Scolari will ignore Ferguson's old tricks

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Right enough, it's all just mind games and I don't foresee Scolari getting too worried about this kind of stuff.

In other news, the article on the BBC website seems to suffer (and this is by no means for the first time) from almost non-existent Editorship.

I refer to this article:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7520773.stm

It starts off talking about Fergie's comments about Chelsea, and ends up talking (I guess) about Wayne Rooney's relatively quiet season last year... with no link whatsoever between the two. Now, we all know these articles are constructed using some kind of 'building block' technique, but surely the unique way the BBC is funded can buy us some proper editing?

Bah!

Fergusson's so called 'mind-games' are pathetic.

Apparently, he doesn't see where there will be a big improvement from Chelsea this season.

To be fair, i don't think there needs to be a big improvement. Chelsea lost out by two points last season and if you removed the silly end of season errors that gave Bolton and Wigan last minute equalisers at Stamford Bridge then Chelsea would have won it.

This year sould be just as close but I see Chelsea winning the league in 2009.

For once I agree with Mr McNulty. Fergie is become transparent and starting to look silly. He is the greatest british manager ever, he's not a one club one trick pony. He has proved time and time again he is the master but he is starting to believe that he is the psych master. Wrong. This will be pinned to the wall in Cobham and used every day to fiire up the Blues.

Chelsea did without their African players for a large stretch of the season due to ACoN and injury. Any team would mis Drogba, Essien and to a lesser extent Mikel and Kalou for six weeks.

The defence was decimated for large patches of the season with Cech, Carvalho and Terry missing for long stretches.

And by how much did ManU trounce Chelsea - oh yeah, two points in the league and a layer of paint in the CL.

He knows Chelsea are the team to beat, he knows they have the squad to fight on all fronts and possibly the manager to take them forward. I notice he isn't winding up Arsenal or Liverpool - what does that tell you?

Let the games commence.

Post 2 is right in his comments about https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7520773.stm.

What a bizarre article - it just launches into Wayne Rooney and you have to guess who it is talking about...

Oh, and by the way... I would re-think that 'average age' thing.

Goalkeepers should really be disregarded since their ages can vary wildly compared to outfield players, and Van Der Sar has 11 years on Cech.

And no way will Gary Neville be a sure-fire first team player next year, in my opinion.

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Yet another dose of hypocrisy from Ferguson.
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Real Madrid musn't publicly make any reference to Man Utd players, but it's OK for Man Utd to make comments about Chelsea's.
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Ughhhhhhhh.
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To (2) thellers and (5) benwiggy
Sorry - one sentence was accidentally taken out of the story when the link to Phil's blog was added in. It was a technical glitch and the sentence about Wayne Rooney has now been restored to the news story.

Are sports journalists incapable of holding a debate with managers? This wasn't released as a statement - it was during a press conference. Why can't any journalist pull him up on his nonsense? It's the old pals act all over - pathetic.

If Mr McNulty, it is so obvious to you that Fergie is going through his wind up manual by the numbers, why are you taking the great effort to defend Chelsea with your stats and figure's, don't tell me your also under Darth Fergie's mind control.

Scolari will enjoy it, why has he come to this league, although he will bring plenty to the party with his own brand of culture and experience, there seems to be enough samba masters stepping up and backing him.

This is a load of rubbish. Stop reading too much into it. He's said that Chelsea don't concern him. Why should they? We're double champions and with Berba, I think our attacks will be even more devastating than seasons gone by. He's said that the team may not have as much room for development as a younger team. Again a fair comment. He also said that the experience the Chelsea players have may be vital in a big games, but you conveniently forgot to mention that. He's speaking his mind, stop analysing and let him get on with it.

Yep, it's that time of year again folks!

The time of year when good old Phil starts to show his anti United colours.

Anyway, just have a quick look at the new Chelsea boos; how long is it since he was in a day to day managers job? This is where he will need all the help he can get from his back room team. I agree that it would be folly to simply dismiss Chelsea, far from it they will be in the top two again, but Fergie has seen it all before and I think the new man at the Bridge will not be ready for what is about to come.

People forget that last season Ferguson correctly predicted that Chelsea and not Arsenal would be United's main title contenders come the end of the season, when Arsenal were well ahead of them in the league.

United have talented young players to cover their key older players while Chelsea have brought in the likes of Deco in a bid for short term success.

It's still much too early for mind games - I think Ferguson might just be proved correct.

I think perhaps the point has been missed if you just focus on the Chelsea playing staff. What SAF is doing is trying to draw comparisons between his young and developing team and Chelsea's squad - he is saying, my team will be better this season, I don't see how Chelsea are going to be able to improve.

The mind games here are a little more subtle than people are making out (agreed they are not Derryn Brown). He is placing that doubt into Scolari's head that perhaps he needs to think more about 2009-10 season and bring in some younger players to be able to compete. Maybe it will cause a distraction - who can tell. I don't see it harming Manu to make the comments but perhaps it will make Scolari think a little. That's all SAF needs - we saw from last season how minor things make a massive difference to who is remembered as the winner and who is forgotten as the loser.

