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THE rushes of blood to the head are troubling Alex Ferguson. They are, he says, threatening to leave Manchester United "embarrassed".
He was talking not about the trials or the temperament of Wayne Rooney, which have come under the microscope again in the past 24 hours, but of the profligacy that the manager fears could wreck his team's ambitions of defending its European and English titles.
Ferguson's thoughts are about to turn to world domination, specifically the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, which began on Thursday and will start in earnest when United arrives early next week.
But as he and his team travelled to London yesterday for the Premier League fixture against Tottenham tonight, Ferguson will be preoccupied by the more straight-forward business of turning chances into goals, perhaps particularly in the case of Carlos Tevez, who will have an important role to play at White Hart Lane in the absence of Rooney and possibly Dimitar Berbatov.
For a game that Ferguson has described as "one of the most important of the season" - unwilling to contemplate falling farther than six points adrift of the Premier League summit and, in theory, being up to 12 points behind by the time it returns from Japan - United will be without Rooney, as well as Patrice Evra, because of suspension.
Throw in the uncertainty over Berbatov's prospects of facing his former club, the forward missing three days' training this week because of an achilles tendon injury, and it is easy to see why Ferguson might be thinking the worst.
Tevez represents a willing stand-in for either forward but, going by the form of recent months, not necessarily a reliable one.
He is far from the only United player to have squandered goalscoring opportunities this season, Rooney having many moments between his flurries of goals, but the Argentina forward is symptomatic of the errant finishing that has dogged Ferguson's team since August.
Tevez scored - or at least was credited with - four goals against Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup quarter-final tie last week and one against Aalborg in the Champions League on Thursday, but, for the most part, he has lacked the composure expected of a player of his ability.
His link-up play against Aalborg was excellent at times, as was the adroit finish that gave United an early lead, but, by snatching at several other chances, he is unlikely to have persuaded Ferguson and David Gill, the chief executive, that he is worth the pound stg. 32million ($73m) demanded by the owners of his "economic rights".
Ferguson talked wearily about the number of chances United are missing; it mustered 27 attempts against Sunderland lasty weekend but scored only through Nemanja Vidic, an emergency striker, in the final minute of normal time.
Delve into the mine of information on the UEFA website and you will find that none of the other 15 teams who have progressed to the Champions League knockout stages have been as wasteful as United.
Ferguson's side scored only nine times in group E, despite having 106 shots in their six matches.
This equates to a goal from every 11.78 attempts. Arsenal and Liverpool each scored 11 times in 74 attempts, a goal every 6.73 shots, but even their figures are beaten by Barcelona, whose free-flowing football is reinforced with a killer instinct, and AS Roma, the masters of the counter-attack.
UEFA's post-match statistics suggested that Tevez had had six attempts on goal: one goal, one blocked and four off target. Search farther and you will learn that he has attempted 13 shots during the group stages and that his third-minute strike against Aalborg was the only goal.
Berbatov is not every United supporter's cup of tea, but his composure in front of goal is remarkable (12 shots, nine on target, of which four have been goals).
Rooney comes somewhere in between (17 shots, 12 on target, three goals) and as for Cristiano Ronaldo, who was rested against Aalborg, he had 23 shots in only five appearances, including one as a substitute, but did not score.
If his willingness to shoot on sight had not reaped such dividends in the Premier League (64 shots, 48 on target, eight goals, all in 12 appearances), an accusatory finger would be pointed firmly in the direction of the European footballer of the year.
Without question, a number of players at Old Trafford love to try their luck from distance - certainly Ronaldo and Nani but also Anderson, the young Brazil midfield player whose quest for a first goal in United colours no longer seems so amusing after 56 appearances.
However, Ferguson is more troubled by the tendency to snatch at the clearer opportunities carved out during the course of matches. Park Ji Sung is another who has an alarming tendency to panic when given time to measure a shot in front of goal.
It makes you wonder whether it is time for Ferguson to call in for some specialist help.
He already has Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on his staff, but Andrew Cole, another recently retired, is looking to start a career in coaching.
What's that you say? That Cole needed five chances to score a goal? There are plenty at Old Trafford these days who can only dream of such a strike rate.
