[El Car]

I don't see any green shoots of recovery from either of these sides yet. Chelsea continue to be very poor (very early days for Hiddink though) and United ineffectual. Both teams have collections of assorted good players - not many between them I would describe as great players though - but they don't coalesce into particularly good teams. They lack a heart and soul to drive them, and - fundamental to their problems in my opinion - are left relying on these two to provide that:



Maybe these guys would have been considered top players 5 years ago, but Rooney and Terry have both been in decline for the past several years, and their respective clubs have been too scared or too short-sighted in their transfer dealings to drop them from the first team picture. All the more mind-boggling that they keep hold of them when you look at their undeservedly massive salaries. 

LvG seems to know his time is up but is hanging on to be sacked so he can claim a bigger bounty, and Chelsea's appointment of an 'interim' manager means they probably won't start to rebuild until summer. But the bottom line is both clubs need to drastically overhaul their approach to transfers and squad building more than their managers if they want to regain any sort of consistent success.

[St Charles Owl]

Under SAF Man Utd managed to change the spine of the team on a number of occasions due to Fergie being able to recognise when a particular player had done all he could for the club or when him leaving would benefit the club in other ways. Everyone thought they would struggle when Cantona went, but they didn't, they said the same about Beckham leaving and then Ronaldo but he was able to reinvent them time after time. Thats what they are missing.

Chelsea simply did not improve on their team in the summer. They over achieved last season and for whatever reason bought no one of any note. As the old adage goes, you always improve a winning team!! They are producing some very good youngsters but they rarely bring any through to the first team. Their next manager needs to be someone who will develop a team to win the title rather than try to buy a team. Mourinho was never going to do that but he never stays anywhere long enough to leave a legacy team.

[El Car]

I think you're right about youth and developing a team. Again Fergie provides the best example of doing this successfully.

Chelsea could be doing with bringing in a clutch of their best young players who've played together at youth level and who would then have a sense of unity and team spirit inbuilt. The catch is that most of their youth players seem to get sent out on loan continually so they probably never get a chance to grow as a team. Development focus is weighted too much on them as individuals.

United are probably better placed to bring a group through but I just don't think they have the quality of youth player necessary for it to work. They need a manager to come in and invest personal time and energy in development sides over a period before introducing them to the first team when they're ready.

[Stairs]

It's amazing that a football dynasty can crumble so quickly. Both Chelsea and Man Utd, you would think, would have enough depth and character to get over this quickly. But no, they are still dropping like stones and show no real sign of recovery.

I new manager often gets a bounce from the squad - I think Man Utd need to do that, quickly, and SAF returning for the rest of the season would not be the answer.