G_U_F

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To an extent Ferguson must have been aware that what he was saying would have some effect on Chelsea. However, his fundamental point is something that I've been saying (as a neutral) for the last month or so: If Chelsea don't bring in some younger talent, there's a fair chance they won't be able to get ahead of United.

Most of Chelsea's best players are aging; getting worse. Most of United's best players are barely 23.

Spot on Phil, you would think that he would want to wind down his career with dignity but you know what they say about leopards and their spots. BTW Cloughy, Sir Matt and Bob Paisley were all greater managers than Lord Surly, they did it with limited budgets and small squads. Winning shed loads of trophy’s when you can outspend all your rivals and have the financial clout to lobby the English governing organizations to get you way all the time isn’t the same in my book.

The more time goes on without them winning the league, scousers are just getting more and more bitter. Last week it was a rant about United unsettling other players and now this! Why don't you do an article on how Philip Deggen is going to be the catalyst for Liverpools first title in over 15yrs?

Fergie is only having a laugh. All you rival fans are, as usual, taking the bait. He is the master whether you lot like it or not. Manager of the double winners and architect of over a decade of trophies. LEGEND

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I doubt either Fergie or Phil will take the others mind games personally. They'll get on better, I think, than SAF did with Wenger, or Rafa did with Jose.

If anything, Fergie's comments are more to wind up the rival fans than his peers, because his peers know what he's up to!

Going to waste a lot of time on this petty stuff again BBC?

For most fans, the Top 4 of the PL can go and hang.

Let's see more coverage of the rest of the league please.

mind games or not Man u will be even better this coming season. will be no slow start this time thu. U can talk all u like about a point here to bolton or point there to whoever. u live on the ifs and we live on the wins. even if we dont win this year,still no one can take away what we have already won . if u say next season,then,there's always next season AND for everyone!

Who talks more sense, Fergie or Sepp Blather?

Yes of course Chelsea are getting too old unlike the Peter Pan of Premiership managers.

Haha Bossed it in Moscow?? We should have been 3-0 by half time you fool! Granted you had the better of the second half.

"lucky old fart"

I doubt 10 league titles and 2 european cups are all about luck.

You are the lucky ones. If it wasn't for Roman who'd be in league 1 now with Leeds and playing Rotherham and Millwall!

Shame that kids in the 90s never grew up wanting to be the new John Spencer or Kevin Hitchcock did they!? A few yrs success and you are getting above your station. Glorified Blackburn that couldn't even fill the stadium for Jose's last CL match - yep, MASSIVE club.....

I honestly think these sort of mind games are pathetic. But i still think that Ferguson is right. Every year every team has unlucky injuries, suspensions, players missing for some reason in every team, Scotspur so listing all the players that chelsea missed through the season is pointless because it also happened to Man U and all the other teams in the Premiership. People forget about Man U start to the season and how poor it was, for them to win the season from such a poor start is quite incredible. So if this season they don't have that poor start it could be as clear a finish as the 07 season. And yes chelsea have some very good players but as you all know players tend to peak at around 28-9 yeah there are exceptions but generally they do. And alot of the chelsea first team have passed this bracket and are starting to get worse. Yet Man U first team are mostly below this bracket and will be getting better opening the quality gap between the two teams even more. Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani, Rooney are all under 24, so who is denying that they will get even better. Yes Chelsea are good and they have the money to replace the players but the players they have at the moment are on the down. Ballack, Terry, Drogba, Deco etc. So even though it might seem a pathetic mind game, i personally think that he has got a valid point.

Fergie having a laugh now but he will retire a loser.. mark my words...and Chelsea will send him packing. So get on one of your expensive ponies Sir Lucky and spend some time with your missus. Scolari must think that he he is dealing with some old fart who is bitching about losing his Bingo book, I mean PORTOGUESE defensive coordinator

Whens Ronaldo leaving, Hurry up Fergie!! Robinho is waiting to join the blues.

You might wanna change your name mate cos you aren't even LondonsFinestClub. Thats goes to a team with a HISTORY of winning things...Arsenal.

So pathetic NickHolt that its got you all riled up! Yeah surely didn't bother you at all?! lol!!

In fact all of you are getting riled up again over nothing and the master strikes again!!

londonsfinestclub, sir lucky? Really? 2 European cups, 10 premier leagues and 4 FA cups lucky? Dream on boy!

It's Portuguese mate. You should learn how to spell that really considering you had a manager from the same nation for 4 years.

It's interesting to see, after Scolari refusing the England job in part because of the British media, just how protective and sychophantic the media is being about Scolari.

He won with Brazil (with that team, surely not that difficult) and did a decent job with Portugal (again, not that difficult).

Let him prove himself first before we start to fawn over him!

