Source: Daily_Mail
GARY LINEKER: I fear for Sir Alex Ferguson if he doesn¿t get cash to spend at Manchester United
It is no wonder Sir Alex Ferguson has been particularly touchy following Manchester United's Champions League exit against Bayern Munich. He will know this is a watershed moment in the club's history and only the recruitment of some top new talent will keep his club on top of the pile in England, let alone Europe. [LNB]Sir Alex is clearly a genius at building new teams, but not even he can do it with nothing to spend. The club say there is money available in the summer and the £80million received for Cristiano Ronaldo has barely been touched. [LNB]But until they sign some top talent like David Villa, the supporters will remain concerned because we've seen in recent games against Chelsea and Bayern that this is not a vintage United team. That, more than anything, is why Alex snapped and came up with his 'typical Germans' comment. [LNB] Mentally weak: Berbatov[LNB]Injury prone: Owen[LNB]Past his best: Neville[LNB] Today's game against Blackburn Rovers, a match United must win to be considered realistic title contenders, illustrates the main problem for Sir Alex. [LNB]People in the game know he likes to have four proven top-class strikers to choose from; two to start with and two to come off the bench. In 1999, he had that quartet - Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. At the moment, United have one striker they can rely on - Rooney. And he misses out today with his ankle injury. [LNB]Michael Owen is too injury-prone to play enough games over a season, while Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck are raw and inexperienced. And what about Dimitar Berbatov? I wrote last week that there seems to be something missing in his mental make-up to be a real Old Trafford star. [LNB]The fact that Ferguson preferred to keep a quarter-fit Rooney on the pitch on Wednesday rather than Berbatov says what the United manager thinks about his £30m Bulgarian at the moment. [LNB] Time's up: Sir Alex Ferguson needs money to replace his ageing stars with new forward talent[LNB]You can never write off Ferguson or United and he may pull a rabbit out of the hat this summer. But he'll have to because one top, new striker is probably not enough at the moment - he needs two. [LNB]Can he tempt the likes of Villa to Old Trafford? That depends on the owners as much as anything and we are waiting to see if the stories of financial uncertainty are on the mark. [LNB]If United miss out, there will be questions about Alex's future, mainly because he is 68 years old. But I don't see anything in his behaviour to suggest he is getting fed up. As far as I can tell, he lives and breathes it as strongly as he ever did.[LNB] It has been a bad couple of weeks for him, though. You can understand why he took a gamble with Rooney against Bayern but ultimately it backfired. He should have taken him off as soon as a tap on the ankle left him clearly hobbling, but for once Alex didn't act decisively. He almost let Rooney make the decision to carry on and that's dangerous because sometimes players need protecting from themselves. [LNB] More from Gary Lineker... Gary Lineker: One glaring miss shows Berbatov is no King Eric03/04/10 Gary Lineker: Messi's a genius but he's not the biggest danger for Arsenal27/03/10 GARY LINEKER: Sport Relief proves footballers DO have a heart...20/03/10 Gary Lineker: Jose Mourinho will be back at Liverpool or Manchester City13/03/10 Gary Lineker: Don't bank on Rio Ferdinand being captain in South Africa - England's World Cup curse will hit Fabio Capello's planning06/03/10 Gary Lineker: John Terry may look strong but he is only human27/02/10 Gary Lineker: Martin O'Neill is the man to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United20/02/10 Gary Lineker: It's simple - Terry and Bridge are England's best option now13/02/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEMaybe there was a bit of stubbornness in Alex keeping Rooney on, having decided to start with him. I think it was more a case of looking around and sensing he didn't have any great alternatives, with Berbatov struggling for confidence.[LNB] A couple of weeks ago, it looked as though United could have a glorious season. Now it might be an ordinary one, but let's not forget they can still finish today top of the Premier League and they were impressive against Bayern for the majority of the game, undone by a defensive error from Michael Carrick and a wonderstrike by Arjen Robben. [LNB]Today's game could be one to throw in Macheda. If Berbatov plays, he needs a partner because his movement is too limited to be a lone striker. Macheda has potential, we saw that last season, and this is his chance to make a contribution while Rooney tries to get fit for next weekend's derby game against Manchester City.[LNB] It is not just up front that Ferguson will want to strengthen. Across the team, you notice ageing players from Gary Neville at the back to Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in midfield. [LNB]If you were a United fan, you would be concerned. You know there is nobody better to put it right if Ferguson is given the financial tools. But you do worry what will happen if the money isn't there for him.[LNB] Let's pray Maradona doesn't waste his world beaterThe German World Cup-winning captain Lotthar Matthaus was the first World Player of the Year in 1991 when somehow I managed to finish third, something I'm extremely proud of. [LNB]Since then, the winners read like a who's who of the modern game - the Brazilians Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane of France and other superstars like Luis Figo and Roberto Baggio.[LNB] And despite having what is regarded as the strongest overall league in the world, just once in 19 years has the Premier League produced the best player in the world - Cristiano Ronaldo.[LNB] [LNB]Reigning in Spain: Messi is happy at Barca[LNB]The current holder of the title is Lionel Messi and the way he is playing at the moment he could retain the crown for the next five or six years.[LNB] So will we ever see Messi in England? I would love to say yes, but I suspect the answer is no. Messi is the most thrilling player I've seen since Maradona and can rightfully take his place alongside Diego and Pele as the greatest of all time if he produces his Barcelona form for Argentina at the World Cup. [LNB]But I can't see Manchester City or anyone else getting their hands on him, even at £150million. Messi seems to be at the right club in Barcelona. Anywhere from there will seem like a step down. Why would the best paid player in the world playing in the best team in the world want to change anything? [LNB]After his four-goal haul against Arsenal, the big question now is whether Maradona can build an Argentina team to suit his star player. [LNB]Argentina have a lot of extremely good players, including Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero and the new Benfica star Angel di Maria. [LNB]But Maradona only has to concern himself with one thing - picking the 10 players who will get the best out of Messi, just like the 1986 Argentina team was built around him.[LNB] I have to say it has been fun being able to relax and watch some of theMasters on TV rather than presenting the BBC coverage from Augusta asI've done in the past few years. Tiger Woods's performance in the firsttwo days was extraordinary. Considering he had been out for fivemonths, to get his best opening round in the Masters was an amazingeffort. It also makes you think, what if he becomes even better withoutall the distractions and complications of his previous life? He mightget Jack Nicklaus's record of Grand Slam titles yet.[LNB]
