Sir Alex Ferguson can't get away with tired excuse for Manchester United's slip-up

 
P67 Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez
13 March 2013

Sir Alex Ferguson could hardly blame the referee this time and so the Manchester United manager said his team were tired. Presumably that included Wayne Rooney, who had played for only 17 minutes in the Champions League defeat by Real Madrid five days earlier.

That’s five days, by the way. Not three — the nasty people who choose matches for television couldn’t be accused of victimising United either, of leaving them incapable of holding on to the two-goal lead they had taken 11 minutes to build against Chelsea at Old Trafford.

No, United are facing the indignity of an FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge because they weren’t good enough to beat Chelsea out of sight.

They were offered an invitation but didn’t take it and in the end the team nominally led by Rafa Benitez deserved to win, having provided an excellent advertisement for lame-duck management.

Maybe Benitez was a little mischievous afterwards in shaking the hand of David de Gea, who seemed to realise, halfway through the gesture, that his fellow Spaniard was using it to make a point. But Ferguson does tend to lower the general tone and this was one of his peevish days — as Benitez disclosed, he had “just walked past me” in the tunnel before the match.

I don’t mind him insulting Benitez, who has a platform for retaliation, so much as the rest of us. He must think we like having people try to pull the wool over our eyes.

A few days earlier he had claimed that (a) he had no problem with Rooney and (b) it was the Football Association’s fault for expecting too much and punishing him excessively when he erred.

Don’t excuse Ferguson by imagining that, at 71, he is losing a little of his famously excellent memory.

He knows as well as we do that, the last time Rooney was naughty, kicking an opponent in Montenegro, the FA not only put a metaphorical arm around his shoulders but spent a fortune on lawyers who had his European Championship suspension reduced from three matches to two.

Ferguson will not have forgotten that — he just seems to assume that we were all born yesterday. Hence yesterday’s diagnosis of tiredness afflicting Rooney, Nani (56 minutes against Real Madrid) and Jonny Evans, Shinji Kagawa and Javier Hernandez (total of no minutes).

The United manager has such a squad — and is so brilliant at using it — that no player should ever be too fatigued to perform. Rafael, for example, played against both Real and Chelsea but had been wisely rested when United played Norwich three days earlier, as had Tom Cleverley. The reason Ferguson’s men have not already booked a trip to Wembley remains within the walls of the dressing room where they spent, or mis-spent, half-time yesterday.

For the neutral the worry is that even United are not as good as they were beginning to look as they went into the second leg against Real. Even though the talk of a 1999-style Treble was ludicrously premature, they seemed the saving grace of a non-vintage Premier League.

But the dismissal of Nani — mistaken, as I saw it — was followed by a loss of shape and concentration that let Real win the tie and no questions were asked thereafter of the man ultimately responsible. He wouldn’t have answered them properly, of course. Even with the benefit of time to think, he argued that United would have won no fewer than three additional Champions Leagues but for mistakes by referees or linesmen.

And all around him, when he formed this theory, would have been friendly faces, nodding.

An acceptable loss for Spurs

Tottenham should not beat themselves up over defeat at Anfield, even though it was snatched from the jaws of victory. Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers are just a defender or two short of an outstanding side. If the season were starting now, they would be title candidates.

Although much is rightly made of Luis Suarez, the big difference has been the advent of Philippe Coutinho. Opponents can no longer concentrate on the lines of communication between Suarez and Steven Gerrard. There is the additional creativity of the young Brazilian to worry about.

Yet Spurs controlled the first half and were let down only by aberrations from their full-backs. Although Suarez dived for the penalty, he was entitled to. The only bad smell came from spectators who booed Gareth Bale for being the victim of a dreadful aerial challenge.

Liverpool were lucky in this context. If referee Michael Oliver had enjoyed the benefit of a replay, he would surely have sent Gerrard off. It was still a high-class match between clubs on the rise.

Gold’s recipe for sex-cess story

All commercial avenues are being explored at West Ham, where co-owner David Gold indulged in a bit of product placement last week.

Disclosing that he and David Sullivan had put more than £35million into the club’s swift return to the Premier League, he said: “We are pouring our life savings into this club but the fans need to understand I do not have 150 oil wells, just 150 Ann Summers shops.”

Now that’s what I call communication with the fans. It’s helpful for them to know that, while other brands of vibrator are available, buying such products from a certain outlet will help to boost the Hammers’ transfer budget.

Sad to say, no amount of ringing of Ann Summers cash tills will close the gap between West Ham and the truly loaded Arab-owned clubs of Europe such as Manchester City and Paris St-Germain.

City’s Abu Dhabi backers benefit every time someone takes an Etihad flight, while the Qataris, proud owners of PSG, get a little richer each time we turn on the gas.

Wise Harry’s wizard

Of the 23 fouls committed at Loftus Road on Saturday, Queens Park Rangers were responsible for only four. So you could even make a moral case for them staying up. Seriously, congratulations to Harry Redknapp on a superb winter window’s work, especially the borrowing of Andros Townsend. There’s no more welcome sight in the League at present than that of the Spurs youngster threatening to bring wizard wingers back into fashion.

Stage is set for Messi

Champions League gloom? It’s hardly a time for that, even with Arsenal about to complete a clean sweep of Premier League interest. There’s another “match the whole world awaits’’ tomorrow at the Nou Camp, where Barcelona attempt to overturn Milan’s 2-0 advantage. Memories are stirred of the 2004 classic between the clubs, when Ronaldinho scored a glorious late winner. Over to you, Lionel.

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