Saturday, 7 May 2011
Tevez's rapid strides put Cup final back on agenda
An extraordinary training session by Carlos Tevez yesterday provided a good indication that he is winning his battle to be fit for the FA Cup final. Though the Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini put the striker's prospects of facing Stoke City at only 50-50 yesterday morning, Tevez played a full part in a 10-a-side game, scoring, and looking back to his usual self only days after returning to full training following a hamstring injury.
Tevez has been positive all week about his prospects of appearing in the final a week tomorrow. But doctors have been more sceptical. Mancini reiterated yesterday that the Argentine must play a part against Tottenham on Tuesday if he is to feature at Wembley. And though 72 hours ago his place on the bench seemed doubtful for that game, the picture seems to be changing.
Despite the development, Mancini declared yesterday that City are no longer dependent on Carlos Tevez for success and have built a team who can take them to the Champions League, and an FA Cup triumph without him.
"I need every player 200 per cent for the final. I can't play with one player who is 50 per cent. It is impossible," Mancini said. "Without [Tevez], we are missing a fantastic striker. But we have built a team this year. We have bought a lot of good players. When we are missing one or two important players but we have a team, we always have a team."
Tevez's 25 goals in all competitions dwarf the contribution of City's other players – Mario Balotelli and Yaya Touré are the next best contributors with 10 each – but Mancini said the collective was bigger than the individual. "If we want to improve as a team and keep on winning then you have to play without important players like Carlos, Yaya [Touré], like [David] Silva," he added.
Jerome Boateng will be a member of that collective next year, with Mancini unwilling to allow Bayern Munich to take the £10.4m defender back to Germany after an indifferent first season following his summer move from Hamburg. Mancini, for whom a potentially vital 10 days in the club's history begins with a difficult trip to Everton tomorrow, again cited Manchester United as the prime example of collective strength. "United played eight or nine different players [against Schalke on Wednesday] from the side that will play against Chelsea. If you want to win you want to win like this. When you can make these changes you can still also play to win like them."
Mancini, whose discussion of the title race included the singling out of Chelsea's Fernando Torres as "an incredible player," rejected the idea that Tottenham, whose own pursuit of fourth may be extinguished by City on Tuesday evening, were more deserving of the place because of their flair. "If we are in fourth position for a long time and stay between first and fourth spot for one year then we have played really well and deserve to go in the Champions League."
Everton, the next obstacle in Mancini's quest, have beaten City in six out of their last seven encounters.
No more Mr Nice Guy? Even if he wins, Ancelotti loses
Personable and successful, he should be ideal for Chelsea, but he is still likely to be sacked even if he takes the title
It is on page 43 of the English edition of Carlo Ancelotti's autobiography that he says he expects one day to be manager of Roma, the club where he spent eight happy years as a player under the eccentric regime of Nils Liedholm.
"Someday, I'm going to coach that team," Ancelotti says. "I have a debt of gratitude." Not for the first time yesterday Ancelotti felt obliged to deny that his visit to Rome this week was evidence that he was about to make good on that pledge.
Given that Ancelotti has freely admitted in the past to lying about his intentions in order to make life easier for himself, he cannot complain if we take that answer with a pinch of salt. He won the 1983 Serie A title at Roma, an achievement he says that he will always remember best for the occasion when a police dog bit the unpopular Juventus player Sergio Brio on the backside in the tunnel at the Stadio Olimpico. "We carried the dog in triumph on our shoulders," Ancelotti recalls, "when I think about the [1983] Scudetto, that [the dog bite] is the first image that comes into my head."
That intentionally absurd remark about the dog is a feature of Ancelotti's book, a brilliant piece of work that is very different to most football memoirs. It is indiscreet about people and players he still works with at Chelsea. It is self-deprecating at every turn, often portraying the author as an insecure, overweight glutton who, in one instance, is so terrified at the prospect of telling Fenerbahce that he will not take up their offer of the coach's job that he gets his wife to make the call instead.
Somehow, you cannot imagine Sir Alex Ferguson admitting to anything similar. But this is the Ancelotti portrayed by Ancelotti himself: a funny, overwrought character, who is only too aware of his own flaws and might easily have stepped out of a Woody Allen movie. That he has not always come across that way to the English football public at large is because his command of the language has not always allowed him. He is one of only three managers to have won the Premier League and FA Cup Double and yet, in three games' time, he will probably be gone.
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| 'So many top managers build themselves up into infallible figures, unable to contemplate failure. Ancelotti is different. He rarely argues the toss after losing a major game' |
If Ancelotti's Chelsea team win against Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow they will be thrust back into the title race in dramatic fashion. Given their slump between early November and mid-February it will be regarded as the greatest comeback in the league's recent history if they beat United and go on to win the title. But the mood at Chelsea is that even if Ancelotti does deliver the club's fourth Premier League title he will not be the manager come the start of next season.
Much is changing behind the scenes at Chelsea. The club's sporting director, Frank Arnesen, is leaving this summer to join Hamburg, having finally made strides with establishing the academy on a footing with other leading English clubs. Many of those academy players developed under Arnesen over the last six years are now in the reserve side that will win the southern Premier League title if they beat Wolves on Monday. Win that and they play United for the national title, which the club have not won in 25 years.
Arnesen was the man who first approached Ancelotti to negotiate with him in 2009 to take the job and the two men have worked closely ever since. Arnesen's departure is one part of what promises to be a summer of transition. Roman Abramovich would appear, once again, to be impatient for change. That is likely to mean major new signings, a new management structure at the club that does not include an Arnesen-type role – and a new manager.
When Arsène Wenger won the Double in his first full season at Arsenal it rightly bought him three years to re-build before he repeated the trick in the 2001-2002 season. Ancelotti, on the other hand, looks set to be the most successful out-of-work manager in the game. It begs the question, what kind of manager is he? His record, in terms of trophies, speaks for itself. His personality is that of a man comfortable in his own skin. Shouldn't he be perfect for the Chelsea job?
It is widely believed that we will know much about Ancelotti by the team he selects tomorrow. If he picks Fernando Torres, the £50m signing so plainly out of form this season, and tries to fudge the formation, then he is Abramovich's yes-man. If he leaves Torres out and selects Didier Drogba as the centre-forward in Chelsea's optimum 4-3-3 system then, it is suggested, he is his own man after all and prepared to go down in flames.
The only hole in this theory is that Andrei Shevchenko, Torres' predecessor as an Abramovich-driven marquee signing, spent much of his last full season at Chelsea, 2007-08, on the bench. Even Abramovich's ever-loyal protégé, Avram Grant, did not use Shevchenko in the Champions League final at the end of the season. Shevchenko's league appearances almost halved from his first season under Jose Mourinho (30) to 17 in his second under Mourinho and, post-September, Grant. Abramovich still sacked Grant but it was not because he did not pick Shevchenko.
