Unfazed by the latest influx of young, attacking talent,
Uniteds nine-time title winner is relishing another season at the
very top
Firstly, did Phil Neal or Alan Hansen been in touch to
congratulate you on your ninth league winners
medal?
[Laughs] It would be nice! Its obviously great [to set the
record]; the Liverpool team of that era was such a great team. Its
not something I think about too much because I want to win more,
but its something that Ill be immensely proud of when I finish.
It was nice to overtake players from a team who are our rivals, and
who I watched winning everything while I was growing up.
And even if though youre not one for looking at records,
it would be a good feeling to get a 10th title this
season...
It would be nice to get to 10 but it would be nicer to get to 11!
[Laughs] I dont want to be greedy but thats my shirt number, so
thats what Im aiming for
Many people were surprised United won the title last
season. With that surprise element gone, will things be
tougher?
Last year, at the start of the season, a lot of people thought we
were still going through a period of transition. They didnt think
we were capable of putting together a decent challenge, especially
with Chelsea being so strong. But we got a good start and we were
quite lucky injury-wise up until Christmas, so we were able to
sustain it. Obviously in the run-in we got a few injuries, but the
momentum was already with us, really. The players who came in did
brilliantly for us and everybody contributed to the success.
From your experience, is there much difference between
defending a title and trying to win it back? Which of the two is
the harder?
[Puffs out his cheeks] Yeah, it is probably a little bit harder to
defend it because everybody wants to beat the champions. There is
that extra pressure, and theres also extra hunger from the likes
of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal because they havent won it the
season before. So it is probably a little bit harder to defend it.
But if you have won it, then the players have that hunger to do it
again. And if the players who won it last year have got that same
hunger again, then weve got a great chance.
Where do you see the main challenges coming
from?
Just the usual suspects really. The quality is Arsenal, Liverpool,
Chelsea. Everyone, including ourselves, has all added [players].
Tottenham have added a lot of players as well, so youre looking at
those sorts of teams. Liverpool have brought a lot of players in.
Arsenal have obviously lost Thierry Henry but have added quality
too Eduardo da Silva, from what Ive seen of him, looks decent.
You never know, it might give the chance to players like Robin van
Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor to step up for them. Theyve still got
quality. Arsenal obviously relied on Henry to score a lot of goals
for them, but theyve still got top-quality players. We got a close
look at Chelsea in the Community Shield and Florent Malouda looks a
good player. Everybodys strengthened where they felt they needed
to, but were happy with the way weve bought.
Sir Alex Ferguson has strengthened the squad substantially
in pre-season; what have you made of the new boys?
Theyve all done well and overall were looking good. With all the
loan players who have come back and the lads that weve signed,
its an exciting time. The players weve signed are talented. Ive
said before, though, that our main focus is defending as a team and
not giving away too many goals. Because of the attacking options
weve got well always create chances. If we can keep clean sheets,
weve always got a chance that showed last year.
Both Nani and Anderson have been touted as potential
replacements for you. Do you feel any pressure from
that?
No, I dont think so. Over the last two or three years the manager
has bought young players as he looks to the future, which is
something youve got to do at this club. You cant stand still.
Myself, Scholesy, Nev
well not play forever. We needed to bring
the age of the team down and weve done that, but at the moment
weve got a good mixture of experience and young players.
Eventually these young players will be the future of United. The
club never stands still and never will.
Has the manager spoken to you about how he's going to use
you this season?
Not really, no. Over the last couple of years Ive played on the
left, Ive played in midfield and off the front. Ive got the
experience to play all the positions, so it doesnt really bother
me where I play. Weve got that strength in depth now and plenty of
options up front, so Im sure the manager will be freshening things
up. Hell probably try to keep the back four and midfield as solid
as possible really, not changing too much. But hes got the luxury
now of being able to change the front players around, which is
obviously important because they need to stay sharp.
Your playing role has evolved over the
years
Its had to! Ive had to change my game because Im not as quick as
I used to be. That means, as a winger, you cant rely on your pace
as much. You have to use your head a bit more. The yards that Ive
lost in pace, hopefully Ive gained in experience and intelligence
of reading the game.
Theres a real unpredictability about your role, and
Uniteds attack as a whole
Yeah, we have got the sort of players who can change roles. Wayne
Rooney sometimes plays on the left, Ronaldo on the right, Louis
Saha up front, myself just off the front. But it doesnt always
stay like that. Wayne can come in, I can go out wide, Ronaldo is
capable of swapping. So weve got that fluidity really, and weve
got personnel who can interchange. Often last year that really
worked for us.
How much of that interchanging is
pre-meditated?
Were talking about class players here with real imagination, so
the creativity that the players have got, they use it. But we also
work at it on the training pitch. Sometimes you have to hold your
position, others you have to be more structured, but sometimes
youve got the licence to go wherever.
Do you think retiring from international football will
allow you to play more for United?
Thats the plan. Hopefully it will end up prolonging my career with
United.
Its Chelsea at Old Trafford this month: how difficult are
they to play against?
Theyre a solid team with good experience. They have great
discipline so its hard to create chances against them, but weve
done alright in the last few years. Theyre normally tight affairs
so you like to try and score the first goal. But its all about
having consistency against all the teams you have to play against.
Whether we win or lose that particular game, I dont think itll
have too much bearing on where the championship goes. Its all
about being consistent across the entire season.
Much has been made of the teams contrasting
styles
I dont read too much into that. Chelsea are an efficient team and
dont really play like ourselves. Theyre not as flowing. But
theyve still got quality, exciting players and, most importantly,
effective players, which is what its all about.
What are your memories of the FA Cup final?
Obviously not very good ones, but it was still a good season. We
got hit by injuries probably at the wrong time and overall I
thought we put on quite a good performance without getting the
result.
Youve said previously that you tend to remember the
disappointments. Where does last Mays defeat against Milan in the
San Siro rank?
It was disappointing, but not as disappointing as games in the past
that we should have won. Leverkusen, Dortmund, Porto
games like
that were really disappointing. Milan was different because we had
game after game after game, and you could see the lads were getting
tired. The back four had a few players coming back and werent
fully fit. We just werent prepared, whereas Milan werent going
for the league, they were just totally prepared for the Champions
League. We werent.