Sir Alex Ferguson has responded strongly to criticism of
United's midfield and insists he will never make knee-jerk signings
aimed at strengthening his team.
In an interview with
MUTV, screened on
Countdown to Kick-off on Friday evening, the Reds boss was
informed that the subject of central midfield had generated plenty
of recent debate on the club's TV channel, with some disgruntled
fans demanding new signings.
Sir Alex responded by arguing there was "no point"
in rushing into the transfer market and that, in fact, the
champions have coped remarkably well given the number of injuries
in the squad this term, not just in midfield but also at the
back.
"Criticism is fine as long as it's balanced," the manager
declared. "Anderson and Tom Cleverley have been injured and those
two, in particular, have tremendous potential – they’re fantastic
young players. So we're missing two very important cogs in the
machine.
"Darren Fletcher has had his issues and Michael Carrick has been
injured a few times, so we're trying to achieve a consistent
midfield operation.
"And it's not just the midfield – you've also got to look at the
back four, which we've been changing all the time. We've done
exceptionally well in spite of that.
"Everyone's saying 'go out and buy a central midfield player'.
Well, I would do that if he were a Manchester United player. If
we'd seen a young Bryan Robson or Roy Keane, we'd have been
the first there. The possibilities of improving our team are not
lost on us."
Sir Alex knew that replacing the retired Paul Scholes would take
some time, but he has faith in his policy of promoting from
within.
"When you lose a player of Scholes' brilliance, there's a 'time
lapse' which allows someone to emerge from the youth or reserve
team, or to come back from a loan spell," he explained.
"Cleverley was at Wigan last year and also had spells at
Leicester and Watford. He gained maturity from being on loan and we
have to wait on and trust that."
