SAF: Arsenal, Chelsea But No Mention Of Liverpool
Was Sir Alex deliberately belittling Liverpool by speaking publicly of the rising threat from Arsenal to United’s title?
There is no doubting the Gunners credentials this season. Nine victories and 25 goals in their 10 matches tells its own story. The Arsenal team is playing well and was particularly good against Seville, Spurs and in the demolition of Derby. In unlocking the goal threat of Cesc Fabregas and going some way towards proving that the kids are alright without head boy Thierry Henry, Arsene Wenger may at last have a team that can make a credible challenge after three years in the wilderness.
This is clearly Sir Alex’s current thinking. “They have started the season well – their form has been very good,” he explained. “They have produced some very good performances and have laid down the marker. That’s good. It’s going to make it an interesting league.”
The manager also refused to count Chelsea out of the title race, although the extent of the Stamford Bridge madness of late is shown by Ferguson’s evident relegation of Chelsea’s status to that of challenger instead of principal rival.
“I don’t think you can dismiss Chelsea,” he said. “How could you with the players they have got? They played a strong team at Hull on Wednesday, probably because Avram Grant was keen to get a win under his belt. They got a good result and that will help him no end. You cannot exclude [them] from the top four. As I said at the start of the season, one of those four will win it.”
Few outside of Broadmoor hospital will doubt that “one of the big four” will win the title but Fergie’s unwillingness to mention Liverpool’s early season form spoke volumes. Perhaps, time and space did not allow but in a tour of the horizon, the threat of Rafa Benitez’s team surely cannot have escaped the manager’s notice. Torres is scoring and Liverpool’s forward options are now richer than at any time in the last decade.
The festering bad blood between the managers over the Heinze affair may explain Fergie’s refusal to formally acknowledge the Merseyside menace. Equally, Liverpool’s stuttering form of late may have exposed doubts about the genuine depth of quality at Anfield and the Benitez obsession with needless rotation.
Still, in marking up the challenges of Chelsea and an old enemy like Wenger, whilst failing to recognise publicly the growing Liverpool danger, Fergie’s mind game aimed at popping the balloon of early season Scouse optimism.
Over to you Mr Benitez.
(On Sep 29th, 2007 at 9:47 am)
Who cares what the red nose does?
Let’s not enter into his games.
He doesn’t like playing alone…