David Beckham beforehand, in which United were going to retain their title without losing a match.

That aspiration evaporated as early as mid-September when they lost 4-3 at Newcastle. This season United have played the three other contenders for the title seven times, losing six and winning one. After the listless defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough - who had also knocked them out the FA Cup, Gary Neville said: "We're going to have to win every game now.

"And we're going to need help from other teams, but we can't bank on that. Four years ago when we lost the title we dropped a lot of points at home. It's been the same this season. If you look at the defeats say, against Bolton, West Ham and now Middlesbrough, that's nine points gone. If we'd got them the title would be won already."

He could have added the home defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Chelsea, the latter a 3-0 drubbing in December. Chelsea's head coach, Claudio Ranieri, believes the defeat was so comprehensive that his team could have scored six. He also told the Spanish press before the return leg against Deportivo that Roy Keane was their key player, "the soul of the team," he said.

With Keane, and now David Beckham, out for the rest of the season, Alex Ferguson will probably have to face up to the fact that a fourth consecutive title is beyond him. So where did it all go wrong? With hindsight, you could argue it began when he publicly announced that this would be his final season. The last manager to do that was Brian Clough and Nottingham Forest promptly got themselves relegated. And Sven Goran Eriksson's Lazio fell apart in defence of their League title once he was unveiled as the England manager-elect.

It is surely no coincidence that United's season promptly picked up when Ferguson un- retired himself. In the autumn United had a dreadful seven weeks losing five times in seven games, winning one and had dropped to ninth place. Ferguson's antics in the transfer market had hardly helped.