I once saw a sign hang in a locker room that read: ABC - Adversity Builds Character.
I used to be a firm believer in that theory, but as time went on, I realized that adversity revealed the character of a team more so than build the character of a team - in times of adversity, when you or your teammates are backed against the wall, you tend to learn a lot about the people around you.
Hopefully that's not the case for Manchester United at the moment, who after suffering a devastating 4-1 defeat to Liverpool two weeks ago, came out very flat and suffered a 2-0 loss to Fulham this past weekend.
You would have thought that the defending English Premier League and European Champions League title holders would have shown more resolve and come out with some urgency this past weekend, but as Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson referenced, his team didn't meet this newest challenge ahead of them.
"In the first half we never got started," Ferguson said. "They were lively and got stuck in and we respect that - they lost 4-0 to us a couple of weeks ago. But it's disappointing we didn't meet the challenge."
Ferguson did a good job of accepting responsibility for his team's performance, and rather than blaming the loss on an official who sent two of his players off, he looked into his own locker room first.
"There's no point talking about the referee - we didn't play well enough to win the game in the first half and that's why we lost it."
"In the second half I thought we did really well - they kept going and credit to them. But we're home to Aston Villa in our next game - and that will be crucial."
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