Seems that Fergies mind games have wound up the simple Chelsea fans....they've all collectively taken off their Burberry caps and are now stratching the Tesco gel outta their hair.....

I agree i hate Arsenal, but they are definitely london finest club. Before 2000 how many serious trophies had chelsea won.

Go on Fergie get them wound up b4 the season starts ! U've seen off so many managers in the past - now for Scolari, Benitez and Wenger by the end of May 2009 !!

Totally agree #21. its a couple of harmlass, insignificant little comments. Mcnulty you must lead a very boring life to care let alone write wasted words on this, take a holiday mate.

it seems the whole country is only a fan of 1 of the big 4, as this is all that is ever reported. why does antone personally care about these stupid all star teams who have ceased to have any link with their local communitys. The PL is a disgusting franchise.
BBC stop parping to the PL by reporting on it all year round, and give it a rest. There are so many other great sports going on at the moment, comment on those instead.

"Fergie having a laugh now but he will retire a loser.. mark my words.."

Yes, a 10 time Premiership, 5 time FA Cup and two time CL 'loser' (at least).

Your entire club has won the league. what 3 times in the last 100 odd years?

Lord Surly is an AMAZING manager, between post 29 and post37 he's won the FA Cup again! lol

The average age thing is massively flawed. First Neville?!? One game last season, far from being a sure 40 games cert this season, especially following Wes Brown's sudden improvement. Plus United's midfield is rotated quite a bit. Anderson and Nani clocked up 38 and 37 appearances in their début season last season.. Which is more than Hargreaves and Scholes with 28 and 24 appearances.

So Brown, Nani, Anderson for Neville, Scholes and Hargreaves, and the team suddenly has a lot younger average age.

I support Brighton. But i love watching Man U all star team as they make the sport look so beautiful, why have people liked watching brazil so much in the past. I agree i would like to see more stories on other things aswell but don't criticize people for watching talented players, you have to remember that football is an entertainment and people should be able to support the club which they find most entertaining whether it is a big or small club.

McNulty you really write some drivel. There are no clever mind games going on here. Although obviously SAF's comments have hit a nerve with you.

He was asked his opionion and gave an honest answer: he feels that Chelsea won't improve much because of their average age but said they were an experienced squad.

He said he felt the bigger threat was Liverpool and Arsenal and he was actually very complimentary about Arsenal saying that their achievements weren't recognised enough. His views are perfectly sensible and valid.

I think its poor reporting, even the headline is slightly misleading. The only games being played here are by you journalists who are understandably bored because there's not much going on.

"Lord Surly is an AMAZING manager, between post 29 and post37 he's won the FA Cup again! lol"

Yes, well I dare say you tend to lose track of all the silverware after a while.

It is 5: 90, 94, 96, 99, 04.

You need a bit of luck to win anything but you need a lot of talent to win the Premiership. It often boils down to how you use it; look at the Pool?

We'll see come the day. Whatever happens - it won't be boring.

It's good to see the football hungry diners eating the top chefs pie!

C'mon you reds!

To bluedefence in post 17,

You claim that Clough, SMB, and Paisley were better managers than SAF cos they did it with smaller budgets.

First of all i would wager that of the budgets at the time SMB and paisley probably had some of the biggest around.

Secondly while SAF has had a massive budget to use at Man U, that has not always been the case throughout his managerial career, at Aberdeen he won 8 domestic trophies (3 premier division trophies, 4 Scottish cup successes, and 1 league cup) on top of that he won 2 European trophies. This makes him the most successful manager in Aberdeen's history.
He also won the first division with St. Mirren.

His list of achievements at every club he has been at is enough to make most people recognise he is one of the best managers Britain has seen. He may not be the greatest that is up for debate but claiming he hasn't done it on a budget is a poor argument against him.

Maybe Ferguson should be concerned about how his Man United team maintain their standards.

Chelsea have been pretty consistent over the past four years - it only due to a massive improvement by United in the last two that has seen the dominance change hands.

So the question is: How, with a possibly unsettled Ronaldo, an ever-declining Paul Scholed and Ryan Giggs, an over-rated and grumpy English forward, are United going to sustain the momentum built in the last two years?

How many of the players will suffer the same 'we've made it' attitude that saw them fail to really build on the success of 1999.

Why does it matter what Chelsea or Man Utd win? It means absolutely nothing as they have both attempted to buy success. Where was Ferguson's interest in Berbatov when Spurs unearthed this gem? Now he has proved his worth Ferguson's attitude is 'we'll have him'. And how come Rooney didn't come through the United Academy instead of at Everton? Everton produced his talent and, again Utd's attitude was 'we'll have him now'.

It reminds me of kids delving into a toybox, and the big bully kid nicking the best toys off the rest. Anybody can achieve success this way - as I said, it means absolutely nothing.

Sorry #40 disagree. the PL and especially the big 4, lack serious ethics, which are destroying the whole essence of sport. Sport is about competition and drama, this has been destroyed with the PL.
Too amny people are sucked into this whole corporate rubbish, by waching and buying shirts u are making fat cat Yanks who have no interest in sport richer, as well as very questionable shady indivduals with terrible human right records richer as well.