Ancelotti believes that the breakthrough for Torres is just around the corner and if he picks him tomorrow it is surely that conviction that will inform his decision rather than second-guessing what Abramovich wants. "Note to the outside world: I decide on the formations – I alone, in all cases – and I want to make that point clear once and for all," Ancelotti says in his autobiography, in that particular case in relation to the Milan owner, Silvio Berlusconi, during his time there as manager.
In many respects, Ancelotti has proved himself one of the most likeable managers of modern times. For a start, the royalties from his book all went to the foundation set up in the name of his former team-mate Stefano Borgonovo, who is suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. As far as celebrity memoirs go, that puts Ancelotti in a fairly exclusive group of two in British public life, the other being Tony Blair who came under considerably more public pressure to do so.
Another feature of Ancelotti's Chelsea is their attitude towards the game. They are currently top of the Premier League's fair play table and that does not seem much of a coincidence given how many times in his press briefings Ancelotti talks about respecting the game. John Terry will always try to referee the game himself but that is just his way. On the whole, the Chelsea team – Ashley Cole included – seem to have had the abrasive edge knocked off them. They no longer take the breath away so often with their pursuit of the referee.
Last season, Ancelotti took the remnants of Jose Mourinho's dual title-winning team and coaxed another great season out of them. This season, his ageing squad were hit hard by the demands of the World Cup finals and Africa Cup of Nations last year and the injuries to Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Alex – as well as Didier Drogba's malaria – yet they are still in with a shout with three games to go. That is some achievement.
But what of the other side of the coin? Ancelotti made fundamental mistakes in allowing the sale of Ricardo Carvalho, now a keystone of the Real Madrid team, as well as the release of Michael Ballack. Ballack's subsequent injury problems at Bayer Leverkusen mean that he might not have had anything like a full season at Chelsea had he stayed, but nevertheless a player of his standing needed to be adequately replaced.
As Ballack told The Independent in November, he did not believe that Ancelotti wanted him to go. However much a Chelsea manager is obliged to fall in behind the wishes of the owner and the hierarchy, he also has a responsibility to make sure that his team is competitive and the departures of Ballack, Carvalho and even Joe Cole, although Ancelotti never really had much time for him, affected Chelsea.
The sacking of Ray Wilkins in November was Ancelotti's darkest hour. At times he looked like he might be close to saying what he really thought about the situation but he could just not bring himself to force the words out. So he finished up stuck in the middle, neither really endorsing it nor condemning it.
For their part, Chelsea stand by their decision to dismiss Wilkins and given the reams of bad publicity it has earned them – all of which they have had to take without any clear explanation of why they did it – the feeling persists that there was more to this than meets the eye.
Nevertheless, it made Ancelotti look weak and submissive. He was billed as a man who, having worked for Berlusconi, was accustomed to accommodating the whims and desires of a dictatorial club owner. But Ancelotti's experience of Berlusconi was different. "He is rarely present at Milanello [the club's training ground]," Ancelotti says of the Milan owner in his autobiography. "During my last season, there were only occasional phone conversations about specific issues." Perhaps he was not as well prepared for Abramovich as might have been assumed.
In so many ways, Ancelotti's rabbit-in-the-headlights response to Wilkins' dismissal should have demonstrated to Abramovich why he is ideal for Chelsea. He accepted the sacking of his closest aide, a man, without whom, he said, "we couldn't have won a thing". He accepted that Jeffrey Bruma was ready to replace Carvalho last summer, a mistake that had to be rectified by signing David Luiz for £21m in the last transfer window. He accepted all these impositions without any outward sign of protest.
The Chelsea support appears to have mixed views towards Ancelotti. They would like the continuity of keeping a manager who has been successful in the past, regardless of what he does this year. Others are more critical of his tactical approach, arguing that his substitutions often do not mean a change in system or approach and often come too late in the game.
So many top managers build themselves up into infallible figures who are unable to contemplate any kind of failure without an argument. Mourinho is the prime example. He cannot simply lose a match or a cup tie. It has to be someone else's mistake or, worse yet, a conspiracy. The likes of Mourinho, and to a much lesser extent Ferguson, are simply not programmed to lose and when they do so, it short-circuits their whole system.
Ancelotti is different. He very rarely argues the toss after a defeat in a major game and when he does so it is not convincing. Even during the mid-season slump at Chelsea he did not rage against injuries or refereeing decisions. In fact, he did not do much to dissuade you from the assumption that this was a man quietly hoping it would all change of its own accord.
Like all managers at top clubs, Ancelotti has the impossible task. He has to keep all the disparate elements in his camp happy, as well as the owner and the fans, and win every competition he is in. Against Tottenham last week, Salomon Kalou greeted his winning goal with a pointed refusal to celebrate or even smile. It looked every inch like a protest at being the man so often overlooked in favour of Torres. It prompted the thought: if Kalou is playing up, what chance has the manager got of keeping the rest happy?
If Ancelotti had stood up for himself over the club's failure to replace players in the summer, or over Wilkins' dismissal, he could himself have been sacked. Instead, this natural survivor rolled with the punches and he now has what looks like being his last shot at a second Premier League title with Chelsea tomorrow. His acquiescence has bought him that much. It is a shame that it sits as a cloud over what should be one of the shining stars of modern management.
Title Comebacks
Victory at Old Trafford tomorrow would take Chelsea top of the league for the first time since November, having trailed by 15 points at one stage. Here are the greatest title turnarounds in modern times:
1970-71
Leeds were top from the first month and had lost just once by the turn of the year. Don Revie and his side had opened up a seven-point lead over Arsenal by February but were caught by mid-April as the London side went on a nine-game winning streak. Despite winning their last three, Leeds missed out to Arsenal by a point.
1981-82
In a season overshadowed by the death of manager Bill Shankly, champions Liverpool were a lowly 12th at the turn of the year but went on to win 18 out of 20 games to surge to a 13th league title. Southampton, Swansea and Ipswich all had spells at the top before Liverpool went clear at the start of April and they finished four points in front of Ipswich.
1986-87
Liverpool led neighbours Everton by nine points in mid-March and appeared set for a ninth title in 11 years. Fast-forward a month, and after five defeats in seven games, Kenny Dalglish's side were caught by the Blues. Despite a late defeat at Anfield, Howard Kendall's Everton took the league by nine points.
1995-96
Kevin Keegan's free-scoring Newcastle swept into a 12-point lead by mid-January with a 100 per cent home record. A poor run of two wins in eight games, and the misjudged signing of the Colombian forward Faustino Asprilla, allowed an Eric Cantona-inspired Manchester United to overtake them, with the Magpies finishing second by four points and Keegan cracking up on live television.
