Nine more games of Almunia and Squillaci just isn't an option

I will begin by saying I don't think this title race is over. United were far from convincing in a late 1-0 win over Bolton at Old Trafford. Meanwhile, we've shown that even on a bad day without the likes of Song, Fabregas and Walcott we can score goals away from home.

As ever, the problem is the defence. If we'd been able not to gift West Brom such ridiculous goals, a late goal or two could've given us a win, but due to the sheer incompetence of Almunia and Squillaci we had to settle for a point.

Still, despite all this we came very close to grabbing an unlikely win. It's a shame our best play came so late, but it was still very close to being enough. United got a result today without being at their best, and we can do the same, but the edge United have over us is a defence that knows what it's doing.

What do we do? Re-sign Sol Campbell? Lure Martin Keown out of retirement? I'm glad we now have a long break until our next game. The aim should be to make absolutely sure Lehmann is match fit so he can start the next game. To continue with Almunia just seems ridiculous. Surely even 5th choice youngster James Shea can't be this bad?

It really would help mask our defensive problems if Andrey Arshavin in particular could raise his game a bit. We saw today what he can do, with a brilliant goal to get us back into the game, but sadly the rest of the time he was a passenger again. What is up with him?

So, as ever, I feel strangely optimistic without really knowing why. This team remains a bit of a split-personality mystery and is driving us all mad along with it.

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