THE FIRST worry as the barren years began was that Manchester United would do a Liverpool.

Nobody thought back in 1990 that it would take the Kop another 30 years to lift the title again.

So when Sir Alex Ferguson left, and the following season they finished seventh, the mantra coming out of Old Trafford was that the club was simply too big for that prospect to befall them.

Fast forward and if they don’t win it next season it will be a decade since the Premier League trophy has been lifted at the famous old ground.

They haven’t even put up a challenge since Sir Alex bowed out.

Now the greater fear still is that they are morphing into Arsenal.

A club where the title is a distant dream and just finishing in the top four is the sum of their capabilities and the odd FA Cup.

Red Devils fans’ hearts must have sunk when Ralf Rangnick said this ahead of Tuesday’s game against Brighton: "Right now, this is exactly what Manchester United needs and wants – to finish fourth in the league. This is the highest possible achievement we can get”

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He’s right, it just sounded ominous.

Following the game David De Gea, the only one in the dressing room to have won a title with United could barely hide his disappointment at that being the one thing they may have to ‘celebrate’ this season.

De Gea said: “Of course, we should be fighting for more, better things than we are doing at the moment.

“We should be fighting for more things than the top four but this the realistic thing we have to fight for, fourth.

“This is the objective. Finishing in the top four is very important for us.

“We will go game by game giving 100 per cent every game.”

Tuesday’s win pushed them back into that fourth spot.

But it’s been a grind and there is no guarantee they will stay in those Champions League places.

In the eleven league games Rangnick has been in charge of he has won six, drawn four and lost one.

Only one of those games has been against a team in the current top seven and that was the one they lost, against Wolves.

The trip to Leeds Sunday won't be easy and two of the next four in the league after that are away to champions Manchester City and second-placed Liverpool. On April 23 they travel to Arsenal.

A fixture that used to be about winning titles now about who can finish on the coattails of the top three

Mind you there are no guarantees that maximum points will come from any of the other fixtures, see the recent struggle they had drawing away to bottom-placed Burnley for evidence of that.

At least they could celebrate a home win on Tuesday, although the 2-0 scoreline does not tell the whole story.

Having led through a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo strike shortly after half-time, they did not seal the deal until the sixth minute of injury time through Bruno Fernandes and they had played against ten men from the 54^th minute onwards.

De Gea said: “I think we need to be much more consistent. Not just play 45 minutes – the first 45 or just the second 45.

“We have to be consistent for 90 minutes and then it's going to be easier to win games. We try to play the 90 minutes at the same level, same desire and that's what we have to improve.”

It is all very disjointed and at times chaotic at the back amidst rumours of unrest behind the scenes under Rangnick.

De Gea says he is ignoring all the noise.

He said: “I’m not reading much, to be honest. He’s a different coach, he tries to make us press high and be more aggressive.

“That's what we did in the second half. Not in the first one, but in the second half we showed more of what he wants us to do.”

Still, in that second-half Jakub Molder hit the bar and former United striker Danny Welbeck missed a sitter header in the last minute of normal time.

The game was played to a very subdued backdrop.

One of the worst atmospheres in recent times.

Fans now can barely sum up the energy to have a go.

There is an air of resignation.

It’s a bit like, well, supporting Arsenal.

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