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Ferguson backed by adversary
Written by Sawyer | 27th September 2005 | 0 Comment(s)
Sir Alex Ferguson has been backed by Arsene Wenger, and quite rightly so. One bad result and two goalless away draws at difficult opponents does not mean that Manchester United are about to fall apart. It’s always unfortunate when some fans choose, rather quickly, to forget the good times of the past.
Fans may question Sir Alex’s tactics and expect better results, but the fact remains that while Chelsea can go around and outbid Ferguson and Wenger for the players they pinpoint (Essien and Robben for United, Cech, Wright-Phillips and Makalele for Arsenal), then it will be hard for either manager to build a side.
It’s easy to forget that had it not been for the arrival of Abramovich, Arsenal and Man United would have fought an exciting race for the title last season that would almost have gone to the wire.
It may be true that the ‘boos’ that rang out at Old Trafford on Saturday were for the team and not for their decorated manager, and I suppose it is the fans’ right having paid their money to voice their opinion. Nevertheless, I’m sure all that will be forgotten when United (minus Wayne Rooney again), take to the field for the repeat of the 1968 Final.
Considering the regularity that certain European teams sometimes meet, it is somewhat strange that this will be the first competitive meeting since that evening at Wembley.
United will once again be under strength for tonight’s encounter, due to the injuries of Keane, Neville and Heinze, but Ronald Koeman will not have to have done too much scouting to know that his fellow Dutchman, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, is back among the goals for Club and Country.
Tactically, the question for Fergie is whether to play Ryan Giggs with Van Nistelrooy or go with his seemingly preferred European formation of 4-5-1. Alternatively of course, he may also wish to push Alan Smith further forward as the second striker.
Nevertheless, it would appear that Sir Alex has his main problems in defence, where he may be forced to turn to youth, should John O’Shea fail to recover for the match; Phil Bardsley stands by. One thing is for sure, and that is that Rio Ferdinand must start to justify those astronomical wage demands. I did have difficulty getting my head around the fact that the season he missed, United came third, and when he came back, United again finished third and with one less point. Quite how that was worth a reported £20k a week extra, I don’t know.
Benfica however, have not exactly been blazing a trail in Portugal themselves, although they did manage to win 3-1 at bottom club Penafeil at the weekend. It is expected that Koeman will play two up front (Nuno Gomez and Fabrizio Miccoli), which should make for quite an interesting evening.
Personally though, I would expect United to gain victory and return Old Trafford back in to ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ once more. If not, then Sir Alex may well be ringing Arsene Wenger just to hear a friendly voice on the other end of the phone.
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