Ah come on boys and girls, Fergie is simply playing the (mind) game he knows and loves. Its nothing personal to Scolari who is a big boy and will probably raise a rye smile and step up to Fergies challenge.

It all adds to the flavour of the Premiership and all you ABU's out there should be glad that there is someone as outspoken as Fergie out there to spice up your otherwise 2nd place lives.

Mind games? They haven't even begun. Watch when the likes of Benitez and Wenger join in. Mind games are no more than a laugh-a-minute provided by clowns in between the elephant and big cat acts.

It's all irrelevant anyway. Arsenal are the team with most room to improve and they will. That will leave CFC and MUFC fighting over second place before the beginning of May.

Yes MancHatter, I take your point he did well in Scotland, don't want to be pedantic but I thought he won 1 European trophy with Aberdeen and 3 with Man U. Maybe he is totting up the trophys as we speak! Having said that it wouldnt be like his Lordship to re-write history would it? The first thing he said after the Moscow final was “ lets get something straight before we start, this was not a LUCKY win” hey ho.

#40, I too support Brighton, however, I agree with #21 and #36. The PL will again be contested by 2 clubs as it will continue to be indefinitely in my opinion. It's all very well to want to be entertained by the best players but surely there needs to be some element of competition as well. I now follow the Championship and lower leagues which generate far more interest. Increasingly I'm turning to other sports in the UK as well - some of which actually involve British competitors

Are you writing Everton off already Phil?
What sort of fan are you?

To 51,

It depends on what u count as a trophy he won the cup winners cup (25 years ago this year), they went on to win the european super cup against hamberg (in december i think) - so i guess it depends on if you count the super cup as a proper trophy.

And i guess luck is all relative - would chelsea have said it was lucky if they won instead of united - i doubt it very much.

I am fed up with the constant reporting of 'mind games'. For top professionals, it does nothing as I imagine most of them do not even read the papers/watch the news. Scolari will probably just have a laugh about it as he knows Chelsea are more than capable of beating United and vice versa. I suppose in this day and age the media are constantly on the look out for a story.

Hahahahahaha... I love it! Old Fergie starting up with the mind games already!? Life in the old dog yet... Hahahahahahaha... C'moooooooon... Surely you all agree this is tip top stuff from the old Scot??

Chelski and Scolari should take HUGE satisfaction from Fergie's comments. He obviously thinks that United could be in a spot of bother next season when it comes to chelsea... They would've won the champs league if JT hadn't ballsed it up and they lost the title on the last day of the season! Now, to go with the already incredible quality of depth in the Chelski squad they've got a flipping great manager too!

If I were at the top I'd be fearing Chelski most of all.

By the way, Deco'll walk this league... Can't beat true class.

Also,

Stevie coppell's magic, he wears a magic hat... And when he saw the championship he said I'M HAVIN' THAT!!!!

BLUE ARMY!

Phil McNulty has written a decent article firstly and people need to calm down. At least 2 or 3 people flip out when the man releases an article everytime.

However I don't agree with you Phil. I think Sir Alex would take a shot at anyone who took over a potential rival for his crown. In my opinion Chelsea won't be the same as they have in Scolari an International man who never really stayed for too long at anyone club in his career. I reckon they might have had their last real push last season and I think they haven't done very well in the transfer market so far. An un happy Lampard would't be as good as he was as well. Although I have to say for me to write them off now is just stupid. I guess we will never really know until the season is under way.

Also as an Arsenal fan although I appricate his acknowledgment that we had a unlucky season I never feel comfortable recieveing compliments from Man Utd...

Although I agree with the Guardian's starting XI predicted for Chelsea, the side they've gone with for Man U is a little off target. For a start, Wes Brown is likely to start more games at RB than Neville and, if Ronaldo departs, Nani is likely to take his place. Anderson is likely to see a lot more action this season than Scholes, thus reducing Utd's average age to around 26. And, if Foster makes a good impression on Fergie, expect this figure to topple even further. Utd are a considerably younger side than Chelsea.

"#40, I too support Brighton, however, I agree with #21 and #36. The PL will again be contested by 2 clubs as it will continue to be indefinitely in my opinion.."

Last season it was contested by 3 clubs. The only reason why there's 'more interest' in the lower leagues is because teams from the higher leagues get relegated. There's big fish and smaller fish in every league - It pretty much has always been thus.

Many people would say the Premiership is one of if not the most exciting football league in the world.

It's the same old guff from Fergie.
If he wants to say these things, he's entitled but it won't make a blind bit of difference.

Fergie knows the main weakness with Chelsea last season was Grant.

Grant has been been replaced by a much stronger and all round superior manager and Fergis is naturally worried.

As for our team not improving, Boswinga and Deco alone surely can't be seen by any right minded person as making a team worse.

We'll do ok.