1997-98
Sir Alex Ferguson's United looked set for a third consecutive title when they led Arsenal by 11 points in early March, but Arsène Wenger had other ideas in his first full season in the Premier League. The Gunners went on a 10-game winning run, including a 1-0 success at Old Trafford, to cut United's lead and overtake them just after Easter. Arsenal clinched the title with a 4-0 win over Everton and went on to complete the Double.
2002-03
After the Double the previous season, Wenger had established an eight-point lead over United by March but, in a mirror image of five years before, Arsenal were hauled in by Ferguson's side. In a superb run United dropped just six points in their last 18 games, going unbeaten after Christmas.
Ancelotti urges Chelsea to forget about fear and play from the heart
Courage not tactics will win potential title decider, says manager as he weighs up whether to start with Drogba or Torres up front
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, cut to the chase yesterday in predicting tomorrow's Premier League title showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford will be won not by formations and tactics, but by desire and character.
Ancelotti has been schooled in the fine old Italian tradition with its focus on detailed systems and thorough organisation, but faced with a game that will go a long way to deciding the fate of this most unpredictable of seasons, he metaphorically tore up the tactics manual and implored his defending champions to play from the heart.
"I want to say one thing," Ancelotti announced to the media at yesterday's press conference at the club's training ground in Cobham. "The line-up will not be what decides this game. This game will be decided through the courage of the players, the personality, the character. We don't need to be worried, afraid about this. We have to play at our best. With courage and personality; 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 is not important."
He returned to the theme a little later. "The players are motivated themselves. They don't have a problem with motivation. The problem is the fear. Being afraid, to lose energy by being too afraid," he said.
Fear has not been a problem for Chelsea in the league of late. Eight wins and a draw from their last nine Premier League games have brought Ancelotti's reborn side right back into the title race. The gap that was once 15 points has been slashed to just three, and victory over United tomorrow would put Chelsea top on goal difference, with two games remaining.
The momentum is with them, even though Chelsea needed the fortuitous intervention of the match officials to complete a 2-1 victory over Tottenham last Saturday. Manchester United's capitulation to Arsenal the following day has thrown the race wide open, and raised suggestions that Sir Alex Ferguson's side are in danger of a collective choke.
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| Drogba gets on the ball at Chelsea's Cobham training ground yesterday |
Ancelotti, like Ferguson, has seen it happen before. Ferguson's United team had a 13-point lead over Arsenal which was overhauled in 1998; two years later Sven Goran Eriksson's Lazio clawed back the nine-point lead held by Ancelotti's Juventus to win the Scudetto on the last day of the season.
Ancelotti accepted that United remain favourites to win the league, but claimed Chelsea have the mental edge going into tomorrow's game, as United have to raise their game again.
"I think that, mentally, we can have an advantage. Obviously, Man United hoped they wouldn't have to play this kind of game against us. If they'd had more of an advantage, it could have been an easy game against us – not easy, but a different game. Now the title... they have to fight again for the title. Maybe two or three weeks ago they didn't think in this game they'd need to fight so much. Mentally, for this reason, we can have an advantage," Ancelotti said.
The Italian brushed off Ferguson's claim a week ago that Chelsea seem to win more than their fair share of refereeing decisions in big games. "You either have to accept the decision of the referees or say there's a conspiracy. I'm a man who thinks they can make mistakes," Ancelotti said.
He added he was happy that Howard Webb would be officiating, describing the man who refereed the World Cup final last year as "fantastic".
Ancelotti's major selection dilemma concerns whether to start with Didier Drogba or Fernando Torres at the centre of a three-man strike force. Ancelotti denied it would be a gamble to play Torres from the start, but must surely favour Drogba, although it is worth noting that a year ago, when Chelsea won at Old Trafford in the league, Drogba was on the bench and Nicolas Anelka started in his place, flanked by Florent Malouda and Joe Cole. Drogba appeared late on and scored the winner.
Ancelotti predicted all his strikers would be involved at some point. "I want my players to understand that it's not so important to start the game, but that they will be involved, even for 20 minutes. We've won games from players who have come on from the bench," he said.
Since that 2-1 victory at Old Trafford last April, Chelsea have beaten United in the league at Stamford Bridge, and also lost both home and away in the Champions League quarter-finals last month. It was pointed out to Ancelotti yesterday that no team has won at Old Trafford since Chelsea did it, 30 games ago. "It's time to win," the Italian answered with a smile.
Top two's remaining games:
Manchester United
Chelsea (h): Tomorrow
Blackburn (a): Saturday 14 May
Blackpool (h): Sunday 22 May
Chelsea
Man United (a): Tomorrow
Newcastle (h): Sunday 15 May
Everton (a): Sunday 22 May
Wilshere has 'hit the wall' and needs a rest, Wenger warns England
Arsene Wenger will speak to Fabio Capello over Jack Wilshere's impending participation in the European Under-21 Championship. Wilshere was named in Stuart Pearce's squad this week and Wenger said he will ask the England manager "to consider the consequences" of the 19-year-old playing a summer tournament at the end of a busy season.
This has been a watershed campaign for Wilshere. He has become a regular member of the Arsenal first team, and has made 46 appearances in all competitions so far. More to the point, he has won four senior England caps and these two elevations have led to Wenger's questioning the usefulness of Wilshere playing in Denmark next month.
While Wenger does not seek to change Wilshere's mind on the matter, he is keen England show some restraint in their use of the young midfielder. "I would ask Fabio Capello to consider the consequences of a boy who is 19 years old who has played around 50 games at the end of the season," Wenger said yesterday, confirming that he would call Capello personally, "who has played for the first team and then a tournament on the back of it."
Wenger admitted that Wilshere was starting to tire after a draining season, and repeated his argument that he needs a good rest this summer. "I know that he continues to play, but Jack has hit the wall a little bit," Wenger said. "We know from our statistics. No matter what happens I have to give him at least four weeks' holiday. The tournament finishes at the end of June so he won't come back till the end of July."
Wenger then reminded the Football Association that Wilshere's delayed pre-season may stop him from playing in the senior England team's games at the start of next season: "That means he will not be ready to play at the start of August or maybe at the beginning of September."
Arsenal travel to Stoke City tomorrow, and Wenger confirmed that Aaron Ramsey will play. It was at the Britannia Stadium where Ramsey had his leg broken by Ryan Shawcross in February last year. Ramsey, who will play tomorrow because Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are out injured, scored his first goal since the injury last weekend."I am very, very happy for him," Wenger said. "He is certainly mentally stronger, after what happened to him you have to be strong."
Defensive Ferguson promises an all-out attack to deliver title
What began as a casual reply slowly gravitated up through the scales of indignation, to a conclusion which revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson is all too aware that the sacrifice of a Premier League title by losing to Chelsea tomorrow would represent a capitulation of Devon Loch proportions.
