WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Firstly, from this transfer window, I am pretty certain that most United fans would like them to buy a striker. Edinson Cavani seems to have gone off the map so the best bet at present looks like being Romelu Lukaku. Having scored 14 goals in 16 games, he could be just what the Reds need to mount a serious challenge.

With Phil Jones once again injured, a decent centre back could well be in order. Last window all the talk was of Mats Hummels and now that has gone very quiet. I am not sure why as the first half of the season has only reinforced the need for a new centre back. Also required is cover in the full back positions but, I feel reasonably sure, that the majority of United fans would be happy with one or two signings.

Lastly, they need to win more consistently and maybe a couple of new faces would help them to do that.

Now, what do they need from the others?

Well, they need Arsenal to be a little more inconsistent. The Gunners have done very well over the first half of the season and have only had a couple of blips, surprising everbody in the process, especially Arsene Wenger. United need them to have more blips.

Wenger, however, could be falling into the same trap as Malcolm Allison did back in 1969. Then he bought Rodney Marsh and put him straight into a City side who were walking away with the title. This disrupted the team and they ended up losing their lead and, consequently, the championship. Wenger may be about to do something similar with Elneny. This would be of great assistance to United if he did. In fact United supporters should be sending him letters of encouragement.

They need Manchester City to remain as inconsistent as they are. Having lost heavily to both Spurs and Liverpool, United could do with two or three similar occurrences during the second half of the season, not to mention their continuing to lose to the likes of West Ham and Arsenal, (providing this doesn’t result in Arsenal becoming consistent!).

From Leicester they need a few less wins and there is evidence that this may be coming to pass already. Leicester will struggle for goals if Jamie Vardy stops scoring and there are signs that he is beginning to hit the brakes quite hard at the moment. He is injured as well which is to United’s benefit. Fortunately for Vardy and unfortunately for United, his injury is only likely to keep him out for a couple of games.

Leicester have also signed a new player, although their squad is relatively small, so there aren’t many who will be upset by this action. Maybe United fans could send a few anonymous letters to the other Leicester players saying that they are the ones under threat from the new man.

Tottenham Hotspur need to carry on drawing too many games and thinking they are not good enough or clever enough to win the league. Hugo Lloris is the perfect example of what Manchester United need from an opponent. He is not confident in his own team being experienced enough to win the title and has actually said as much. He now needs to spread this feeling throughout the Spurs dressing room. Just because he doesn’t look like moving to United any longer doesn’t mean that his assistance in winning the title is any less valued.

Chelsea just need to carry on being Chelsea and trying to climb up the table so that their position in the Premier League is somewhere near their position in the wages league.

So, as far as the main contenders go, they can all do United a favour by taking their collective feet off the gas, their collective eyes off the ball and collectively getting it wrong in the next nineteen games. Effectively, collectively handing the title to the Red Devils.

What could possibly go wrong?

Don’t answer that, there’s at least another article in there, maybe even two, so I’ll save that answer for another time. I might even save it for when United manage not to take advantage of all these slip-ups by the rest and finish outside of the top four for only the second time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.