Fergie talks smack. - TalkSoccer

hk_on99 · 23-07-2008, 10:42 AM

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes Chelsea's ageing squad may struggle to challenge his side for major honours next season.

The Scot says Liverpool and Arsenal are as much of a threat to United's hopes of retaining the Premier League title.

"Chelsea are an experienced side and I don't see outstanding progress coming from a team in their 30s," he said.

"I wouldn't write off Liverpool or Arsenal. It has been understated what Arsenal achieved last season."

Ferguson, whose squad are currently on tour in South Africa, added: "They suffered injuries at a bad time, Arsenal - in February they lost most of their midfield.

"Who is to say that it would not have been closer if Arsene Wenger had kept his players fit?"

As for Chelsea, they have high hopes of regaining the title after bringing in new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and splashing out £24m on Portuguese internationals Jose Bosingwa and Deco.

But Ferguson says it will be difficult for Scolari to improve on what they have done in the past, with essentially the same group of players.

"I'm not concerned about Chelsea, I just don't know how far that team has got to go," stated Ferguson, who saw United beat Orlando Pirates 1-0 in Durban on Tuesday, thanks to a goal from Lee Martin.

"They have lots of experience and big-game temperament and in a sense Scolari is fortunate, joining a big club with a team of internationals.

"But it's hard to see where there is going to be an improvement. Maybe they have reached a plateau - although perhaps that's not the right word."

Ferguson has also revealed his concern over the role of Wayne Rooney.

The England striker was not at his best for much of last season, despite United winning the Premier League and Champions League and Ferguson admits he must take a share of the blame.

The Scot confirmed: "We need to define his role a bit better and I have to take some responsibility for that.

"I think he has sacrificed himself for the team, which says a lot about the lad because he never complained.

"We have played him wide and in other positions - he would play at centre-half if we asked him to.

"He may have benefited from having someone with more experience alongside him, that always happens with young strikers as he was never going to be the finished article at 22.

"We signed him for his potential, which is why we paid £26m for him. In a few years we'll be saying that is really brilliant business."

BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man Utd | Ferguson doubts Chelsea challenge

What a dumbass.

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Manchester United

Edwin van der Sar 37

Gary Neville 33

Rio Ferdinand 29

Nemanja Vidic 26

Patrice Evra 27

Michael Carrick 26

Owen Hargreaves 27

Paul Scholes 33

Cristiano Ronaldo 23

Wayne Rooney 22

Carlos Tevez 24

Average age 28

Chelsea

Petr Cech 26

Jose Bosingwa 25

John Terry 27

Ricardo Carvalho 30

Ashley Cole 27

Michael Essien 25

Frank Lampard 30

Michael Ballack 31

Deco 30

Didier Drogba 30

Joe Cole 26

Average age 28

Chelsea are too old to win title, says Ferguson | Football | The Guardian

**kyan** · 23-07-2008, 02:19 PM

I don't particularly buy this average age stuff...

But the 11s u've shown don't really mean much, if you go into second XIs I'm pretty sure United would have a much younger average age. Also that eleven picked for United has never played a match...

hk_on99 · 23-07-2008, 02:36 PM

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Originally Posted by kyan

I don't particularly buy this average age stuff...

But the 11s u've shown don't really mean much, if you go into second XIs I'm pretty sure United would have a much younger average age. Also that eleven picked for United has never played a match...

I don't particularly buy it either. Just pointing out Ferguson's lack of research.

I'm not going to bother going into the second XIs, because players like Chris Eagles and Franco Di Santo have very little say on who wins the title.

And the eleven that were shown are your first choice players. That team hasn't played a single match because Neville loves to spend time in the medical room.

**Sven** · 23-07-2008, 04:02 PM

Neither has the Chelseas x11.. err tbh lame mate.

load of crap from Sir Alex, his cl winning x11 was 27.5. Yes we do have the most over 30s in the league 2 goal keepers, 1 defender 3 midfielders and 2 strikers. but tbh they are all winners , all that matters.

hk_on99 · 23-07-2008, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sven

Neither has the Chelseas x11.. err tbh lame mate.

load of crap from Sir Alex, his cl winning x11 was 27.5. Yes we do have the most over 30s in the league 2 goal keepers, 1 defender 3 midfielders and 2 strikers. but tbh they are all winners , all that matters.

The point of the thing from the Guardian was to calculate the average age of the first choice line-ups. Whether or not they have actually played a game together yet is completely irrelevant because it's still pre-season.

Dellas · 23-07-2008, 05:53 PM

Well interesting that Fergie says we won't be able to keep up with his team, yet last season weren't we the only team to actually push Man Utd to the limit?

All I remember is that the youth of Arsenal choked at the last min...irrelevant of injuries, because we had injuries as well. And Liverpool well...

Experience mixed with youth is the best idea and we have a bit more experience than youth so what???

Frankly a bad attempt at mind games by Fergie...

**Jager** · 23-07-2008, 06:58 PM

Fergie is the ultimate guy when it comes to laying seeds of discontent or stirring up shit. That is why when you lot had JM, he countered Sir Alex and put the old fart in his place, more often than not.