It was not so much what he said but how much, when asked yesterday whether being known for all time as "the team that lost a 15-point lead" was in his players' minds, ahead of another season-defining match with Carlo Ancelotti's team. "I don't know how many points we were in front of Chelsea at any given time. It doesn't matter," Ferguson said, holding his questioner's eye. (It was actually 15 before United's defeat at Stamford Bridge on 1 March.)
"Where we are today is exactly where we are. It doesn't matter what happened last Sunday, four Sundays ago, four months ago, four years ago, we are where we are. We have three games left, three points ahead, same goal difference, playing at home, two home games and one away. That's where are. Nothing can change it."
Ferguson protested a little too much and in the Kevin Keegan household this weekend, there will surely be a sense of satisfaction that the Manchester United manager, who drove Keegan to don those studio headphones 15 years ago as United reeled in Newcastle's 12-point advantage, may be finding the boot on the other foot.
Ferguson, who said that Wayne Rooney "was OK" but did not offer a convincing sense that he would be fit to face Ancelotti's side tomorrow, did admit to some fear – about another of those Chelsea match controversies besetting this potential title decider. "That's definitely our big fear to be honest with you," Ferguson said, before breaking the Football Association rule about commenting on the choice of officials ahead of a game, when he described Howard Webb as "definitely the best referee in the country". Ferguson added that "we hope it's our turn for a little bit of luck" in the officiating department, though close analysis of the major decisions involving United this season actually reveals that nine have gone with them and six against.
The Premier League has taken all possible steps to ensure that football, rather than officials, dictates the outcome of a fixture which United lost last season after Didier Drogba's goal was incorrectly adjudged onside. Webb's favoured assistants, Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey, have only worked together twice since the World Cup final in Johannesburg because of the Football Association's desire to have the best officials spread around But the three are reunited tomorrow, just as they were in United's potentially combustible FA Cup tie at home to Liverpool on 9 January. Kenny Dalglish called Webb's decision to award a second-minute penalty for Daniel Agger's challenge on Dimitar Berbatov "a joke" but Webb did call it right.
United go equipped with the satisfaction of having beaten Chelsea home and away in the Champions League semi-final and the knowledge that a win means they are as good as champions. "We won't be going for a draw. Everyone knows that," Ferguson insisted. "Chelsea know that. Our fans know that. Everyone sitting in here knows that. There's no point in discussing draws." That mild indignation surfaced again. It was another sign that he feels United should not be in this position.
Yet the United manager feels he can afford to contemplate what a record 19th title would mean to a club who had accomplished only seven when he arrived, 24 years ago. "You don't [envisage it]," he said. "The aim was to be successful themselves. That was the target. Once we won [the title] the club took off. I couldn't envisage being here that long anyway. It's an exceptional period of time. You don't think at that moment the number of titles we have won. Getting the first was the target. I got it and since then the club has taken off."
United's Rub Of The Green
Decisions against United:
*Lee Bowyer's equaliser at Birmingham came after a push.
*Jamie Carragher was not sent off for a bad tackle on Nani at Anfield.
*No penalty at Newcastle after Danny Simpson tripped Javier Hernandez.
And those in their favour:
*Gary Neville not sent off at Stoke.
*Nani allowed to score after a hand-ball and confusion against Spurs.
*Neville not sent off at West Bromwich for a professional foul.
*Nemanja Vidic not sent off for a professional foul at West Ham.
*Wayne Rooney unpunished for elbowing Wigan's James McCarthy.
*No penalty after Evra fouls Ramires.
*Vidic not sent off against Arsenal for handball (which would have ruled him out tomorrow) and no penalty given
James Lawton: Ferguson's use of his reserves sends powerful message that United will emerge triumphant
There are few guarantees at Old Trafford tomorrow when the Premier League waits to be claimed by one of the two best teams in England.
However, it should be immensely encouraging to the embattled, marginalised, and even the sometimes patronised Carlo Ancelotti that he owns one of them.
It lies in the superior potential for destruction invested in a Didier Drogba playing in the right place, the right formation and with an optimum level of the confidence that came from the status that was stripped from him by the arrival at Stamford Bridge of Fernando Torres in January.
We are not just talking a single selection issue here. We are touching the basic reason why Chelsea's record, for all the resources heaped upon by them by Roman Abramovich, is so sporadic when compared to the relentless accumulation of United success.
We are discussing what happens when one manager is given the brief that has always been a pre-condition of the ability to do the job – and a whole series of them know they are obliged to live from result to result, mood-swing to mood-swing, without ever having the authority that long-term breeds both respect in the dressing room and cohesion and certainty on the field.
In the first category read Ferguson; in the second, Ranieri, Mourinho, yes eventually even Mourinho, Grant, Scolari and Ancelotti.
Yet Ancelotti, who was yesterday denying that a trip to Italy had anything to do with concluding a move to Roma, has one shining opportunity tomorrow to create a glorious interlude in his Chelsea purgatory. He can take a page from the battle-stained book of the Spanish Civil War heroine La Pasionaria, who declared: "Comrades, it is better to die on your feet than live forever on your knees."
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| Alex Ferguson congratulates his players after Manchester United thrashed Schalke on Wednesday |
For Ancelotti this may simply require him to stick to the formation he finished with on the recent night when United expelled Chelsea from Europe – a task which suddenly became more hazardous when Drogba appeared in place of Torres and scored with trademarked pace and aggressive instinct.
Ancelotti won a superb Double at the first attempt last season with Drogba operating in a system in which all his power and a willingness to run prodigiously was first employed so effectively by Jose Mourinho, before the arrival of Torres' precursor, Andrei Shevchenko. This year the Chelsea manager was building from the ruins which came with the morale-sapping dismissal of his assistant Ray Wilkins when the Spanish striker came down in his parachute and, for all intents and purposes, might have landed on a high ledge somewhere along the Fulham Road.
So now Ancelotti has to re-exert his football values – for what has he to lose but the perceived role of someone for the executive office to kick around? – and with the force that has proved most reliable in his brief tenure, one that so quixotically might now yield two Premier League titles and an FA Cup win.
What kind of legacy would this be from a man treated at times with barely concealed scorn? It would be a stunning one by any measurement.
Only this week Arsenal's youth director and former star Liam Brady, who knows a little of European football after his distinguished stints at Juventus, Sampdoria and Internazionale, was saying that even if the Premier League has rarely touched the heights this season it has come to represent, outside of Barcelona, a tougher challenge than the Champions League.
But then if you have to believe that Ancelotti has one main chance, one shot at a thrilling redemption, the balance of probability still rests with Ferguson.
