Beat Chelsea and the title's ours - Fergie (1 Viewer)

[Coventry La La La]

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed his Manchester United players to hold off the challenge of Chelsea and claim a record 19th league title.


United take on Chelsea at Old Trafford in Sunday's title decider and Ferguson said he has faith in his players to get the job done, despite having let Carlo Ancelottis back into the picture.

"Everyone's aware of the magnitude of Sunday's game and it's one we're looking forward to," said Ferguson.

"Last Sunday's result [United losing 1-0 at Arsenal] has certainly brought an awareness to us of how important this game is.

"That was one of the reasons I had to pick the team I did on Wednesday against Schalke in the Champions League.

"It's given us a fresh team for Sunday. It should be a fantastic match and if we win, we should win the league."

United have dropped just two points all season in the Premier League and Ferguson is convinced his players, who beat Chelsea in both legs of their Champions League quarter-final tie this season, can stage another epic win.

"Our home form is a big advantage," said Ferguson. "That's the reason we're there at the top.

"It's probably the best in Europe. Some of our performances at home have been absolutely terrific.

"Hopefully we'll get the result we want on Sunday."

Wayne Rooney has recovered from a tight hamstring and will start against Chelsea but Darren Fletcher, who made his comeback as a sub against Schalke after two months out with a virus, will not make the starting line-up.

 

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[rob9872]

They have Blackpool at Old Trafford last game of the season so I think they acan still win it even if they lose on Sunday (and I think Chelsea are away at Everton which won't be easy).

I reckon a draw is more than enough and can see a fairly negative set up, but either way I think United will win the league (edit: get ready to bump this thread and laugh at me if they cock it up! )

 

[dojer]

As unimpressive that United have been this season it says more about the declining quality of the Premier League if this Chelsea side manage to win the league. Does anyone think that this title challenge might save Carlo Ancelotti's job, it seems as if Abramovich is hell-bent on giving him the sack, but who is going to take the Chelsea job who is better than Ancelotti? and given the ageing and declining squad that Chelsea have isn't it an achievement to even put in a title challenge with it?

 

[rob9872]

I actually think the reverse and it's the improvement in quality that has made it more competetive. Unfortunately what has also happened is that the pressure (and financial pressure) to succeed has meant that more than ever, that it is results over entertainment. Every game seems a no-lose atctical battle and this probably goes a long way to explaining why Blackpool's approach has been so refreshing.

 

[dojer]

I suppose it depends on whether you see this season as evidence of the improvement of the other 16 teams or the fall in standard of the top teams. I makes me pessimist then, but seeing as the league has lost the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano as well as Drogba, Gerrard and Torres all showing signs of decline then I plump for the latter. Especially seeing as how turgid Man Utd and Chelsea have been this season for large parts, as well as Arsenal's continued failure to handle pressure.

I was listening to the Guardian Football Weekly podcast this week and they raised an interesting point about this. It was that despite the fact that the top teams in England aren't as good as they were two or three years ago, no-one apart from Barcelona and Real Madrid has really overtaken them. In other words that the overall talent pool in global football has declined in line with the top clubs in England. Which I kind of think is true, in the early 2000s you had Zidane and Figo as the two great players in Spain and Italy was dotted with players like Veron, Batistuta, Ronaldo, Rui Costa, Buffon, Cannavaro, Del Piero, Totti, Nedved etc as well as the last years of the great Bayern side of the late 90s (Kahn, Lizarazu, Scholl etc). It might just be the benefit of hindsight but the current collection of top players is firstly not really outside Real and Barcelona with maybe Rooney, Tevez and Aguero joining them and there aren't as nearly as many. Did we just have a golden generation across the whole world of football in the early 2000s which might even be a peak in the history of the game of a shear number of great players or is it just nostalgia

 

[rob9872]

The thing is you've named a few stars from an era and there were of course many more. However in 5 or 10 years people will say that we had Rooney, Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta, Vidic, Drogba, Torres, Villa, Silva etc etc and of course Marlon King You take any period in history and there will have been greats. The game is constantly evolving and the best players will always be attracted by whoever can pay the most money. It used to be Italy, but currently that is the EPL and Spain and so that is where the standard overall will be higher.

 

[Nick]

They have Howard Webb, of course they will win!

 

[Covstu]

A draw for utd and they win the league. Fergie has done wonders with what he has, he dis not have milions to spend but did not need it.

As for english football, there is only one team that can rival man utd and that is barcelona. Real Madrid spend about 180M euros in 2 years to buy league and euro success and guess what, they failed!! This goes to show that you do not need to buy everything in sight like real or man city its about coaching your players to work as a team like utd or barca.