As the season enters its sixth month and final stretch it seems as though elder statesmen dominate the tale. Events of the last few weeks bear this out and it was the old fellas who finished the weekend having the last laugh.
Last week’s article suggesting that Fergie may retire at the end of the season was met with strong resistance from you readers. However, whether I’m right or wrong, Fergie himself said recently that he wanted to go out on a high. He will no doubt be influenced by the torrid time Arsene Wenger has been experiencing lately.
The Frenchman is getting torn apart in the press and he doesn’t deserve it. There can be no denying his impact on English football has been both enormous and hugely important. Having his methods questioned by precocious journalists under the age of thirty must be galling for him. I must admit I was delighted to see Arsenal’s stupendous victory at the weekend.
The side Arsenal beat, Tottenham, are United’s opponents this weekend in a fixture Fergie has already described as being “massive” for the title race. Spurs have been terrific under the experienced guidance of Harry Redknapp. Unfortunately for them, the FA have been batting their eyelids in Redknapp’s direction for the England job and it has destabilised the club. It is far from a foregone conclusion, but I am more confident than I would have been a few weeks ago.
Despite the fact we lost our captain, Nemanja Vidic, in October for the season and our most effective midfielder, Darren Fletcher, the squad has been immense this term. This is in no small amount due to the contributions of the returning Paul Scholes and 900-man Ryan Giggs.
How Giggsie is still playing at the top of this league at his age is anybody’s guess. I can’t even think of anything I have done 900 times in my life, let alone anything as mammoth as playing for United. A few more performances like the one at the weekend and we could have another trophy to celebrate in May too. Then it really would have been a season for the old stagers.
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Comments
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Posted by Dean on 02/29/2012
Darren Fletcher? Most effective midfielder? My God. I like the guy as a Scottish Gerrard but he's never had a consistent season. Maybe, just maybe, if you consider only the "big" games... but then, what're Scholes and Giggs? Scotch Mist? ;o)
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Posted by Moller on 02/29/2012
Have to say that Fletcher has been immense, especially considering having played with a chronic inflamatory disease that sounds like it hasnt been fully controlled for the last years, seriously affecting his ability to maintain good nutritional- and fluid balance (most can maintain OK balance, but you´d like to have close to perfect balance if competing in the engine room like Fletch). A total hero in my opinion.
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Posted by randy on 02/29/2012
Sir Alex has been through the worst and the best times. Nothing fazes him.
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Posted by MCapital on 02/29/2012
Hi Mark,
Can you give us an insight, if you may, about the situation with Paul Pogba? That boy has shown glimpses of brilliance the few times he has played.
With due respect to all, but he is one of the top five middle fielders we have got [Scholey, Giggsie, Antonio, Carrick, Paul Pogba] in my opionion.
Is it the contract situation or what? But surely the boy would have signed an extension by now if he got more playing time. SAF said it himself just before Christmas that the boy deserved more game time.
It would be a very terrible blow if we were to loose that boy and I can bet it will come back to bite us in the future.
Nice blog, mate.
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Posted by Paul Delaney on 02/29/2012
Fletcher was a cog in the machine. He could fill a useful role with energy size and strength, leaving people like Scholes to control the ball once we had it. We have missed that cog, especially in certain games. I like Anderson when he's around. When he gets in a groove he can control the midfield, has attacking ability if not much scoring ability like Scholes, and is not shy to tackle. But just as he's getting enough games to get in form and confident, he's injured.
Definitely will be a huge game with Spurs. It and City are the only two obviously tough games we have left, just have to watch out for the surprises. We win both, good odds we win the title.
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Posted by Rahul on 02/29/2012
Yes, Fletcher. I'm glad Mark got that right. Fletcher was awesome when he played. A lot of fans underestimate him vastly. His passing was top notch and his positional sense is good too. IMO, we've lost a player Fergie put a lot into and I'm sure he knows that.
Anyway, this is not about Fletcher. Cheers to Giggsy and Scholesy! I'm so glad Scholes is back. He is a joy to watch.
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Posted by Imran on 02/29/2012
i think Giggs is the best player the EPL has ever seen and he is truly a Manchester United great i am going to be sad to see him retire. I am happy scholes has returned from retirement hope he plays next season
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Posted by Scott Morris on 02/29/2012
Winning the league will perhaps come down to the April fixture against City. Given the need for experience and cool heads in a match of such importance--and hopefully with a fully fit squad at his disposal--does SAF start Giggs and/or Scholes at the Council House?
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Posted by Fredriix Ado'niix on 02/29/2012
I can’t
even think of anything I have done 900
times in my life, let alone anything as
mammoth as playing for United. GIGGSY...!!!
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Posted by Aegean1985 on 03/01/2012
There are no easy fixtures but if Utd beat Spurs this weekend, the advantage goes back to them.
HOME FIXTURES
Man Utd - 6
Man City - 6
OPPONENTS
Man Utd - Spurs, WBA, Wolves, Fulham, Blackburn, QPR, Wigan, Villa, Everton, City, Swansea and Sunderland
Man City - Bolton, Swansea, Chelsea, Stoke, Sunderland, Arsenal, WBA, Norwich, Wolves, Utd, Newcastle and QPR.
