• 'It has to be Chelsea as the main threat' says
Ferguson
• 'We knew we could never replace Cristiano Ronaldo'
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson believes
Liverpool will find it hard to better their performance in the
2008-09 Premier League.
Sir Alex
Ferguson has effectively written
off Liverpool's title
chances and said that he sees Chelsea as the
main threat to his hopes of winning the Premier League
for the fourth year in a row.
The Manchester United manager does not
believe the impending departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid will
affect Liverpool, saying that Rafa Benítez's team are far more
reliant on the input of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. But he
sees little chance of the squad at Anfield improving on last
season's second place.
"Liverpool have just had probably their best season for 20
years, finished up with 86 points and still finished four adrift,"
he said. "It will be hard for them to match that, let alone
improve. Other teams will read Liverpool better."
He is more concerned by Chelsea, who have a new manager in Carlo
Ancelotti, the winner of two European Cups and a Serie A title with
Milan. "It has to be Chelsea as the main threat," he said.
"Ancelotti will change the way Chelsea play. There is plenty of
flexibility in what he's got and he should get goals from Didier
Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.
"They will play the Milan way. It brought him two European Cups
– it should have been three because they should never have lost to
Liverpool [in the 2005 final]. So why should he change?"
Ferguson admits United will miss Cristiano Ronaldo, who has joined
Madrid, but has backed his young players to shine and help make up
for the winger's absence.
"We knew we could never replace Ronaldo," he said. "No matter
what anyone says about the lad, for me he is the best footballer in
the world. When you've had someone who is the best at what he does,
it is no good trying to find someone to do the same job.
"And when you know you can't replace someone or something, you
look for a different way. People have misread our situation and
they have underestimated our ability to improve players. That is an
area where we have proved successful in the past.
"We are expecting a lot from [Jonny] Evans, [Danny] Welbeck,
[Darron] Gibson, [Federico] Macheda and the Da Silva brothers. And
Nani and Anderson have already shown good things but they will
improve next season."