But now its up to Scolari to play mind games.

**LAF** · 23-07-2008, 10:56 PM

I think the press made more out of this than what was actually said. Ferguson made a good point that because Chelsea have an older squad the players are less likely to improve, where as United's younger squad have room for improvement.

Also Jager, you forget that Ferguson won the war when it came to Mourinho (SAF still at United and Mourinho got the boot).

**Sven** · 24-07-2008, 12:18 AM

No , Mourinho won, three years, Jose won more against United, scored more, conceded less, lost one to 1-0 and other PShootout, more titles, more throphies, pretty much put Alex in his place, regardless off where Jose is now.

Only person that beat Jose in his time in England was Roman but besides that Jose > eveyone else, especially the press, god damn espcially Arsene wneger was well for that matter.

**Jager** · 24-07-2008, 12:32 AM

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Also Jager, you forget that Ferguson won the war when it came to Mourinho (SAF still at United and Mourinho got the boot).

I'm going to have to disagree. While I didn't follow it closely, in terms of the press, I thought JM definitely won, and more often than not put the old fart on the defense.

**Sven** · 24-07-2008, 01:15 AM

The best example is the fa cup final.

Where United changed there tatics to counter ours to beat us, but that failed, Jose know exactly what to do, Jose got the last laugh.

**LAF** · 24-07-2008, 09:15 AM

Remember that JM came to Chelsea just as United and Arsenal were starting to re-build their squad.

In Mourinho's last season Fergie won the big one in England, finally, and later that year Abramovich punted JM. One of the reason (supposedly) was because Abramovich wanted to play football like United/Arsenal.

As I said, Fergie is still at United and did the proper double. Yes, Mourinho won many battles but in the end SAF had the last laugh when Mourinho got the boot and he went on to win the PL & CL. The only person SAF hasn't won the war against is Wenger.

I know I'm not going to win this one as I am up against the Mourinho cult.

hk_on99 · 24-07-2008, 09:41 AM

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Originally Posted by LAF

Remember that JM came to Chelsea just as United and Arsenal were starting to re-build their squad.

In Mourinho's last season Fergie won the big one in England, finally, and later that year Abramovich punted JM. One of the reason (supposedly) was because Abramovich wanted to play football like United/Arsenal.

As I said, Fergie is still at United and did the proper double. Yes, Mourinho won many battles but in the end SAF had the last laugh when Mourinho got the boot and he went on to win the PL & CL. The only person SAF hasn't won the war against is Wenger.

I know I'm not going to win this one as I am up against the Mourinho cult.

Mourinho came in for the 2004/2005 season. If I'm not mistaken, that was the season right after Arsenal were undefeated? I don't think they were rebuilding.

Besides, didn't Mourinho break a bunch of Premiership records as well? I don't think anyone has matched those feats just yet, including the current Manchester United squad. When Mourinho was here, Chelsea dominated the Premiership. That is indisputable. To say that Chelsea only won the league in those 2 seasons because Arsenal and Manchester United were "rebuilding" is an excuse. Equally, one could argue that Chelsea only lost the 2006/2007 title because of Roman and Mourinho's increasingly strained relations and severe injuries to key players. Manchester United had none of that. Not to mention that although we lost the Premiership, we achieved a cup double, an FA Cup victory over Ferguson and United, and a Carling Cup victory over Wenger and Arsenal.

So really, Mourinho had the last laugh when he left. He won 6 trophies in 3 seasons with Chelsea. That's more than Wenger and Ferguson combined during that time.

And you're not going to win this one not because you're up against the Mourinho cult, but because you're quite simply, and blatantly, wrong.

Oh yeah, and by total trophies won during the Premiership era, one could argue that Ferguson has completely dominated Wenger.

**Jager** · 24-07-2008, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAF

Remember that JM came to Chelsea just as United and Arsenal were starting to re-build their squad.

In Mourinho's last season Fergie won the big one in England, finally, and later that year Abramovich punted JM. One of the reason (supposedly) was because Abramovich wanted to play football like United/Arsenal.

As I said, Fergie is still at United and did the proper double. Yes, Mourinho won many battles but in the end SAF had the last laugh when Mourinho got the boot and he went on to win the PL & CL. The only person SAF hasn't won the war against is Wenger.

I know I'm not going to win this one as I am up against the Mourinho cult.

Some feel that if JM was in charge of the last season, it would be them who would be double champions, not United.

SAF is a good manager, but he is also the same guy that United fans wanted to ask. So I'm a little confused by the whole thing to be honest.

BTW, my comment was more in how he dealt with the media. You can go back and see a lot of the interviews on youtube, and from what I have seen. JM did a very good job of handling himself, turning the Chelsea program around and making them a force in Europe for years to come.

As to who is older or not, I'm not sure. But either team will not go far into the CL this season. Just basing on the fact that I think English teams will take a break this season, but I digress.

hk_on99 · 25-07-2008, 01:01 PM

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Just basing on the fact that I think English teams will take a break this season, but I digress.

Why would any team want to take a break? There really is no logical reason why the 3 teams - Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United - will stop dominating Europe especially as they have all made the semi-finals for 2 consecutive seasons.