Why? Because of the way United are, the way they have been bred to be. They were poor against Arsenal last Sunday but when Ferguson sent in the back-up men against Schalke on Wednesday he was making a statement of supreme confidence. The German team may have been wretched in the first leg, but they had erupted in the home of the reigning champions Inter in the previous round. Ferguson said that he had the means to negotiate comfortably the problem – and keep key troops fresh for tomorrow's action.
It was a flexing of the psychological muscles permitted a man encouraged to believe that he is in charge of all he surveys.
That there is likely to be a trickle-down effect in the United dressing room seems like a reasonable presumption. Yes, we know about the commitment of Frank Lampard and John Terry and that not so long ago Florent Malouda was looking like one of the most potent threats in European football. We know of the power of Michael Essien and the swagger of the new man David Luiz.
Chelsea may be wearing thin at certain joints but unquestionably they retain the ability to produce football of both power and invention. It was not so visible against Tottenham last weekend, but then nor was United's penchant for reinventing themselves in the middle of a rank performance at the Emirates.
Where it leaves us is pondering the eddies of form and nerve and the capacity of players like Drogba, Wayne Rooney and the young Mexican firecracker Javier Hernandez to inflict themselves on the most important game of the season.
It is impossible to believe that it will be anything but close, and clammily so, but in the end you have to go with an instinct, a sense of which fighter has most reason to believe in himself and the ultimate capacity to see off the other man.
When you look at it this way, United, contemplating another European Cup final after banishing Chelsea along the way, seem to have the edge. Their greatest concern is surely Didier Drogba and it is something Ancelotti is unlikely to forget when he writes down his team.
For at least one day he has to share the terrain of Ferguson. He has to be his own man.
Memories of Seve's thrilling genius lighten sad tidings
The news from Spain is so bad it is guaranteed to darken the sunniest spring day.
Seve Ballesteros's family is indicating that the great man may be losing his battle against cancer and that his condition has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks. The sadness can only be intensified by the gallantry of his fight for life.
The strength of his resistance has been especially moving in that it started at a time when he was already mourning the loss of his ability to swing a golf club in a way that was uniquely thrilling. No one, not even Tiger Woods, ever played golf as exhilaratingly as this passionate man who learned the game at night on a deserted course and a moonlit beach.
Once, when the onset of his decline had become apparent at a major tournament, someone had the temerity to suggest that maybe he might profit by a break from the game. His reward – and I can vouch for this because it was me – was a look so indignant, so withering, it will never be erased.
"Do you think I can no longer play golf?" he demanded to know. It was as though his very existence had been challenged.
Now that it has, in the most profound way, it perhaps should be no surprise that he has fought so bravely. As he continues to do so, we can only recall all those times he made golf such a glorious expression of his life. In his hands, a golf club was not so much an instrument of play but the most astonishing magic.
A rival once sneered that he was "the car park" champion, someone required to fire his shots from the most improbable places. Yet what shots, what bravura. There was no greater thrill in all of sport than to see Ballesteros coming over the brow of a fairway with fresh alchemy on his mind.
It was a privilege bestowed by one of those sportsmen who you knew was, whatever the vagaries of life, already immortal.
TOUCHLINES
DERBY are lining up a shock move for Manchester United striker Michael Owen after manager Nigel Clough said he wanted “ six or eight players, with at least one ‘biggish’ signning” over the summer.
PORTO president Pinto da Costa has revealed he will listen to offer for the club’s star trio-defender Rolando and strikers Hulk and Radamel Falcao
MANCHESTER UNITED’S chief European scout Martin Ferguson is keeping tabs on Espanyol striker Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, who is also attracting the interest of Tottenham, Everton and Fulham. United are also watching Athletic Bilbao midfielder Javi Martinez.
AC MILAN owner Silvio Berlusconi has promised a summer of spending to turn the side into Champions League winners – and Tottenham winger Gareth Bale is on their hit list. But Welshman Bale insists he will not be leaving White Hart Lane this summer.
LIVERPOOL flop Alberto Aquilani’s permanent move to Juventus could be off after the Italian side said they would not pay the agreed fee.
FORMER Tottenham and West Ham striker Freddie Kanoute is to leave Spanish side Sevilla this summer – but says he has already turned down offers to return to English football.
SPANISH side Sevilla are interested in signing Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.
TOTTENHAM themselves are ready to offer £500,000 (RM1.25m) for Ipswich’s 18-year-old forward Caolan Lavery.
LIVERPOOL manager Kenny Dalglish says he wants the final say on all future transfer deals Rodwell.
THE Professional Footballers’ Association Scotland player of the year Emilio Izaguirre, who has been linked with several English teams, says he has no wish to leave Celtic after his impressive debut season.
ASTON VILLA’S Ashley Young, who is out of a contract at the end of the season, is a summer target for Real Madrid.
MAGPIES defender Jose Enrique, who is being courted by Liverpool, Arsenal and Bayern Munich, has admitted his Newcastle future is in doubt and that he would be “happy” with a move.
QPR playmaker Adel Taarabt is attracting the interest of several top European club with Lazio plotting a summer move for the Rangers captain. Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester United are all reported to be interested.
PREMIER League bound QPR are themselves hopeful of bringing striker Marouane Chamakh to Loftus Road this summer.
TOTENHAM are interested in swapping forward Giovani dos Santos or winger Niko Kranjcar for £13.5m-rated Sevilla midfielder Diego Perotti.
MANCHESTER UNITED and Birmingham City target Maxi Lopez could be heading to the Premier League this summer from Italian side Catania.
ARSENAL and Tottenham have been put on red alert after reports in France claimed coveted striker Gervinho has rejected a new deal at Lille.
CHELSEA are bracing themselves for a £25m bid from AC Milan for midfielder Michael Essien and could also offer a player part-exchange.
ATLETICO MADRID striker Sergio Aguero, who has been linked with Chelsea and Tottenham, has opened the door to a move to the Premier League.
ASTON VILLA, Blackburn and Sunderland have approached West Ham about striker Demba Ba.
MANCHESTER CITY striker Carlos Teves and Chelsea front-man Didier Drogba could be swapping clubs this summer, according to reports.
LIVERPOOL are lining up a bid for Wigan midfielder James McCarthy, having failed to sign him from Hamilton two years ago.
NEWCASTLE manager Alan Perdew hopes to lure Ipswich’s in-demand teenagers Connor Wickham to St James’ Park, having worked with him previously at Reading.
BLACKBURN’S highly rated 19-year-old defender Phil Jones has given a hint where his future may lie by saying “ Arsenal play the prettiest football in the Premier League”.
ASTON VILLA midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker could leave for free in the summer after his agent revealed there had been no talks over new contract with the Midlands club since November.
MANCHESTER CITY striker Carlos Teves is losing his battle recover from a hamstring injury in time for the FA Cup Final on 14 May.