I don't think Feguson's arguement has any substance behind it. While Utd have not added to their squad, Chelsea have signed both Deco and Bosingwa- greatly improving the side, particularly at right back. Ferguson is resting on his laurels at the moment, especially if he does not acquire Berbatov and his own right back.
I don't think that Man Utd took into account the impact that the injuries to Drogba and Terry last season had on Chelsea's title challenge. With Ronaldo looking set to miss the start of the season I can see Chelsea building a reasonable lead by the end of October.
Ferguson has a lot more to worry about than Scolari- so keep your damn mouth shut you douche.

Another odd blog from Phil.

He speaks the truth, something that everyone can see for themselves and it's just plain mind games.

Yep.

Can i roll my eyes yet?

Kick Ronaldo out and let Berbatov in. We're gonna rock the PL again and then shrug over the Scousers.
I never thought Fergusson would deliver United. But he has been such a masterpiece. What a coach!!

It is more relevant to calculate the team age without the goal keepers.

If yo exclude the 37 yr old Van de Sar then surely Man U has a much younger team.

Portaloo - Spurs hardly unearthed Berbatov - bearing in mind he scored and hit the post against Man United in the Champions League for Bayer Leverkusen in September 2002 before he even registed on Tottenham's radar.

Ferguson actually thought about buying him before Spurs ever put an offer in but he decided not to - perhaps put off by the price tag I think. So it would be ironic if he was to buy him now because he would have been a lot cheaper then.

From what i've read, all he's said is that Chelsea haven't really improved from last season, and looking at their signings its fair to say they haven't. They still have a great squad and i'm sure will be challenging for honours but they've not improved.

To thelovelyhotspot:

While you may be right in saying that the big 4 lack ethics, you must take into consideration why...

It is also true that they do have a habit of buying everybody else's best players instead of creating there own, but there are two sides to this story:

Take wayne rooney for example, united paid near 30 million quid for him, and that 30 million has been pumped into everton, making them a much stronger team than they were with one star player (rooney). They are a much stronger team than ten years ago and some of that is due to the over inflated transfer prices they can extort from the big clubs. so to say the rest of the premiership is struggling, is i feel a little wrong.

Secondly, to the big four. i hold my hands up and agree they are guilty of buying success, but that isnt always a bad thing. if chelski hadnt had the hundreds of millions of investment, then it would be down to the likes of liverpool and arsenal alone to challenge man utd. also, the big four buy the best players for a good reason - they want success. if they all stopped buying the best tomorrow, it was be like saying, "we only want to be a mediocre team and aren't bothered about competing. you may hate the big four, but even you must concede that the most part of last season was exciting to watch.

From the reaction on this page of the simple chelsea fans, Fergie shows he is still the master and untouchable. I cannot wait for Fergies next blow to see how they make us laughg with their reaction. After all, Chelsea are a small club who have been English champions as many times as Huddersfield Town, won as many FA cups as Wolves and have a worse Euro record than Nottingham Forest!

lgarrod

"It is more relevant to calculate the team age without the goal keepers.

If yo exclude the 37 yr old Van de Sar then surely Man U has a much younger team."

No it's not, you're just using this because Chelsea's keeper is 11 years younger than United's.

We all follow United

"From what i've read, all he's said is that Chelsea haven't really improved from last season"

Nope, he's said Chelsea will not mount as much of a challenge, in fact Arsenal and Liverpool will be on par with them. That's what he said

I agree its the same old guff from Fergie, but it keeps him happy and who actually cares what he says? People get so worked up over nothing. If he had came out and called all the Chelsea players idiots who haven't an ounce of talent between them then fair enuff, but he was just having a bit of fun. I am a Liverpool fan btw, so its not like I have any loyalty to the big fool.

The BBC's love of Scolari, particularly the writer of this blog, puzzles me. Everything I read on here atm is basically setting Scolari up as the Oracle! I have no doubt that he is a good manager, but his record is not that good. Ok he won the World Cup, which was an achievement no doubt. However when you look at that competition it was hardly the toughest competition ever. I mean even the German team that just reached the Euro 2008 final were better than the team that Brazil beat in the 2002 final, indicating how much actual competition the Brazilians had. In club football he has never done anything great. For me his exploits with Portugal are far more noteworthy than any of the rest of his achievements.

So lets all just calm down. There are far more interesting things going on in the world of football than Scolari atm.

Pulling for Chelsea, Phil? Fergie's playing mind games!! Oh dear! I guess the Utd double last season got to you, did it?

Did somebody gag Scolari? He's as free as anyone to have his say if he wants. One of his predecessors at Chelsea wouldn't or couldn't keep his mouth shut for 5 minutes. Did you complain about that, also?

Fergie is actually correct. Barcelona was pleased to get rid of Deco, both Lampard and Drogba want away and if Drogba goes, it's bye-bye Premiership, irrespective of whether they bring in Robinho or anyone else. I see Liverpool coming to the fore and challenging Utd and Arsenal's young guns are a big danger.

