The clue was in the choice of words. ‘I think it will be a hard-ish game tomorrow,’ said Sir Alex Ferguson as he looked ahead to today’s lunchtime match with Arsenal.
Hard-ish? Once upon a time the league season’s two meetings between Manchester United and Arsenal were seen as definitive, pivotal matches. They used to go some way to determining the destiny of the league championship.
At times they lit up the landscape. At others they were horrible and ugly.
Now — with Arsenal suffering from Arsene Wenger’s mistakes and the rise of clubs such as Manchester City — Ferguson anticipates their arrival like he would a six-foot putt on one of his favourite Che-shire golf courses.
Hard-ish. It’s enough to make Arsenal diehards wince.
Ferguson meant no disrespect. That much is clear. In fact he did his best yesterday to talk this fixture up.
‘Every game against Arsenal is always a big one,’ he said. ‘Since I’ve come down here [to England], it’s always the most important ‘derby’ game in the sense that both teams have always been challenging for the league.
‘It won’t be different tomorrow.’ The truth is, however, that it is different now.
Arsenal still represent tough opposition, a team who, on their day, could beat United. What they are not, though, are title contenders.
They are the type of team who draw at home to Sunderland (currently 14th in the Barclays Premier League), lose at Norwich (16th) and beat 10-man QPR (20th) at home by a single goal scored in the 84th minute.
They are seven points off the lead at the top end of the Premier League, a point ahead of Fulham and two behind Tottenham. They are not title contenders. To make matters worse, United now have in their team Arsenal’s best player of recent years and indeed last season’s captain Robin van Persie, a player signed in the summer after Ferguson telephoned Wenger not so much to haggle but to commiserate.
Wenger and his disciples —and there are many — must wonder how it has come to this. Ferguson used to spit out Arsenal’s name through gritted teeth. He used to talk about ‘Wenger’.
Now the United manager, knowing Arsenal look no nearer to breaking their seven-and-a-half-year run without a trophy, pays lip-service to ‘Arsene’ and his team, an entertaining and intriguing curio that he knows will not be bothering him much come May.
‘I think they have improved defensively this year, they’re a stronger physical team,’ he said. They’re stronger physically if you look at the make-up of their team now.These players they’ve brought in are much more physical than they have had in the past.’ We can only presume Ferguson was referring to the recent past. Arsenal, after all, use to head north with trojans like Vieira, Petit, Winterburn and Keown in their team.
The fact that United have won 10 of the last 14 fixtures against Arsenal (losing just two) tells the story of how the relationship between the clubs has become a little lop-sided. The last time Arsenal won both league games was in 2006-07 while United did so as recently as last year. United beat Arsenal 8-2 in this corresponding fixture last season and Van Persie — scorer of nine goals already this term — was still playing for the other side.
Asked about his former captain yesterday, Wenger did little to quell the feeling that it could be another productive day for the Dutchman.
‘My players know him as well because they have played against him in training,’ he said. ‘But in the game it’s a question of timing. How quickly will they read it as well as he reads it? He’s certainly the most efficient striker (in the Premier League).
‘In Manchester United you have good players around him. His runs are fantastic, his technique is absolutely amazing, so I’m not surprised (at his success).
‘United are a lot in offensive positioning, so with his intelligent runs, of course he will take advantage of that.’
Ferguson said yesterday he scouted Van Persie as a teenager at Feyenoord, on a day he was actually sent off, but it was Wenger’s stealth in the market that saw Van Persie lured to Highbury rather than any doubts about temperament.
Certainly the current United team look made for a player blessed with so much precision, imagination and instinct. Despite issues in defence, Ferguson’s team look capable of digging themselves out of the deepest of holes right now.
Last year’s drubbing at Old Trafford left Wenger ‘embarrassed’ and ‘humiliated’ though he insisted yesterday it didn’t take him long to recover.
Today he will hope his team stay in the game long enough to have a chance. If they do it could be close. Well, close-ish.
Manchester United expect it will be Christmas before their captain Nemanja Vidic is fit to return to their defence.
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed yesterday that the 31-year-old Serb has taken longer than expected to recover from an operation to clear up a torn meniscus in his right knee.
That injury was believed to be a residue of the cruciate damage he suffered in a 2-1 Champions League defeat in Basle last December.
He played the first five games of this campaign, but then complained of stiffness in the joint during training and had an operation six weeks ago.
Ferguson admitted yesterday: ‘I think we are talking December for Vidic — maybe around Christmas.’
United have been hampered by defensive injuries this season with Chris Smalling and Phil Jones also currently on the sidelines. – Daily Mail