ARSENAL defender Thomas Vermaelen could make a remarkable to return at Stoke in the Premier League on Sunday. The Belgian has been out since August because of an Achilles tendon injury.
WEST HAM have drawn up a seven-man shortlist to replace Avram Grant as manager – Neil Warnock, Paul Lambert, Malky Mackay, Chris Hughton, Slaven Bilic, Ian Holloway and Martin O’ Neill.
MANCHESTER UNITED and Barcelona will only receive about 25,00 ticket each for the Champions League final at Wembley on 28 May.
MANCHESTER CITY’S Vincent Kompany, 25, says he wants to stay at the club for the rest or his career. “ I have never been embraced as well as I have been here by the fans and country in general,” said the Belgian defender.
Friday, 6 May 2011
Alex Ferguson highlights home record ahead of Chelsea match
Sir Alex Ferguson is banking on "the best home record in Europe" to shove Manchester United over the Barclays Premier League title finishing line.
Although United cannot clinch a record 19th championship this weekend, few believe Sunday's Old Trafford encounter with Chelsea to be anything other than a title decider.
If Chelsea win they will go top on goal difference with two games remaining.
If United win they will be six points clear and needing a single point from fixtures against relegation candidates Blackburn and Blackpool to win the title.
Even a draw would not be a bad result for United, as it would leave them just four points off their target.
Chelsea's impressive recent form - 25 points from the last 27 - plus victories in their last three league meetings with Ferguson's men, ensures they cannot be taken lightly.
However, Ferguson's faith is reinforced by back-to-back wins in the Champions League quarter-final, plus that brilliant record on home soil, where they have dropped just two points - via an October draw with West Brom - all season.
"Our home record is probably the best in Europe," Ferguson said. "It is the reason we are there. Some of the performances at home this season have been absolutely terrific.
"Hopefully it will get us the result we want on Sunday because this is a big game. If we win, we should win the league."
Ferguson could hardly have expected to be in this situation at half-time at Stamford Bridge on March 1.
Ahead thanks to Wayne Rooney's impressive strike, United looked set to extend their advantage over the Blues to 18 points.
Instead, a couple of debatable decisions from referee Martin Atkinson assisted Chelsea in their recovery, Carlo Ancelotti's side eventually claiming a 2-1 win that has triggered a stunning return to form.
"That result was the change for them," added Ferguson, whose brutal assessment of Atkinson's performance brought him a five-match touchline ban.
"We all know the circumstances of that game and I don't need to get into that. But the outcome gave them a lift. They were out of the game and they had won it."
As Chelsea's roll gathered momentum, United continued to struggle away from Old Trafford.
They lost at Liverpool, dropped points at Newcastle and then lost to Arsenal last Sunday.
"Us losing to Arsenal has opened the door for them," Ferguson added. "But we always said it is a very difficult league.
"The Premier League is hard to win. We know because we have been involved in the championship races for 19 years."
The sight of his team struggling at the Emirates confirmed in Ferguson's mind that changes had to be made for Wednesday's Champions League semi-final with Schalke.
Part one of the plan worked to perfection as United's second string side eased through to a Champions League final meeting with Barcelona at Wembley on May 28.
Now he can only hope the concluding effort is just as effective.
"Everyone is aware of the magnitude of Sunday's game," Ferguson said. "It is one of the reasons why I picked the team I did on Wednesday.
"I wanted to give us a real chance. We will have a fresh team and that makes a difference at this time of the season."
It does mean the bulk of United's starting XI will not be difficult to guess. The same cannot be said of their opponents.
Not even a spying mission to Stamford Bridge last week for Chelsea's controversial win over Tottenham unearthed any clues.
Instead, Ferguson will expect his own players to do their jobs no matter who they end up facing.
"I have no idea what to expect from Chelsea," he said. "I was at their game last week and couldn't get anything from that.
"Drogba played the whole game so you would expect him definitely to play. But he started off wide right, then Torres went there.
"Whether they start with both of them on Sunday is difficult to say. But no matter what they do, we have the players to handle it."
Carlo Ancelotti denies Roma reports
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has brushed aside reports linking him with a move to Roma this summer.
Ancelotti was in the Italian capital this week and his presence increased speculation that he could join the Serie A outfit next season.
Ancelotti said to Gazzetta dello Sport: "I have not spoken to any club.
"I don't want to talk about the future until this season is over.
"I want to remain in England and I can assure you that I will not be coaching in Italy next year."
Ancelotti won the Italian title with Roma as a player in 1983 and has made no secret that he would love to manage them one day.
However, it will not be in the near future.
"I don't know if I will make it in time to one day coach (Roma captain Francesco) Totti," Ancelotti said.
The 51-year-old joined Chelsea from AC Milan in June 2009 and went on to win the league and FA Cup double in his first season.
The Italian tactician is under contract with the Blues outfit until June 2012.
Despite a mid-season slump, the London club are now back in the Barclays Premier League title race and face leaders Manchester United in a must-win clash at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Jonjo Shelvey is example to Liverpool youngsters says academy director
Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is providing the kind of example other youngsters at the club should follow, according to academy technical director Pep Segura.
The 19-year-old has been at the club less than 12 months, having joined from Charlton early last summer, but has already made 18 first team appearances - a tally which would have been greater had a knee operation not sidelined him for two months.
Manager Kenny Dalglish clearly rates the youngster, using him as a substitute in his first six matches after taking over from Roy Hodgson in January before injury struck.
Having returned to fitness Shelvey has come off the bench in the last three games, even filling in at left-back, and outshone more experienced first-teamers Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen and David Ngog, scoring in last night's 2-2 reserve team draw at home to Manchester United.
Segura, who has been in charge of the second string for the last few months, believes Shelvey's development offers encouragement to the latest crop of hopefuls to come out of the academy - with teenagers John Flanagan and Jack Robinson having played their part for the first team in the last month.
"Shelvey demonstrated his quality and he had a fantastic game," said Segura.
"He wants to grow as a player and play for the first team. He was focused and he was a good example for our young players."
Cole and Poulsen, who have started just five matches between them since December 5, both played 90 minutes last night but Ngog was substituted at half-time.
"It was a good experience for the young players to get the chance to play alongside the first team squad players and they will learn a lot from that," added Segura.
How to stop the Barcelona carousel leaving you dizzy
Narrow the pitch, press the full-backs – and don't forget to score
The last last time Barcelona were in a Champions League final against Manchester United heads were scratched as to how a team without equal in Spain could be stopped in Rome.
First came the scouting reports detailing their apparent weakness in the air, urging Manchester United to pepper their 2009 final opponents' penalty area with high balls to expose the flaw. Then came that Leo Messi header. A Xavi Hernandez cross had the 5ft 7in Argentine leaping several feet off the ground to head past an aghast Edwin van der Sar – Barça having done to United what they were expected to do to them... another myth exploded.