Suspect Chelsea and Arsenal will dent City because both are fighting hard for 4th.
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Posted by AARON MARK HENDRIX on 03/01/2012
Fergie retiring doesnt look like happening soon. I have the feeling that the man will only go after a League , FA Cup & UCL treble.The chances of that happening in the next few years I aint sure,so my bet is that he will leave once health gets in the way.Just to add,I dont feel that it'll be a bad thing,change is always good,but then again,he'll cast a huge shadow over the club and a enormous void will need to be filled.
Say what you want about Fletch,but,i feel when he's fit,he delivered MOTM performances whilst being "effective" in the majority of others.Carrick has really picked up though and should see us thru the season.
Spurs almost made Citeh look like absolute fools,away too at that!!Hopefully they'll have an off day and we win.
Our form has been reasonably ok,though consistency is lacking.I still believe it's possible but time will tell.Defense looks suspect & attack is blunt at times.
PAUL SCHOLES STILL SCORES GOALS,RYAN GIGGS,TEARING YOU APART SINCE 1991..
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Posted by Mike on 03/01/2012
as an LFC fan, I remember a few back when the title fight was between Man U and Liverpool feeling the difference was Giggs being content off the bench, Fletcher's energy/intensity, and the Van Der Sar/Vidic/Ferdinand trilogy. I don't know how Fergie does, but he can keep top top players content coming off the bench all season when we had like Babel, Voronin, Crouch complaining about playing time.. it's the skill United will miss the most when SAF is gone
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Posted by David Smith on 03/01/2012
My gut feeling says we're going to win on Sunday and like I said a few weeks ago on here, if we can get out of White Hart Lane no worse than two points off the top, we have a great chance of winning number 20. Moving to that souless ground known as the Emirates is what's cost Wenger and Co. The cost of building the place has meant a drastic reduction in funds for new players, while the likes of Cesc and Nasri jumped ship for greener pastures. Giggs and Scholes have combined well together so far and both will be back in the middle for us on Sunday. I do wish Giggsy would teach Nani how to take a proper corner though. Ryan's doing his coaching badges and getting our Michael Jackson look-alike to put a decent cross over would almost certainly see the Welsh Wizard appointed as Fergie's successor! I thought both De Gea and Jonny Evans were immense at Norwich, although Welbeck and Hernandez were atrocious. Nani, as usual, faded babdly in the second half, but thank you Ryan, on 90 and 900.
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Posted by TorontoRed on 03/01/2012
Another win in uninspiring fashion but they all count. Thank god for our so called geriatrics, Scholes, Giggs and Fergie. who knows how deep into the wilderness we would be without them. The magic of the moment is rarely lost on them and I guess even when we were being outplayed, often badly, you somehow knew Giggs would rise to the occasion and did he ever. It is a testament to the class and character of these men.
The rest of the squad, with De Gea a clear exception, were flat and played without a sense of urgency. As David mentioned, Nani predcitably faded badly and his corners and crosses don't seem to be finding their way onto heads or into dangerous areas like they used to. As for Welbeck, I have yet to see him take command of the line and his performance here and vs. the Dutch bear that out. Minus the brilliance of Scholes and genius of Giggs, this team is missing a spark.
The season will likely come to a head vs Citeh, with what looks like a winner takes all match.
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Posted by aztec10 on 03/04/2012
Season was always going to be tough after losing vds in goal,Early form perhaps fooled some into thinking we were going to run away with league.So many injuries, vidic loss and no apparent heir to scholes have seen us dumped out of cl,cc,fac by FUCKING liverpool and trailing city of all teams, still cant get over the self inflicked hiding they gave us.Truth is our defense is fragile our midfield is lacking a spark and unless rooney is on form we struggle to score.The good news is we are still in with a shout of winning although I feel we will come up short. This seasons learning curve for welbeck, de gea,jones,young, smalling,cleverly and hopefully pogba will make us a force next year along with a new striker, midfielder,leftback & a cull of some of the dead wood in the squad.
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Posted by mmnistlb on 03/09/2012
Although a sequel for "The Muppets" has been greenlit, a single star who was integral to bringing the franchise into the new millennium will not be a portion of it, reports Collider.
Jason Segel told the internet site he won't be signing up for one more round with Kermit and Co. "It's correct I will not be inside the sequel]," stated Segel, "but it's entirely amicable. My objective was to bring the Muppets back and I did that, leaving them in really very good hands." Segel mentioned he desires "to pursue far more human-related projects," adding, "All I wanted to complete was to set the stage for them to do whatever they wanted. I am certain I'll return in some capacity here and there, but that was half a decade of my life. 5 years of difficult perform. I'm prepared for somewhat puppet break."
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Mark Payne writes about football for a variety of media outlets. He reported on the 2010 World Cup for Australia’s ABC network and worked at one of the FIFA fan sites. He has been ESPN’s Manchester United correspondent for four years. His writing attracts a worldwide following and in 2011 this blog was nominated for an award. To contact Mark for football discussion e-mail him on markpayne.editor@hotmail.com at any time. He wears lucky socks on match days.
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