Sir Alex Finally Talks but Offers no Excuses
After what seemed like an eternity following his side’s awful display in last Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield, Sir Alex has finally broken his silence to talk to the media, and has quite justly offered no excuses.
Fergurson refused to talk about the defeat to any of the media on Sunday, but not surprisingly the Scottish gaffer was not amused. Ferguson admitted that his team’s performance was below par and further added that their fierce rivals were ‘the better team and deserved their win’. However the United fans, many of whom will, no doubt, be receiving their fair share of abuse from their rival fans, do have some excuses for their side’s poor display. United were missing their usually accomplished defensive pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand who were banned and injured respectively.
In addition, United were also unfortunate to see their winger Nani stretchered off after a debatable ‘challenge’ from Liverpool’s Vice Captain Jamie Carragher. This misfortune was duly repaid less than a minute later when right back Rafael de Silva should have been given a red after a tackle on his fellow Brazilian Lucas. There was a great similarity between this tackle and the one which saw Red’s skipper Steven Gerrard get sent off in the FA cup match in January.
As well as admitting that Liverpool was the better team on Sunday, Ferguson also acknowledged the improvement of fellow title contenders Arsenal. He conceded that last season Arsenal faltered around ‘February to March’ but that ‘clearly they represent the main danger to us (United) achieving our ambitions’. Fergurson’s team will of course need to improve on their recent performances if they are going to remain at the head of the Premiership table.
It was a surprise to many that Sir Alex did not blame others or offer up some sort of excuse. He would appear to have the ability to put this game behind him, and it is the positive side of Ferguson that is clearly focused and prepared for the final stages of the Premiership season.