Too weak for a battle, too reliant on Messi, generally poor in the air and with a dodgy goalkeeper, Barcelona's frailties have all been listed and then delisted as they keep on winning.
But despite their march towards another league title this season, with a 100-point haul still possible, they have been beaten twice in the league both home and away and on both occasions by struggling opposition. They also lost their first final of the season, against Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup, where they were outplayed in the first half, failed to score in 120 minutes and conceded in extra-time. Jose Mourinho; Real Sociedad manager Martin Lasarte; and since-sacked Hercules coach Esteban Vigo have all outmanoeuvred Pep Guardiola at least once.
The first team to beat Barcelona were cash-strapped Hercules last September. They had just been promoted and were given no chance in Guardiola's side's first home game of the new campaign. "We tried to force them inside at every opportunity and make the pitch as small as possible," Esteban said. "We did our best to put them under pressure but without losing our shape. We played two up front and it was the job of two forwards to make sure their central defenders were not comfortable. We played two banks of four and tried to leave very little space between the two lines."
Reducing the wide open spaces of Wembley and not allowing Gerard Pique and company time to come out playing from the back will be two aims of Barcelona's rivals in the final, but Esteban also points to less subtle game plans. "You spend large periods of the game without the ball so staying focused is very important," he says. "We only conceded eight fouls in the whole match – that's practically a miracle against Barcelona."
Mourinho would vouch for that. In his last six games against Barça he has finished with 11 men on his side only once. No team in the world is better set up to punish an opponent playing with a man fewer. "Mission impossible" was how he described it. "They get you on that carousel and they make you dizzy with their passing," was the image Sir Alex Ferguson conjured before the 2009 final.
Esteban is the first to admit his victory owed something to a Barcelona off-day as much as anything his former side did, and Real Sociedad benefited similarly from playing the Spanish Champions just as they were between clasico semi-final legs.
The defeat with the most merit remains Real Madrid's conquest of Barcelona in Valencia on 20 April to claim the Spanish Cup. "I don't have the magic potion to beat Barça," Mourinho said after that game but he knows he came as close as anyone to striking kryptonite that evening.
Real Madrid mirrored Barcelona's formation at the Mestalla with their own 4-3-3. They tried to double up on exposed full-backs Dani Alves and Adriano as often as possible. The plan was also to target the pair on crosses.
Pepe rose above Alves in the first half to head on to the bar and Ronaldo beat Adriano in the air for his extra-time winner. It may not be true that they are weak in the air as a team. Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets and even Messi can use their heads but Alves is not picked for his clearance ratios, much less for his ability to head away danger.
Another tactic used that night and strangely deployed less effectively in the semi-final first leg was the use of a defensive midfielder as an aggressive search-and-destroy ball winner. Could Anderson do for Manchester United what Pepe did for Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final?
Lassana Diarra did a similar job for Mourinho on Tuesday with Pepe suspended. He was so outstanding in the role the heavily biased Barcelona-supporting paper Sport moaned the following day: "Diarra did nothing other than kick people. It is a shame such players exist."
A controlled physical approach gives Barcelona's opponents a fighting chance but to lean too heavily on the theory that they can be bullied out of possession is to forget how well they stand up for themselves either by giving as good as they receive or by exaggerating injuries and surrounding match officials. Streetwise players such as Busquets are capable of doing all three things in the same game.
"Barcelona don't like it up 'em" is now as redundant an attitude as planning to neutralise Messi. As brilliant as he was in the first leg, others picked up the baton in the second game. "There is no point man-marking him. You man-mark him, then you have to man-mark Xavi, and Villa and Iniesta and Pedro," Esteban says, name-checking the two players who combined brilliantly for Barcelona's equaliser on Tuesday.
And cutting through all the science he also makes one last very obvious point: "You have to score, because you know they will.
"You can talk about the various ways of trying to stop them from scoring but in all likelihood they will still score. So although it sounds obvious, you have to make sure you do, too." Something Mourinho's Madrid failed to do at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, costing them a place in the final.
Rare reverses: Barça's defeats this season
Barcelona 0-2 Hercules
11 Sept 2010, La Liga
Pep Guardiola omitted Xavi, Dani Alves and Pedro as Nelson Valdez's goals ens-ured an away win for the promoted side.
Real Betis 3-1 Barcelona
19 Jan 2011, Copa del Rey quarter-final
Having led 5-0 from the first leg over Second Division opposition, a largely second-string Barcelona looked complacent.
Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona
16 Feb 2011, Champions League last 16
Despite dominating possession and with Lionel Messi having a host of chances, two late goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin gave Arsenal the edge.
Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid
20 Apr 2011, Copa del Rey final
Carles Puyol's absence was clearly felt as Real recorded their first victory over their rivals in three years. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner with an extra-time header at the Mestalla.
Real Sociedad 2-1 Barcelona
30 Apr 2011, La Liga
Fielded a weakened team ahead of their Champions League semi-final. Despite taking the lead, inexperience told as they conceded a late penalty.
James Lawton: If Ferguson does bow out at Wembley, his legacy is not safe with Jose
Mourinho, of course, has formidable assets, but could United's following learn to love his football?
If the question was asked with such force back in 1999, when he was a mere stripling of 57 years dashing down the touchline of the Nou Camp with his arms reaching out to the sky, how much louder will it sound at Wembley later this month if, with his 12th Premier League title in his pocket, Sir Alex Ferguson finds a way to win his third European Cup?
In the year of his 70th birthday, what football man would not say: no, there could be no more perfect point of exit, no deeper validation of a career which has broken so many rules except the one that insists on winning?
The overwhelming received wisdom is that almost all of them would say that – except Ferguson.
They would say it because, principally, they would be cutting deals with their careers' fate rather than changing the very rhythm of their breath.
Ferguson has been here before and stepped back into the game in a state of some alarm. He hated that the furniture of his life might be so violently, irrecoverably rearranged.
If you are making odds, they have to be in favour of a similar reaction whatever the course of the next few weeks. There is no shortage of circumstantial evidence. Ferguson has been fighting his wars with all the old furies this challenging season. While all his younger rivals have shown various degrees of strain, at times he has seemed to grow even stronger at the scale of his challenge.
Yet could this extraordinary re-statement of ferocious energy, a re-immersion into controversy that has been conducted at times with something suspiciously like pleasurable zeal, just signal something other than an interminable love of battle? Might it just be evidence of release, a dawning of the fact that the race has been run, and that just as the ageing Sir Matt Busby gave him his seal of approval as a natural-born successor, Ferguson also believes that his legacy can be placed in appropriate hands?
It was certainly not hugely hard to see an inkling of this in what seemed like an extraordinary endorsement of Jose Mourinho at a time when many have argued that his credentials for the United succession have been irreparably besmirched.
