SAF: Roon-Ron Delight …
Sun: ALEX FERGUSON is convinced Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo will get even better this season — and fire him to a perfect 10th league title.
The deadly duo played key roles in helping Manchester United become champions last term despite their tender age.
Yet Old Trafford boss Fergie believes their best is yet to come — and it could be another three years before they hit their peak.
Both striker Roo, 21, and winger Ron, 22, will start as United begin their title defence at home to Reading tomorrow.
Fergie said: “There is no doubt that at 21, it is another three years before you get anywhere near your maturity.
“That gives you authority, timing and control of your game. As a player, I felt I was at my strongest at 25 and 26.
“When you are 21 you do inconsistent things — you score a goal, you miss a goal. There is nothing consistent about you but these two maybe defy that.”
Ferguson is not just expecting great things from his star duo this term. He also feels the whole squad will benefit from last term’s triumph.
And the Scot is aiming to take his title medals into double figures by May 11 next year.
Fergie, who won the league for the first time in 1993, believes that feat would never be matched again.
He said: “It would be fantastic to win it 10 times — especially for someone like Ryan Giggs.
“That would be a tremendous incentive and I wonder if it could be done again by a player or manager. The challenge is more for the players, though.
“A team that has won the league has more continuity and consistency. We noticed that in the training sessions in the Far East.
“It is a far more settled situation and we expect young players like Rooney and Ronaldo to improve.
“Nani and Anderson will also improve and we would expect far more authority from Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra.
“We have experienced people to call on like Gary Neville, Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar.”
Rooney has shown no signs of curbing his infamous temper — notably in Sunday’s Community Shield win over Chelsea when he went into a rant after being booked for a foul on Petr Cech.
But Fergie accepts it is part and parcel of his star striker’s game.
The United boss admitted: “He will always have that.
“Wayne knows when he has done wrong so when he is unfairly treated, he reacts to it.
“You don’t want him to do that all the time but at least there is an honesty about what he does.”
Ferguson has added quality to his squad this summer with the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson.
And he insists United are ready to go all the way if they reach the latter stages of competitions again this season.
Fergie said: “If we get into the same position as last season, we have a chance of more than one trophy.
“I believe the AC Milan game was one too far for us. AC Milan’s preparation was much better because they had rested nine players and we got caught.
“From the beginning of March we lost Mikael Silvestre, Neville and Vidic as well as Park Ji Sung for nine months and Louis Saha had been out since December.”
United may be seen as the prized scalp for all other top-flight clubs.
But the manager believes their title rivals such as Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea will be more concerned with keeping their own house in order than scuppering his team.
He said: “Between 1999 and 2001, we won the title three times in a row and the season after that was very difficult.
“We felt at the time there was an edge with teams trying to stop us.
“But now teams are more interested in their own situation rather than stopping others from playing.
“It looks obvious who will be up there but we can expect improvement from Spurs and Newcastle.
“Everton have done good business in the summer and have a good young squad. But I can’t see beyond seven teams.”
