UEFA Champions League: Ferguson to blame for United’s wretched European record
Last night, United drew against Rangers, it might be a surprise for some people but after the line up that was selected by Sir Alex for the match against the Scottish Champions, it was only inevitable considering that everyone knew how defensive Rangers
would be on the night.
Fergie's excuse has been rotation. This time apparently he has done a little too much on the rotation front, one can understand if a manager rotates after Christmas time considering that the players get tired and fatigued around that part of the season but
let’s not forget that the likes Berbatov, Scholes and Giggs didn't even go on international duty in the recently concluded two week international break due to their retirements from Bulgaria, England and Wales respectively.
But Ferguson still rotates; he still leaves these players out and makes ten changes to the side that drew against Everton on the weekend? There has been a debate on-going in football circles that hints towards the fact that Carlo Ancelloti is not a better
manager than Ferguson when it comes to European competitions, in the last ten years Ferguson has won two Champions League’s with top quality players while Carlo Ancelloti has won two Champion’s league’s as well but with an aging Milan side only consisting
of a single young high profile player i.e. Ricardo Kaka.
Manchester United reached the 2008 UEFA Champions League final and played against Chelsea. They weren’t dominating throughout the match as Chelsea gave us them a tough game and as luck would have it, United won it in the end through penalties. Earlier on
in 1999, against Bayern Munich, Manchester United were totally outplayed for 90 minutes only to win the match in the dying minutes, thanks to some heroics by Teddy Sherringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
In Rome against Barcelona, Manchester United again suffered from tactical naivety as Ferguson played Park, Anderson and Carrick against a Barcelona team which had Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Busquets in their line up, the result was a humiliating 2-0 defeat.
A trend has developed at Old Trafford, which dictates that anyone who criticizes the old scot is absolutely senile and has no sense of what the club is about whatsoever. But surely rationality would suggest that a certain air of objectivity comes into practice
and takes charge of the situation. Clearly, Ferguson’s United has not been the best in Europe, they have won two European Cups in the last twenty years, other than that it has been a comedy of errors as lost semi-finals to Dortmund, Bayern Munich, A.C Milan
and Bayer Leverkusen come to mind.
In the past rotation has worked well for Manchester United because they had a squad filled with good back up players. They had Giggs and Scholes who were two years younger than they are now. Last season, the Red Devils only dropped only one point in the
league from a winning position and that was at Everton, this season they’ve already dropped 2+2=4, against Everton and Fulham, both from winning positions.
In 2008-2009 season, Fergie worked wonders for United with rotation but the man is rotating again and it’s too early this time around. Back then, when Manchester United rotated they had Ronaldo and Tevez on the bench. This season’s Premier League rules have
limited United to a squad of just 25 players, in the 2008-2009 season; Manchester United used 33 players to win the league.
Only Ronaldo and Vidic started more than thirty games for Fergie’s team that season as United reached the final of the UEFA Champions League.
Last night, Gibson had nine shots on target while the total number of shots that the rest of the team had was just 12. Anyone care to explain why? Was he so unintelligible that he didn't realize it wasn't working and he can try to pass to his team mates
sometimes? It is sad to see this situation because; Scholes is 35 he isn’t going to play every week for United. Fletcher is their only fit enough midfielder, Carrick is crocked, Anderson has not impressed in his time at Old Trafford. So that just leaves Gibson
and he of course did himself no favours last night. Fergie learned his lesson in terms of Carrick; the English midfielder has not started for his club side since Bayern Munich’s defeat at Old Trafford last season.
A lot of fans still have faith in Ferguson but if people do believe that Manchester United are going to compete aggressively in the Champions League with this squad along with the English Premier League, they are being delusional.
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