It's early days, and Cristiano Ronaldo's signing has given the club and its fans a dose of giddy excitement, but already there's a sense Manchester United are missing a vital ingredient to challenge for the title this season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been warned before that he could not possibly win the league with his current options in central midfield, and it only took two games in the new season for Roy Keane to shine the torch on the lack of 'quality and creativity' in the middle of the park after United dropped points at Southampton last Sunday.