Been a while since I posted something…gotta back into it…wish it was under more positive circumstances.
As most footie fans know, Manchester United introduced Chelsea to the concept of prison love last Sunday and made Chelsea their b*tch, spanking them 3-0. I’m not using 20/20 hindsight here when I say that I wasn’t surprised… Man. U’s on a comeback trail whereas my beloved Chelsea are struggling to find itself during one of the most competitive stretches of the season.
Chelsea’s troubles, however, don’t matter here. I had an epiphany during this match as two facts came to light:
1) Manchester United has an arsenal (no pun intended) of scorers In Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, the Red Devils possess three natural born strikers that seemingly score at will. In Nani, Darren Fletcher, Carlos Tevez and J.S. Park, they possess the strongest supporting cast in competitive soccer-a cast that puts up enough points to keep Man U high up in the table. As far getting goals, Ronaldo may not behaving the season he had last year but he’s still an integral part of Man U’s scoring process.
But these players are nothing unless the boss whips them into shape. Speaking of which…
2) Give Fergie his props Rafa Benitez can say what he wants but he has to give Alex Ferguson his due, along with the rest of us. Ferguson is the most tenured club manager in football and there’s really nothing that he hasn’t seen in this game. He’s seen players, club owners, referees, and FIFA presidents come and go. He’s managed in every major club competition and beaten the best more than a few times: Red Star Belgrade, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Ajax to name but a few. He pulled his team out of the relegation zone his first five months on the job. This list of achievements is a drop in the bucket to what he’s done.
And while the list of players I mentioned at the top of the post are quite impressive, he’s nurtured many other classic players while at Old Trafford. Let’s take a look at but a small list of players he’s cultivated: Eric Cantona. Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane, David Beckham (who played his best footie at United) Paul Ince, Peter Schmeichel, Gabriel Heinze. I mean, Fergie’s basically managed a Fantasy Football team.
Most important of all, he demands respect from his players day in and day out…and he gets it. Case in point: Real Madrid offered Cristiano Ronaldo a US $1million a week salary to leave Man United. That Fergie got in his face over this isn’t the only reason that CR7 stayed on, but it was big reason. Would he have stayed if that had been Arsene Wenger or Juande Ramos or even Jose Mourinho in his face? Nope.
My epiphany was this: Manchester United are nearly unbeatable in club competition, including the Champions League, as long as the above two points are true. The combination of the team’s scoring power and near-omniscient manager are too much for their opponents to deal with. Oh, their opponents will win sometimes, but not too often.
As a Chelsea fan, it gives me NO joy to write this post, but it’s true.