Carling Cup / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 30 November 2009 / 2

Jamie Pacheco tells us how Manchester United could end the season trophyless and why disappointment could come as soon as Tuesday night when free-scoring Tottenham Hotspur visit the "Theatre of Dreams" with Aaron Lennon hoping to give the home side's left-back a nightmare of a time....

There's worrying news for Manchester United fans this season who are expecting more trophies to be added to one of the most overcrowded cabinets in world football. And it's not the five points they're trailing Chelsea by in the league, the fact they failed to win their last two home Champions League matches against CSKA Moscow and Besiktas or that Cristiano Ronaldo's 30-odd goals a season will be scored for someone else this year. United's problem this season is that - bar the midfield - their squad lacks depth. It's all well and good when all of Edwin Van der Sar, John O'Shea, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are fit and in-form, but Sir Alex Ferguson lacks suitable cover when they're not.

From what I've seen of Federico Macheda this campaign he's not quite as ready for this level of football as I thought he was at the end of last season. Wes Brown has never really kicked on from very promising youngster to indispensable first-team player and the likes of Danny Wellbeck and Nani seem too desperate to impress in the few chances they have that they forget to do the basics right. Up front, Michael Owen isn't suited to a super-sub role in the Solsjkaer mould and needs a few consecutive starts to get going while at the back Ben Foster has complained about the lack of first-team action at club level but has made mistakes when given a game for United.

It's a long old season and last year's Premier League Champions are still involved in four competitions at present. I fear that a few serious injuries or suspensions to three or four of the players mentioned above and Manchester United could well end the season trophyless. There's not much liquidity on that market but the fact the last price matched on Betfair about that outcome was [2.32], suggests I'm not the only one thinking that.

United face Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night for a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup and if it's a Manchester United XI similar to the one they've fielded in this competition so far I suspect they could go out. Spurs will be desperate to win this competition and guarantee European football months before the end of the season and final appearances in the last two years proves they enjoy this competition. I wouldn't read too much into the fact they put nine past Wigan as these freak results just happen from time to time, but I would read a lot into the way that the likes of Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe and Niko Kranjcar are clicking and always seem to know where the others are going to be and where they want the ball.

If one of Ledley King or Jonathan Woodgate were fit I'd be backing the away win at [4.0] but I don't quite trust their defence without them to take that price. Instead I'm going to take the [2.66] about the North London outfit on the "to qualify" market.

I've mentioned that Van der Sar's deputies haven't been quite up to scratch so far this season and the fact that Spurs' attack is firing at the moment. But just as Defoe and co look full of goals I'd be amazed if Manchester United failed to score at home for two consecutive matches and my next port of call is the [1.8] on both teams to score.

The fleet-footed and in-form Lennon had the game of his life in that massacre of Wigan and if anyone other than Patrice Evra plays at left-back for United there could be a repeat performance. The diminutive former Leeds man is my selection for first goalscorer at around [15.0].

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1. Paul Moon | 30 November 2009

   This game really interests me for the reasons you have given...

2. Monty ryan | 01 December 2009

   That went well.

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