The defensive miscues continued for Manchester United during their 2-2 draw with Bolton Wanderers, and Sir Alex Ferguson needs to address these problems - and quickly.
The Red Devils have conceded nine goals in only six Barclays Premier League matches - only 19 goals less than gave up during the entire 2009/10 season - and to think that United played a few of those games with fill-in defenders makes this problem that much more worrisome.
Three of those nine goals have come from set-pieces - the second in consecutive matches - and that comes down to one thing: poor marking from their lack of concentration.
Only Blackpool, Wigan Athletic, West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion and today's opponents, Bolton, have conceded more goals this season than United.
For some reason or another, the defending has been shaky, and is becoming an achilles heel, and like he did against Liverpool last weekend, Dimitar Berbatov was unable to mask these glaring problems against Bolton.
This is definitely a growing - if not a full-blown - concern. Because it gives opposing teams, like we saw against Bolton, the confidence to get forward and be able to score with ease.
The draw was also United's third in the Premier League season, which is only one less than they had all of last season, and if they continue drop points on the road - they will be out of the title race by Christmas.
Everton, who are on the bottom of the table have only scored four goals all season and three of those came in the 3-3 draw with United, and their other Merseyside rival, Liverpool, scored two of their six goals against United. The two goals that United gave up against Fulham are almost a third of the goals that they have scored this season as well.
Fault
Even though the taller Zat Knight out-leaped Jonny Evans to win the in-swinging corner kick, Patrice Evra was at fault for the goal, because of his own poor marking.
The French full-back should have been hugging Edwin van der's vulnerable far post rather than standing directly behind the big goalkeeper.
This the same thing that led to some severe criticism of young Rafael, but the experience of Evra should have
Needless to say, the United back-four - John O'Shea, Nemanja Vidic, Evans and Evra - is definitely not clicking and on the same page.
Pundits cannot say that it is because these four players have lined-up in five of the six Premier League matches - with only Gary Neville displacing O'Shea against Everton.
Like Fernando Torres did last week, Johan Elmander found a gap in between O'Shea and Vidic on the right-hand side of the defense and he nearly put Bolton up two goals in the early first-half.
Being on the right-hand side is a new thing for Vidic, because he normally anchors the left side when Rio Ferdinand is fit, so his balance might be a bit off.
However, the exclusion of the England national team captain from today's game is somewhat a baffling move by Ferguson.
Ferdinand has only made two appearances for United this season - none of them in Premier League - which makes one think that he is slowly becoming United's Ledley King.
King, who is Tottenham Hotspur's captain, has terrible knee problems and is only able to play one game a week, and Rio showed he could be suffering from stiffness as he was seen stretching in the middle of United's midweek game against Scunthorpe.
If that is not it, then the appointment of Vidic as the long-term United captain has Ferdinand reduced to a role of captaining the reserve team fill-ins in the smaller competitions.
Options
With Antonio Valencia out injured, Nani is filling in down the right-hand flank, which prevents Sir Alex from deploying the young, energetic Rafael at right-back.
Nani is not known for his ability to track back and defend, and with Rafael willing to always get forward, Fergie knows that United's back-line could get exposed down that side.
The little full-back does have the pace to get back, but the immature decision making he offers tracking back, but he can be careless and pick up a pointless booking, which, like it did against Bayern Munich, could ultimately put United down a man.
However, what is happening right now is just as concerning, because the defenders are in place to control the opposition, but they are not.
So, why not play the young Brazilian and revert back to the days when United would go for their opponents jugular and be content winning a match 5-3.
With a match against an in-form Valencia in the UEFA Champions League to come, Sir Alex Ferguson needs quickly address and organize Manchester United's defensive woes or they will be on the verge of being up against it in that competition as well.
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