Chelsea will be 4th at Christmas and Scolari will spend the New Year in Rio after getting a late night phone call from the ever impatient Abramovich.

This year (2008/2009), I think Rooney will outshine and make us forget the little brat from Madeira.

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Comment 66, that's exactly right.

But shhh, you're not allowed to say that because then Phil's non-blog would be rendered pointless.

You naughty boy.

The difference between the clubs age wise is that United have younger cover for all the older players, this younger cover is experienced and has won the league. Chelsea dont have this. What SAF was talking about young players naturally improve season on season players that are at their peak or past it will not improve. They start to go down. Most of Chelsea players are at this peak and may start to go down and where are the replacements.
The same reasoning is why he said that Arsenal will challenge this year, a lot of the younger players will improve as they get older. Arsenals problem will be that some of their experienced players have left and they have to keep the Louis Saha of the south fit.
He said Liverpool would compete to be polite though.

No one would ever question Ferguson is a successful manager, but the thing that disappoints most about him is the fact that he wins and loses with very little dignity. The other great managers all had or have dignity, I recall Cloughy berating any player he thought had tried to cheat or abuse a ref, with Fergy it’s the complete opposite. Like others on here the I agree greed of the Premiership and the closed shop at the top does make it a less interesting league having said that I will attend games and watch it on the tele so like many others I am feeding this cycle of greed.

Believe it or not Phil (if I may be so bold), Fergie achieved exactly what he was trying to; he got people like you talking. Do you think he was actually trying to unsettle someone? No. It's not as if he came out just talking, he was responding to questions that were being asked of him and gave his honest opinion while knowing it would kick preparations for the season, from both teams, into high gear. The fact of the matter is, he was also telling the truth, Chelsea are old.

Ferguson's so called mind games or him answering a question posed by a reporter which in turn is reported by others seeking to fill their bi-line schedule.

Too much is written into what is said at this time of year and I think Fergie has more fun with the press than he has goes at other teams.

He is not alone either.

In truth what really is being reported here is we (reporters included) want the season to start, or at least to have some activity to report, which sadly so far there has been very little!!

post 74 agree with most but point 7 add Man City, no one has produced more home grown talent than them over the past few years.

absolute nonsense Phil. Scolari will be drawing up his resignation as we speak. He will realise that SAF is being entirely serious and that he should go now, there is no point.

Honestly what a silly article. Managers will always ignore their rivals/contemporaries comments.

And it isn't even as if SAF is saying Chelsea are rubbish, he is just saying that they are a known force rather than a developing team like Arsenal who could surprise you. Chelsea are not suddenly going to push on to better things as their players get better, as most are at or past their peak

sorry 80 fogot to metion them, but now they have a foreign owner in place what are the odds that he will cease to care about the clubs academy, as it will waste him money. Much simpler for him to just poach youngsters from other teams from now on.

Much ado about nothing, once again when Phil McNumpty is involved.
I am a Liverpool fan so have no reason to come to Fergusons aid, but this is all nonsense.
1. He was asked, as he always is pre season, what he thinks of Chelsea for next season? He answered. Was anything he say outrageous? He pointed out that the team is getting older, very true. The addition of Deco doesnt help. McNumpty says they would be the same average age. hardly, Van Der Sar adds one year to the Man United average alone, and as another commentor noted Gary Neville is not a likely regular for them this year.

2. Scolari may well have had a good command of English in his well rehearsed press conference, but what Ferguson was pointing out was that this is his first season in England and he may come across some challenges with the language. He has previously managed Brazil, all players speaking Portuguese and Potugal, ditto. He now manages Chelsea with many languages and in England, you dont see that an issue or two might arise Phil?

3. Ferguson is starting his mind games And according to Phil, Scolari will be immune. He does he know this? I reckon Scolari will bite like a hungry fish once the season gets going. Wait until the first Chelsea, United match and then judge whether Scolari can cope with Fergie. How can McNulty make this assumption?

A few people have taken a pop at Fergie for saying stuff about Chelsea. He is asked questions by journalists, he is in the pay of Man United. Therefore his options are :-
a) play dumb and refuse to answer questions about all his opponents, which will result in the press giving him a roasting everyday or,
b) answer the questions and ensure that everything he says is in support of the goal of his club, which is to win trophies.

For those of you who think he should be more balanced, I should ask you to listen to anything said by Kenny Dalglish, Phil Thompson, John Aldridge or Jan Molby about Liverpool. They love Liverpool, they say anything they can to make us seem better and opponents seem weaker, and they dont even get a salary from Liverpool anymore.

How come Fergie's opinion rated as the top sports story this morning on various the BBC Sport media channels?

Personally I'd have thought the lead story would have been Christian Olsson pulling out of the Olympics. Oh but wait, that's a factual story about something that isn't Premiership football, and Premiership football gossip always tops the bill at the BBC Sports unit. How many radio soprts bulletins begin with "some player's agent says something", even in the summer months? At least the dreadful "Rumour Mill" on R5L got canned.