The Times
He was talking not about the trials or the temperament of Wayne Rooney, which have come under the microscope again in the past 24 hours, but of the profligacy that the manager fears could wreck his team's ambitions of defending its European and English titles.
Ferguson's thoughts are about to turn to world domination, specifically the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, which began on Thursday and will start in earnest when United arrives early next week.
But as he and his team travelled to London yesterday for the Premier League fixture against Tottenham tonight, Ferguson will be preoccupied by the more straight-forward business of turning chances into goals, perhaps particularly in the case of Carlos Tevez, who will have an important role to play at White Hart Lane in the absence of Rooney and possibly Dimitar Berbatov.
For a game that Ferguson has described as "one of the most important of the season" - unwilling to contemplate falling farther than six points adrift of the Premier League summit and, in theory, being up to 12 points behind by the time it returns from Japan - United will be without Rooney, as well as Patrice Evra, because of suspension.
Throw in the uncertainty over Berbatov's prospects of facing his former club, the forward missing three days' training this week because of an achilles tendon injury, and it is easy to see why Ferguson might be thinking the worst.
Tevez represents a willing stand-in for either forward but, going by the form of recent months, not necessarily a reliable one.
He is far from the only United player to have squandered goalscoring opportunities this season, Rooney having many moments between his flurries of goals, but the Argentina forward is symptomatic of the errant finishing that has dogged Ferguson's team since August.
Tevez scored - or at least was credited with - four goals against Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup quarter-final tie last week and one against Aalborg in the Champions League on Thursday, but, for the most part, he has lacked the composure expected of a player of his ability.
His link-up play against Aalborg was excellent at times, as was the adroit finish that gave United an early lead, but, by snatching at several other chances, he is unlikely to have persuaded Ferguson and David Gill, the chief executive, that he is worth the pound stg. 32million ($73m) demanded by the owners of his "economic rights".
Ferguson talked wearily about the number of chances United are missing; it mustered 27 attempts against Sunderland lasty weekend but scored only through Nemanja Vidic, an emergency striker, in the final minute of normal time.
Delve into the mine of information on the UEFA website and you will find that none of the other 15 teams who have progressed to the Champions League knockout stages have been as wasteful as United.
Ferguson's side scored only nine times in group E, despite having 106 shots in their six matches.
This equates to a goal from every 11.78 attempts. Arsenal and Liverpool each scored 11 times in 74 attempts, a goal every 6.73 shots, but even their figures are beaten by Barcelona, whose free-flowing football is reinforced with a killer instinct, and AS Roma, the masters of the counter-attack.
UEFA's post-match statistics suggested that Tevez had had six attempts on goal: one goal, one blocked and four off target. Search farther and you will learn that he has attempted 13 shots during the group stages and that his third-minute strike against Aalborg was the only goal.
Berbatov is not every United supporter's cup of tea, but his composure in front of goal is remarkable (12 shots, nine on target, of which four have been goals).
Rooney comes somewhere in between (17 shots, 12 on target, three goals) and as for Cristiano Ronaldo, who was rested against Aalborg, he had 23 shots in only five appearances, including one as a substitute, but did not score.
If his willingness to shoot on sight had not reaped such dividends in the Premier League (64 shots, 48 on target, eight goals, all in 12 appearances), an accusatory finger would be pointed firmly in the direction of the European footballer of the year.
Without question, a number of players at Old Trafford love to try their luck from distance - certainly Ronaldo and Nani but also Anderson, the young Brazil midfield player whose quest for a first goal in United colours no longer seems so amusing after 56 appearances.
However, Ferguson is more troubled by the tendency to snatch at the clearer opportunities carved out during the course of matches. Park Ji Sung is another who has an alarming tendency to panic when given time to measure a shot in front of goal.
It makes you wonder whether it is time for Ferguson to call in for some specialist help.
He already has Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on his staff, but Andrew Cole, another recently retired, is looking to start a career in coaching.
What's that you say? That Cole needed five chances to score a goal? There are plenty at Old Trafford these days who can only dream of such a strike rate.
The Times
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