We look just champion, says Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson believes his team has the look of champions after they came from behind to record a crucial 4-1 victory over Blackburn.
Second half goals from Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Park Ji-sung and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford on Saturday cancelled out Matt Derbyshire’s first half effort in emphatic fashion.
The victory allowed Premiership leaders United to maintain a six-point advantage over second-placed Chelsea, who kept up their pursuit with a 1-0 win at Watford.
“I think we looked like a championship side,” said Ferguson. “You would expect a championship team to show that kind of nerve, determination, drive, resolve. We had all that today. Everything you are looking for in a football team was there.
“There are just seven games to go – that makes me nervous now! But, without question, that was one of our best performances of the season and, throughout the game, they had a lot of handicaps.
“They had just come back from internationals, they had to overcome being 1-0 down so to keep making chances and to keep their nerve and show their composure was fantastic.”
The only dark cloud for a United squad already tested by injuries was the loss of Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, stretchered off with a dislocated shoulder in the first half.
Ferguson revealed: “He will be out for four or five weeks. We will do our best to get him back as quickly as we can but I said a couple of weeks ago that the most important part of the club is the bench.
“We will have to look what our alternatives are now but the resolve of the team tells me they will handle it.”
Certainly, the form of United’s key attacking players is such that Ferguson currently has confidence in his team to overcome any opposition, especially with the type of backing his team received from a Premiership-record crowd of 76,098 against Blackburn.
“The fans were magnificent,” said Ferguson. “The best we’ve had for years, wonderful. They can smell success and the players know it. The crowd were going to take us over the line, the players knew that and you have to give them credit for that.”
Rovers manager Mark Hughes, an Old Trafford legend, shared his former manager’s appraisal concerning the top of the table and believes the title race is effectively over.
“They are champions elect and they are good value for it,” said Hughes. “This year they have played the best football, the most expansive game, and this game was a key game for them.
“They sensed that, the crowd sensed that and they knew we would give them a real test today.
“I feel we did that, to a certain extent, and I feel from this point onwards they will go on and win it comfortably.
“This was a key game. They have great respect for what we do, we have caused them problems in the past and we caused them some today. But they were not to be denied and sometimes you have to accept that.”
Although the scoreline may have flattered Hughes’s former employers somewhat, the Welshman pointed out the factor that separated the Reds from his own team and other Premiership rivals.
“The reason United are top of the league and champions-elect is that they are able to galvanise themselves when they are struggling a little bit,” said Hughes.
“When they are struggling to find a little bit of form, they are able to get themselves together and go again. That’s certainly what they did in the second half.”
Source:Soccer News
Related posts:
- Ferguson defiant as title race hots up
- Giggs is one of our greatest ever says Ferguson
- Football: Ferguson in debt of Ronaldo
- Saha filling Ruud role, says Ferguson
- Scholes will be back: Ferguson
- Real must pay more says Ferguson
- Ferguson backs McClaren to succeed as England coach
- Rooney can cope with burden of expectancy: Ferguson
- Ferguson hails resurgent Rooney
- Ronaldo to defy Ferguson and play against Kazakhs