Id say one major difference is that teams arent scared of us anymore. With ronaldo they had to be extra wary so couldnt commit as much meaning it was easier for us to control games. When we lost ronaldo, teams lost that fear and so have been more inclined to come at us.

Rooney-Tevez-Ronaldo attack equals opponenets running scared.

Long with VDS, Evra, Vidic, Rio all in their prime equals virtually unbeatable team