I remember 50,000 people turning up at Winchester in 2006 for the Motocross of Nations and the only mention it got on the BBC was on the travel news. And last weekend thousands of people descended on Llanidloes in mid Wales for the World Enduro Championships (think WRC on two wheels) and that didn't get any BBC coverage at all despite being the first UK round for nearly a decade. And what about major partipation sports like netball, hockey, cycling, triathlon? Way down the agenda if reported at all.

I don't doubt that football is Britain's most popular sport and the Premiership the most popular league but why does Premiership gossip, speculation and opinion continue push out genuine stories about other sports? Can we licence fee payers have some proper sports news, please?

I completetly agree with SAF, but if you take the edge of Utd CR, I am almost certain that Chelsea will win, but with or without CR, Scolari is another ball game and if Manage to stabilish a good relation with the player then SAF be ready for a chalange, Intensity wise there will not be a better league then the Premier

I'm unsure as to why this has even been written Phil. Its quite obvious to anyone who watches footy whats going on here. Does the football lovbing public really need you to spell it out for them.

I think your right in what you have said, Chelseas squad is still one of the best around. However your reasoning on average age is flawed. Take Giggs Scholes and VDS out of our team, which we should expect as Fergy has said Giggs and Scholes will be used sparingly and he fully expects Foster/Kuszack to challenge Edwin, and I think you'll find our average a lot lower.

I fully expect Chelsea to be BIG rivals this season, as will Arsenal surprise everyone again. Liverpoo I'm not so sure of, as I expected them to sign some better players. But rest assured we won't let it be taken off us without a fight!

Just a few points to make here -
I think reporting ferguson's comments in this way will always inevitably make them sound like 'mind games'. it keeps interest online and in the backpages. (i mean, how much nonsense is written in the transfer gossip sagas every day?) most of the points ferguson makes are valid, but they are only his opinions; the bottom line, however, is that the mind games don't win the trophies, the teams do. in the same way that the ifs and the buts ultimately don't win anything, and neither does the 'next-season-we'll-have-you' mentality.

And just to enter into this meaningless argument, for those who get a little confused with history and statistics:

ferguson has won 5 fa cups, 2 league cups, 10 leagues, 2 european cups, 1 cup winners cup, 1 european super cup, 1 intercontinental cup; that makes 22 trophies in his 22 years as manager

chelsea have won 3 leagues, 4 fa cups, 4 league cups, 2 eufa cups, 1 super cup, and being generous, 2 2nd division titles. that makes 16 trophies in their 103 years of history.
Just a minor point, but worth bearing in mind before people mention luck, greats and history.

Scolari is a hugely over-rated manager. He won a World Cup coaching a Brazil team that any living human being could have coached to a world cup. SInce then, he has taken a highly gifted Portugal side absolutely nowhere.
Add to this Chelsea's ill-advised policy of completely restocking with big names this summer a la Real Madrid, and they will not win the league this year.

To: thelovelyhotspot

I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one, you make a good arguement and i respect your views on why the premiership is dull. however, here is my ten reasons as to why i love it

1. it will be won by one of the big four, true. but who's gettin relegated, who's gettin in uefa, who brought in the wrong manager, who bought cleverly, who is most improved? the premiership is more than just who wins it.

2. i have already argued this point, big clubs do buy the best players. i would love to see my team field a bunch of kids to give them chance to develop properly. however, i also wanna see my team win, and to win you need the best players

3. your arguement lacks evidence. All the top clubs have big links with local communities. i do however think they should dig into their pockets a bit more to help out the grass routes of the game. i would agree that some of the top four teams have "over-hyped foreigners", but utd have a good history of fielding english players: neville, brown, scholes, carrick, hargreaves, rooney - all first team regulars (when fit)

4. the owners of clubs dont come into it. like it or not football is big business, so it will attract some "shady" characters. for the average fan, football is about what happens on the pitch and not behind the scenes. i'd love it if every football team was owned by some whiter than whiter rich person, but truth be told, that person doesnt exist. and if teams were all owned by the fans, a club would be successfull based on how rich the fans were. so while i agree there are some dodgy people in the game, i ask you to find a better scenario

5. premier league about profit - true, but to be profitable, you have to be successfull, and to be successfull, you have to play good football

6. not true, i prefer to watch match of the day lol. seriously though, some people may buy into the sky "crap" but that doesnt mean we all do, dont lump all premier league fans in the same boat

7. you cite middlesborough as an academy club, what about west ham, man city, everton, and indeed man utd. the reason academy players dont generally make it is because they simply dont have the raw talent to begin with. its a sorry state of affairs, but its not the big clubs fault that english players by nature aren't the best in the world. look at brasil, a country with no money to invest in grass roots game, but still produces the best players... explain that one for me

8. priced out. as you know i'm a man u fan. i earn relatively low amount of money, yet can still afford my season ticket along with my other expenses (house, car etc...). the fans that argue your point are usually fans that seem to forget inflation exists and that clubs cant chrage the same for tickets as they did forty years ago. as for merchandise, the average shirt cost £10 more ten years ago than it does now

9. i do agree completely with you here, how can it be fixed?

