|
Originally Posted by SAF
"Obviously we won't have Wayne for Sunday. I don't think it's anything as serious as we said the first time, but I think he'll be ready for the City game. We've got more time to work on it, anyway. Other than that everyone else is fit.
Given the nature of our game on Wednesday and the energy spent, we have to address the situation of freshness. We've got a a squad to use in that respect - we have the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, that experience, and we also have John O'Shea back now. He came on against Bayern and did 30 minutes' work - which is good to get him back because he's such a versatile player for us.
It's not the first time we've had to face losing a big game and having to do something about it. We've 5 important games left, even if we win the 5 games, doesn't mean to say we can win the league with the position Chelsea are in, they have those games to play themselves and at this stage of the season things can happen.
Sam Allardyce's team is in fantastic form. Their home record... Blackburn is always a difficult place to go and they have a good home record. Hopefully we can get the energy back in the team. As we had on Wednesday. If we do that we'll be all right.
(is it a case of reminding the players there is something to go for) As I've said, we've faced this situation many times over the years, after the disappointment of Wednesday, it's just part of the history of the club, and we're good at that, we've been good at that, that's probably the thing that needs reminding, we've done it in the past, we've done it many times. They as Man Utd players always have to face the responsibility and expectation. They have a chance to win the league, I think that is fair to say, so have Arsenal, who are a point behind us. You'd rather be in Chelsea's position, two points in the lead, 5 games left, you'd rather be in their shoes. But we hope that something can happen.
(do you believe 5 wins will be enough). I think 5 wins would give us a great chance. I think Chelsea will be thinking the same thin, 5 wins would get them the title. If you remember before the Chelsea game we said if we win the game we go 4 points clear of Chelsea, if we lose, 2 points behind them. So that was a 6 pointer at a crucial time of the season has put the advantage with Chelsea.
(you signed somone yesterday, do you expect there will be more significant arrivals) We like doing these kind of deals where we identify young talent, we've been good at that over the years. We first received some background knowledge of the boy last October. One of our people went to Mexico in December and watched a few games – the reports that came back were very good. At that time we thought we'd just wait because he was only young blah blah blah. But then he came into the national team and that created a potential problem for us: if he went to the World Cup and did well we could be in danger of losing him.
So I sent our chief scout, Jim Lawlor, over to Mexico for three weeks to watch him and get some more background on the boy. To watch the lad himself, in LA I think against New Zealand. While Jim was there, Chicharito played twice for the national team and also for Chivas: he scored in every game. Jim filed a fantastic report on the boy, saying we really need to do something, so last week we sent our club solicitor over there with Jim to do the deal. In fairness to their President, he conducted himself in a nice way. What we are surprised at is it never got out. It never got out. Not even a hint in Mexico that this was happening, which we were pleasantly suprised about. And the boy came across on Tuesday morning, his President came on Tuesday night and all the paperwork was done and we're delighted to be able to sign him.
(do you expect more significant as people and you have had a lot to say about the transfer budget, reports that David Villa and you haven't got the money) Well, it's straight forward, these kind of signings, we prefer to do. There is the odd exception when we get an older player, like Berbatov, a mature player, just approaching 27 when we signed. When you sign a player for that kind of money you know there is not going to be a resale value if he stays with you for six years say. That is always in the back of your mind, what is the best way forward for our club. It is about getting the player we need or we think who is going to improve us or maintain the level we are at. That is the way we have operated in the past and I don't think there is a lot wrong with that policy.
So when you come to talk about other players, doesn't matter who it is, there is conjecture about every good player. Last summer it was Franck Ribery and someone else... (Karim Benzema), Benzema, although he was a young player and one of the types of targets we set out to try and get. He was 21 years of age. Now it is David Villa. I am sure by the end of the season there will be half a dozen more. I can't confirm that speculation because most of it is not right.
(talk of strikers brings focus back to Dimitar, do you still have trust in him? He didn't come off after Wayne had come off) Yes, I still trust him. He is a good player. But there is absolutely no reason why we should doubt that. I think the difficulty for Dimitar he has done well in a lot of games recently but we prefer to play with one striker. When we got the man sent off on Wednesday we had to make sure we stabilised the midfield, by bringing Joh on, we had to take Wayne off obviously, we could still have a strong midfield that could defend the situation we were in, just leave Nani up front, there was no need to bring a striker on because all we had to to do was go over the line in terms of the defending part because the advantage was with Bayern with us with ten men.
(Ancelotti said Wednesday's result was bad news for Chelsea, is there less pressure when you are doing the chasing at this stage) We've down that many teams, chased leads. Sometimes we've been in the lead ourselves. I prefer to be in the lead, but also know that you can make mistake that could cost you. And for Chelsea it will happen that if they make a mistake and we win our games it'll be too late in the season to recover, that's the only advantage we've got. They've got difficult games but so have we, and Arsenal as everyone has been saying for weeks have got the easiest run in. It's something, you never know, this particular season could be different from others. Personally I would prefer to be in Chelsea's position to be honest with you but I know that a mistake could happen, and does happen, and has been happening all season.
(what challenge do Blackburn represent) Blackburn are Blackburn. Sam has galvonised them. When he took over from Paul Ince, and maybe I think Paul was a little bit inexperienced because he went to a Blackburn side at the time which was breaking up, players were leaving, Warnockm, Bentley left. Freidal, end of contracts, a hard time for Paul but the experience Sam has got helped that situation, knowing how to deal with that and he's got the best out of his players. And that's what good managers do, they get the best out of their players and now they are 11th in the league, home record has been good, some of their recent form is very good, it's never easy going to Blackburn and it won't be on Sunday.
|
09-04-2010, 01:42 PM
Re: Fergie's Press Conf
Similar Threads for: Fergie's Press Conf
