Originally posted by zocoss:
[b]Fergie already planning next Euro
tilt with Hargreaves at the heart
A final in Athens may have been taken away from Sir Alex
Fergusons team but victory at City will take them to within
touching distance of a ninth Premiership title. Ryan Giggs who
has eight such medals already was the only United player with
enough class to stop and talk after his teams 3-0 defeat at the
San Siro. "We just did not perform on the night and Milan deserved
to go through," he admitted. "We are greedy and we wanted to win
everything this year. We are out of the Champions League but we
have got two other trophies to earmark. There is still a lot to
play for and thats what we have to tell ourselves. "Saturday was
always going to be a big game but now theres even more riding on
it because we have to get a positive result to put the pressure on
Chelsea." With their title rivals and FA Cup Final opponents
seemingly struggling to overcome physical and mental fatigue,
United must fancy their chances of a Double.
Indeed, if they beat a City team that has not scored at home since
New Years Day, and Chelsea fail to win at Arsenal on Sunday, then
the Premiership title would go to Old Trafford with two games to
spare. The Holy Grail has proved beyond Ferguson for another year
but he has immediately turned to planning for another campaign. The
United manager said: "Milan were better than us. They showed us
where we need to get to. On the evidence of Wednesday, it could be
a long journey, but not necessarily."
Taking their defending out of the equation Uniteds first-choice
back four would have been far less generousFergusons men suffered
from a failure to interrupt the triangular passing rhythms of
Milans outstanding midfield and an inability to hold possession at
the top of their 4-2-3-1 formation.
Answer No 1 will arrive in the shape of Owen Hargreaves this
summer. An £18million deal with Bayern Munich has been agreed in
principle for the England midfield player who would add much-needed
physical presence. Answer No 2 will arrive in a new centre forward.
Ferguson has completely lost faith in Louis Saha and the Frenchman
will be sold if at all possible this summer. Ideally, Ferguson
would like Tottenhams Dimitar Berbatov in his place.
The Bulgarians presence would not only bring United a natural
attacking focus but also free Wayne Rooney from the restrictive
role he was asked to play on Wednesday. Rooney is at his best 30
yards from goal with team-mates ahead of him, not in the role he
occupied in Milan as the lone striker.
United face a struggle to snare Berbatov, one of the Premierships
star turns. Initial soundings have not yielded much encouragement,
and yesterday Spurs manager Martin Jol reiterated the clubs
determination to hang on to him. Chelsea are also keen on Berbatov
but Jol insisted: "I have no fears. The chairman wouldnt sanction
it even if I would like to sell him.
Ferguson also has Newcastles Michael Owen and Barcelonas Eidur
Gudjohnsen in mind, even though the latter does not quite fit the
same centre-forward job description. These matters have been
earmarked as a priority by Ferguson for some time. Wednesday may
have exposed Uniteds deficiencies to a European audience but it
told the Scot nothing he did not know already.
Quite simply, you can get away with cracks in your make-up in the
Premiership. In Europe those cracks merely widen. But few recover
their sense of purpose quicker than the Premierships first knight.
Chances are the joke will be on City by Saturday tea-time.
[/b]
I think OwenH is one fix.
