Source: Daily_Mail
Fergie's fire can make this United team the greatest
So determined is Rafa Benitez to knock Manchester United off theirperch, Liverpool's manager has now developed his own computer software.
The details are a secret he guards closely but amount to a highly sophisticated global scouting programme designed to identify exactlythe kind of players he needs to transform his nearly-men into champions.
Clearly, the programme needs updating. Not least when it comes to the way it rates full backs and central midfielders. If it really is telling Benitez that Gareth Barry is superior to the quite brilliant Xabi Alonso, something must be wrong.
But not even the acquisition of two or three new players, not even if one of them is Carlos Tevez, will necessarily be enough to stop a United side that has mastered the art of winning trophies.
Why is Sir Alex Ferguson so keen to continue at Old Trafford?
For the same reason he cancelled plans to retire seven years ago.
'I didn't want to hand this young team over to someone else,' said Ferguson back then. 'Not when we have not yet seen the best of them.'
If he can persuade Cristiano Ronaldo to ditch this ludicrous idea of leaving to join Real Madrid, we may not have seen the best of this team either. A team, and a squad, that even now is close to settling the perennial debate about which of Ferguson's teams is the greatest.
A successful defence of the Champions League in Rome next week would not just make history but end comparisons with the teams of '99 and '94.
Become the first club to win four consecutive English league titles and another, more provocative, argument might be difficult to sustain. Could they then claim to be the best team ever? Better even than the great Liverpool side of Hansen, Dalglish and Rush?
One debate is most certainly over:
Ferguson's standing in the pantheon of great managers. A 31st major trophy, dating back to that extraordinary period of success with Aberdeen, makes him the most successful manager in history and without question the finest we have ever seen.
When Liverpool were dominating England as well as Europe, they won 11 championships in 18 seasons, from Bill Shankly's last championship in 1973 to the title they secured under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish in 1990. United have now matched the most recent of those 18 titles.
Saturday's goalless draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford, a match memorable only for the moment when Ferguson's decision to take off Tevez was booed, secured United's 11th Premier League title in 17 seasons. It is an achievement all the more remarkable for the fact that Ferguson has done it on his own. Liverpool won 11 in 18 with four managers.
Now Benitez might wish to point out that his side actually beat United home and away this season. Not only that, they have lost just two matches and boast by far the best record against their main rivals, having also beaten Chelsea home and away.
But Ferguson's side perform with greater consistency and, more significantly, they win with greater consistency. They responded to defeat at Arsenal back in November with that record-breaking run of 14 clean sheets, and prior to Saturday won 21 of the 25 league games they had contested since that setback at the Emirates.
It is the character as much as the class of this United team that sets them apart. That unbeaten run was ended in spectacular fashion by Liverpool when they crushed United 4-1 at Old Trafford, and Ferguson's men were still suffering from shock when they then lost at Fulham. But they regrouped to win seven on the bounce. Ferguson marvelled at the consistency of Chelsea when they won consecutive championships under Jose Mourinho but United also have that quality.
Ferguson has moulded the team very much in his own image. They have an insatiable desire for success. A hunger that is never satisfied, not even at 67 years old. Not even after three successive championships and a second successive Champions League final. Not even after winning the League Cup and the world championship.
The Champions League final in Rome will be a fascinating one. A clash of cultures, perhaps, but still a clash between two teams boasting some of the finest attacking talent on the planet.
Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov. Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry. A dream final that will benefit from the fact that both United and Barcelona have won their respective leagues with time to spare. The legs will be fresh, the hearts willing.
In an interview Ferguson gave yesterday, he spoke of what will be required to deal with a side that command so much possession. 'The way Barcelona operate their midfield makes it very difficult to get the ball off them,' he said.
'I don't think Iniesta and Xavi have ever given it away in their lives. They get you on that carousel and they can leave you dizzy.' But Ferguson then added: 'With the right tactics they are containable.'
Arsene Wenger appears to agree and on Saturday he urged Ferguson to study the way Chelsea so nearly contained them in their Champions League semi-final.
'What Chelsea did against Barcelona shows you,' said Arsenal's manager. 'They restricted them to very limited chances and were very strong in the challenges.'
United possess such defensive strength, a solidity Barcelona are not even close to matching. But they have great potency in attack, too, and it is that combination, that blend of qualities, that makes them so exceptional.
Far too good, certainly, for Ferguson to even begin to consider letting someone else have a go.