10. footballers bland...??? i'd say they are a load of primadoners but certainly not bland. who can forget the arguement between ballack and drogba in the man u vs chelsea game at the bridge. two passionate players argueing over who can do better for their team. Ronaldo, amazing talent, quick on an off the ball, and lethal in front of goal. steven gerrard, tireless and very talented. there are some very very talented players in the PL, some of whom can turn a game and truly excite a crowd. they do get paid way too much though!

Phil McNulty, you should quit your job as a journalist. Every one of your blogs, is predicated on utter nonsense. Furthermore, 50% of the comments made on them are better balanced and smarter than the blog! Your audience is smarter and more prescient than you are!

I'll be fair and say you should give yourself one more try at writing something worthwhile, and if you cant, then quit.

If EVERYTHING I did at work was as useless as your work, then I would ahve been fired years ago. So think yourself lucky.

Phil, your article was current and topical and judging by the number of responses a subject worthy of discussion. You have no need to justify yourself to anyone. I responded along your lines to the story as posted on the Manchester (United) Evening News web site this morning but even though I said nothing disrespectful my post did not pass the vetting. Congratulations to the BBC for letting the football fans of the UK have their say.

Phil, you're over-reacting as are most of the English press. But if you're going to react at least speak to one of the main points Fergie was making:

With many of Chelsea's players all close to 30 or over 30 (Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, Carvalho, Anelka, Schevchenko, Pizzaro, Deco, Cudicini) there is not much room for them to improve. How many of Chelsea's first team are 25 or younger? Mikel, Kalou, Bosingwa.... Who else?

At Man Utd, Rooney, Ronaldo, Anderson, Nani, Tevez, Vidic, Foster and Fletcher are all 25 or younger. Hargreaves, Carrick and Evra are all 27 or younger. With the exception of Neville, all of Utd's senior players (Scholes, Giggs and Van Der Sar) will be replaced in a year or two by a younger member of the squad who is already playing first team football with Utd.

Can the same really be said for Ballack, Lampard, Carvalho at Chelsea. Who will replace Makelele for example?

So when Fergie says that there is much less room for improvement at Chelsea given the ages of key members of their squad he is absolutely right. The vast majority of Utd's squad have another 2 or 3 years before they reach their peaks. The vast majority of Chelsea's sqaud are either at their peaks or have passed their peaks.

thelovelyhotspot

No disrespect intended, you clearly have strong views on the Premier League. As that old saying goes, "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it".

However, it begs the question of why you watch it if you hate it so. Or if you don't, why you feel the need to comment on it. Personally, I don't like Eastenders, so I just don't watch it, or go onto Eastenders blogs (if such things exist).

Seems very simple to me.

Yet again, another non-story by the BBC. Ferguson taunts Scolari, mind games, Scolari takes a swipe at Ferguson. Is this the best you can do for journalism? I know that you have a lot of space to fill, especially during the close season, but you do need a certain level of quality. You are the BBC, you are supposed to set the standards, not adhere to the standards set by the tabloids.

Why don't you and Big Phil get a room, Phil?

Red_Red_Devil

Your post is far from complete.

You have missed out the Chelsea players in the 25-30 bracket. The likes of Cech, Terry, Cole x 2 and Essien. Not a bad selection on which to base a team I would say.

Hunk4hire, you say that lampard and Drogba want away so it's bye bye title.

You could be right.

But then your saviour, Ronaldo seems desperate to get away so it's all swings and roundabouts.

If Ronaldo left it would leave a devastating hole in your team. Now, I know you have a fine team but please don't make out you wouldn't badly miss him, because you would.

As we would miss Lampard and Drogba.

But what if we got Robinho and kept the other two?

I don't think Utd would get so lucky as last season and we would simply brush them aside.

Maybe Fergie thinks likewise and that is why he is boring us all with his usual predictability.

It looks to be an interesting season ahead.

Phil has already shown a weakness by pandering to Lampard whose sense of loyalty to the badge he spent most of last season licking, is clearly non existant..... Lampard is a carpetbagger and that's fine, they've been seen at the Bridge before ( hi, Cashley) but don't expect the faithful to put up with the false shows of loyalty...... I can hear the chants now and I'll bet you can too Frunk.

I reckon Scolari is one of the most overated managers at this point. He is long past his best. He has already resorted to trying to destablise Ronaldo by telling him to leave Man U. So he was in effect the first to set the ball rolling. I would agree in Principal that Chelsea are probably at their peak while United have acres to improve on if the young guys continue to learn. but then there are far more interesting stories in the league behind the top 4 other than what 2 old fat guys think about each others clubs and players... Mine's a Cheval Blanc Fergie if you don't mind.