3 reasons why Manchester United are currently struggling

With the Red Devils eliminated from Europe's elite competition to Swiss minnows FC Basel, problems look like there finally emerging at Old Trafford, and Ferguson needs to fix holes in his side, but just what are the these issues causing this slump on the red side of Manchester?

1. Lack of a creative midfielder:

With Tom Cleverley's continuous injury lay off's and several others in the midfield area, the Red Devils lack that spark of creativity that can win you games. It was clear against Basel and in a few Premier League games recently that none of the United midfielders have the vision or the skill to pick out that defence-splitting pass and open the lock so to speak and for a team of the calibre and high expectancy of Manchester United this creativeness is without a doubt a necessity. Wesley Sneijder would be an ideal candidate, but if Fergie can't find a suitable creative spark to add to his midfield, United will find it more and more difficult to break teams down as the season wears on.

2. Rooney's form deteriorating, once again:

At the start of the season everything Rooney touched turned to gold, as he was scoring hattricks and playing like a truly world-class player. However recently United's star man has entered a goal drought, and his performance in Switzerland was shamefully below par. Without Rooney playing to his best United lack goals, and it shows as they have not scored more than once in the Premier League in the last 8 games. With a one month lay off to Javier Hernandez a bigger goal-scoring burden has been placed on the shoulders of the England man, but at the moment the burden is getting the most of him and costing his team.

3: Rio Ferdinand is not the player he was:

Nemanja Vidic's horrific looking knee injury in Switzerland is yet another injury for the Serb this season, and for United this is a hammer blow. More emphasis is now placed on Rio Ferdinand to lead the back line, and with Rio's age starting to show he has and will find it hard to try and lead a very young United defence on his own. A few years ago it would not have been such a big issue to Alex Ferguson, but with Rio slowly succumbing to his age and without his fantastic Serbian partner, the Red Devils defence will struggle in the bigger matches, and may struggle to keep up with defending the Premier League crown.

'With United's current situation, it will be a hard task for them to get out of the rut they find themselves in, Thursday nights certainly aren't going to help.'