There is an element of truth to this, but I think a lot of the players' decline has been sped up by Fergie's absence. Put it this way, individually they weren't all world-beaters, but together Fergie used to get out more than the sum of their parts. This compensated for the weaknesses in our midfield and defence (although clearly shown up in the big games, even with Fergie).
As for last season's success, I agree with most of that, but I reckon this season with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and City doing the footballing equivalent of the Chuckle Brothers "to me...to you" routine with the title, Fergie would have been there or there abouts again (with Liverpool being the only challengers possibly).
No word of a lie, at Christmas (granted we were having some bad results but we were within touching distance of 4th position) I not only thought we would get top 4, but I felt it wouldn't be a surprise for us to win the damn thing with the way the other 3 were faltering continuously.
Shows how it is all about very fine margins. The line between success and failure is very thin in football. I am not saying that Moyes's teams performances were anything but poor but think about how United got knocked out if the cups. Last minute Swansea goal, last minute Sunderland goal all defensive mistakes or indiscipline. Same with losing points to Cardiff , Stoke and WBA. No doubt with a bit of luck, United - still a **** team- would still have had a better season.