If Mourinho, ejected from the Champions League in the most shaming circumstances, attacked by Real Madrid's most legendary figure, Alfredo di Stefano, described as an "arrogant lout" by Champions League double winner Ottmar Hitzfeld, needed some kind of psychological nourishment, it was surely provided by Ferguson.
Mourinho's input, said the United manager, would be highly valued in the build-up to the final against Barcelona game. They spoke frequently. Ferguson liked Mourinho's tactical feel, his ability to read weaknesses in the opposition.
For some months now the word from Old Trafford has been that Mourinho's arrival was locked down, that it merely awaited the word of Ferguson and a point of mutual convenience, and here was the manager, the creator of an era of unprecedented success, publicly installing the man some see as the enemy of football as a friend of Old Trafford; indeed, a working ally.
It is intriguing, to say the least – and for some who believe most fervently in the idea that United, for all the problems of their ownership, represent something beyond the mere details of power and wealth and win and loss, also alarming.
Above all, these devotees would say, Manchester United is about a way of playing football, about reflecting in it a tradition shaped by the Busby Babes, Best, Charlton and Law and all those players, from Robson and Keane to Scholes and Giggs, who over the last two decades have said that it is a club which has celebrated more than anything the force of individual talent.
Whatever else that can be said about Ferguson, no one has been more in sympathy with such an attitude. Of course, there have been many fights, and brutal partings, but only the other day he was underlining his debt to a tradition of great players. Can we imagine Mourinho at any point making such a proclamation?
After recent events in Spain, it is harder than ever. Mourinho, of course, has formidable assets, but could United's following learn to love his football? Perhaps it is more likely today than ever before. Maybe the need to win, in any way possible, has never been more oppressive.
Maybe the only unchallenged credential that Mourinho carries, the one that proclaims his ability to succeed in most any circumstances, has become the only one that matters.
We will see soon enough, of course. In the meantime, and whoever it is who one day attempts to follow in Ferguson's footsteps, it should not be a hardship acknowledging the most extraordinary fact. It is that once again football's oldest warrior has won the right to leave precisely when he chooses.
Five reasons United feel they can overcome might of Barcelona this time
Rooney's resurgence, Fletcher's return, final at Wembley, even the trauma of 2009 defeat... all offer hope for the Champions League final
1. Wayne Rooney is not lost in Cristiano Ronaldo's shadow
In the 2009 final he was cast as the Cristiano Ronaldo support act, Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh to Clarke Gable's Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty as somebody put it at the time. At the pre-match press conference in Stadio Olimpico, it was Ronaldo they wheeled out to declare United could win it and Rooney was as much in the shadows the following night, stuck out on the left wing – a bit-part player who was never unshackled.
But his burgeoning partnership with Javier Hernandez is a far more symbiotic one, with Rooney restored to the classic No 10 role where, as he observed at Schalke, football life began for him, while Hernandez operates just ahead – drawing defenders away from the space just outside the penalty area where Rooney is free to do damage. Out left in Rome, Rooney grew manifestly more desperate. As the new link-man, he is alive. "When you play in that position, you're always involved. You can get on the ball and create and score goals," he said recently. "As a footballer you enjoy that."
2. Having Darren Fletcher, the 'big-game' player, available
The abiding memory of Rome was the sight of Michael Carrick and Anderson stuck on the Barcelona carousel, not knowing whether to go tight, stand off or offer gentle pressure. Sir Alex Ferguson has always identified Darren Fletcher as the missing link that night – his red card in the semi-final second leg against Arsenal had ruled him out – and Fletcher's mental attributes for such occasions as Wembley on 28 May have led his manager to compare him to Mark Hughes.
"Some players, like Darren, are big-game players and he's a big-game player," Ferguson said. "The perfect example is Mark Hughes – he's one of the best big-game players in United's history, who never failed in a big game and Darren is that type of player."
Fletcher is expected to play a substitute's role on Sunday against Chelsea and to be restored from a debilitating virus in time for the final.
3. The joys of United being familiar with their surroundings
Ryan Giggs grinned yesterday when it was put to him that a home soil of sorts might be a help in the final. "I hope so. It's home advantage and, obviously, we've played there many times. We've won there...," he said, before the risk of hubris hit him: "... and we've lost there. We hope it does help, but it probably won't."
History suggests otherwise. It was not just the familiar pitch which helped United when they faced Benfica in the final 43 years ago, but the pre-match surroundings, too.
Sir Matt Busby's side stayed at the Great Fosters Country House hotel in the Surrey countryside and, though Sir Bobby Charlton has always remembered the struggle to put the game out of his mind, there was a walk in the country on the match-day morning and the chance to watch Sir Ivor win the Derby on the day of the final. There was also the opportunity for the players to explore the hotel's secret passageways: a ghostly cry Sir Bobby heard came from Nobby Stiles, who had found one of the hidden passages and thrown on a white sheet for dramatic effect. It all helped engender the esprit de corps which was so visible in United when the referee Concetto Lo Bello signalled play to start.
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| Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o scores Barca's first goal against Man Utd |
4. The lessons learnt in defeat the last time United met Barcelona
The current Barcelona would defeat United nine times out of 10, one Premier League manager told The Independent yesterday. But it is that manager's view that what happened last time is of most significance next time because United have been mesmerised once before by Pep Guardiola's side and they know this time around not to panic, rush in and exhaust themselves when those long periods of Barcelona possession start.
Defeat will have taught them the value of patience, 22 days from now: the knowledge that it is safe to wait, allow Barcelona to rack up the possession percentages and seek to regain the ball when it hits the edge of the 18-yard box. Those who know Ferguson best also suggest that he has genuinely believed for weeks that Lionel Messi need not be unduly feared and that he knows how to contend with the Argentine.
The idea that Ferguson will be taking much advice from Jose Mourinho, whose side were so comprehensively deposited from the tournament by Barcelona, is far-fetched. Ferguson's plans have been forming for weeks.
5. United now know more than anyone about how to react when behind
The United players have been fielding questions from this correspondent and others for the past month now on what went wrong against Barcelona in Rome. No one has ever explained and the only answer emanating from the ranks is that United simply failed to respond when Samuel Eto'o scored in Stadio Olimpico. "We just didn't react after they scored. It knocked the stuffing out of us, and if it happens again we need to react better," Giggs said, when the topic came up again late on Wednesday night.
United had entered the game as favourites and seemingly did not expect what came their way but this time the dynamics are reversed. A legend has developed around Barcelona in the two years since and Ferguson's players – who describe how they are trained to deal with being behind as they enter the final stages of games – have been trailing enough times this season for the experience to benefit them. In all, 13 points have been rescued in the final seven minutes of league matches this season. Perhaps the biggest prize can also be rescued.
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