JUST when he thought things could not get any worse for Manchester United, Alex Ferguson has been hit over the head with the most damning statistic of all.
His £68.8million strike force of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith and Louis Saha is currently Old Trafford’s most impotent for 31 years.
Van Nistelrooy, bought from PSV for £19m, Rooney, a £30m import from Everton, Smith, who cost £7m from Leeds and Saha, a £12.8m buy from Fulham, have mustered a pitiful SIX of the paltry 11 goals United have scored in their opening 12 Premiership games this season.
And the last time a United side fired as many blanks as that, they ended up being relegated.
That was back in the 1973-74 season, when Old Trafford legend Lou Macari was sharing the scoring responsibilities with the likes of George Best, Brian Kidd and Trevor Anderson.
Macari and Co fired 10 league strikes in the first dozen games as United tumbled into the old Second Division.
Best blames England whizkid Rooney for not providing value for money.
Rooney, 19, has managed just one Premiership goal since his summer switch and Best, the original Boy Wonder, believes the Red Devils deserve more.
He said: “For that sort of money you would want him to be performing every week — and he is not.
“It was inevitable it was going to happen. You have your bad spells and he has found out very quickly how life can be tough at the top.”
Amazingly, boss Fergie’s flops have bagged just a goal more than bottom club Blackburn — and just one more than Thierry Henry’s 10 for Arsenal.
Macari, 55, reckons the current crop of strikers have been caught up in the bad run of form afflicting the whole of Fergie’s side, which continued in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City.
The former Scottish international said: “There’s no question Alex has four of the best strikers in the business on his books and it’s a real puzzle that things aren’t going their way.
