No, not really hesitant. Just struggled with the pace of the game a little, and so it appeared to pass him by, only a touch though. He did an awful lot of hard pressing and running, but didn't really make too many tackles. Certainly didn't look affected by what had happened to him.

Sounds good. I wonder if the Tony Pulises and Alex Fergusons of this world would tell their players to scare him a little. We've already forgotten Danny Murphy's complaint about such managers, but it is worth considering how much responsibiity these managers bear for the commando-style of football that we often see

It wouldn't surprise, Zico.

Talking of Ferguson, I can't believe he recalled a ManU player who was on loan at Peterborough, leaving them completely high and dry, because they decided to sack his son Darren.

What a wanker. Classless prick. Nothing new though.

In his defense
1) those loans are up next week, and
2) he's standing up for his son
3) you usually make a loan move with assurances from the manager that he will play those players. will Ferguson's players have those assurances from the new manager?

but, yeah, i agree, he is a classless prick

Only Ferguson could get away with that. It's absolutely disgraceful. I really, really detest the old bastard.

Ferguson is the law. If you saw the United game this weekend, you'd know that Gary Neville should be on a referee-enforced holiday right now, but he was not given the red card he deserved. Second time in recent weeks this has happened. I wouldn't want to be the referee who has to be showered with spit and fury in the tunnel after a game

I saw the replay during the second half - again it was utterly disgraceful. He's a great manager, pains me to say it, but he is - but my word has he had nearly everything weighted in his favour down the years - from a huge financial advantage and monopoly on British talent, to disgracefully favourable refereeing decisions and embarrassingly obvious preferential treatment from the FA. It reaches ridiculous levels sometimes, levels where fans of all other teams almost come together to say "what the fuck?".

I certainly won't miss the man when he finally farks off. And I won't feel the titles we win after his retirement are any lesser due to the reduced competition. Yeah, it's not his fault that United are so wealthy, but it did give him a real advantage for a long time as he was able to bid up the price of any half-decent Englishman and ensure his club had a constant stream of decent talent.

Oh, before someone attacks me, I'm not saying that Ferguson has won only because of his money. He is an excellent manager, but the money advantage has certainly helped

Don't think anyone will hunt you down for saying Ferguson is a piece of shit. The day he announced he actually wasn't retiring after all was a particularly grim day.

Agreed fully to the above posts ^ thats how I felt about him.

Sometimes its just refreshing everyone notice what advantages he gets, instead of the usual wanking that he is the best manager ever in the game in A-M

He created the money advantage by winning trophies and using the money he received from the large fan base/stadium they have effectively. See purchases like Eric Cantona, Keane etc

Let's not forget him overseeing the rise of Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Neville and Butt from the youth ranks.

He did what you were supposed to do in his position. FFS the whole reason we moved into the Emirates was to compete with United, Chelsea or whoever for the best players. This is why the Arshavin purchase was excellent because finally we bought what was at the time a blue chip player.

His preferential treatment from the FA/Refs is horrid and his snipes at them when he doesn't get his way is terrible as well.

This love in between Ferguson and Pulis though is pathetic. Pulis is blatently gonna bring out the red carpet for United before Stoke give it to United up the backside.

I'm not going to get into now, because I have too many times before and frankly I no longer care enough, but Fergie has always had a massive financial advantage - he didn't create anything. They were simply the biggest beneficiary of the creation of the Premier League because they had the most fans, biggest stadium, etc, and embraced the mountains of cash that started flowing into English football to build further on that. Fergie has always had a virtual monopoly on British talent and whatever way you spin that it's been a MASSIVE advantage.

What are we supposed to do get on the floor and kiss Fergie's feet because he managed to bring through Scholes, Giggs and Beckham? Beckham should have come through at Tottenham, Giggs at Manchester City, but because ManU have the most prestige and more importantly the most money they came through there. Whoopty do.

Meh, anyway, he's fucking horrible cunt who I wish nothing but ill on.

Stoke equalise at Old Trafford. Hard to see them getting anything but you never know!

Full time. They keep doing just enough to win games. These guys are fucking annoying.

Ricky1985 wrote:

I'm not going to get into now, because I have too many times before and frankly I no longer care enough, but Fergie has always had a massive financial advantage - he didn't create anything. They were simply the biggest beneficiary of the creation of the Premier League because they had the most fans, biggest stadium, etc, and embraced the mountains of cash that started flowing into English football to build further on that. Fergie has always had a virtual monopoly on British talent and whatever way you spin that it's been a MASSIVE advantage.

What are we supposed to do get on the floor and kiss Fergie's feet because he managed to bring through Scholes, Giggs and Beckham? Beckham should have come through at Tottenham, Giggs at Manchester City, but because ManU have the most prestige and more importantly the most money they came through there. Whoopty do.

Meh, anyway, he's fucking horrible cunt who I wish nothing but ill on.

On the first line fair enough mate but I wanted to respond anyway.

I'm not saying it wasn't an advantage. I'm just saying he used it effectively like any other manager would and should do in his position. Hardly a decent criticism. He also used money generated by Sky and the Premier League when they won trophies to pump into the team. That was a MASSSIVE factor. He built on success effectively. Do you not think Arsenal Football Club are not part of the SKY 4? Of course the ref matters and some teams sucking his dick was/is unfair. That is undeniable. But between 1986 and 1993 they didn't win the league (although they won other stuff) and we won it twice in that period. Why is that? Why didn't Utd win the league for 26 years before 93'; most of which didn't include Fergie? They had a huge fan base and a huge stadium then. They were actually second in 92' before the creation of the premier league so they used that base for the league domination. They won the league, bought players (inspired buys like Cantona who was bought before the 1st title and Keane) and then built on success. This is what you are supposed to do and what Wenger hasn't team wise.

Also where did I say we must kiss Fergie's feet for Beckham and co? I said he oversaw that brilliantly and that core was not down to money or at least that's what I was alluding to. If you say Giggs should have stayed at City and Becks at Spurs then Fabregas should have stayed at Barca and Wilshere at Luton. It's stupid.

This is Professional Football business. Fergie knows how it works and is the best producer. You're seriously naive if you think the Emirates Stadium is not so that we can have an advantage on most other clubs money and prestige....in fact we already do.

Hear, hear. The distinguished gentleman from Havana speaks the truth.

With Fergie it's a combination of having the money, but also just being a damn good manager. The two in isolation are not enough. That is why Mourinho isn't messing around trying to manage Ajax or Marseilles.

One question I do have is if Ferguson won the league this year, would it be his greatest accomplishment? People say his team is terrible and that it would be magic if they won, but he has over 80 million in just 3 players (Berbatov, Rooney and Ferdinand), and over 40 million in Carrick, Anderson, Nani while guys like Ferdinand and Evra didn't fall off trees.

I didn't know you rated Ferdinand highly enough to mention him twice Zico.

Lol. Ferdinand is worth a double mention, but I meant to say 'Vidic' did not fall off a tree. Point remains, this squad is just as expensive as Chelsea's and been together as long, so they should be favored to win