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Ferguson focus strikes a nerve Posted: Friday May 09, 2003 4:19 PM
My previous article about Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson definitely struck a nerve. Some of you passionately believe that I am an imbecile and should have my head checked because Fergie is the best manager ever, while others made a point to agree with me "1000 percent" even though you may be Manchester United fans. Either way, thank you for your messages. To all who attacked me, I just want to reiterate my points about the manager of Manchester United -- I do believe that he was one of the best managers of all time, but now that is not the case any more. He has been at Old Trafford for so many years that he has lost his focus a bit, and players have started to tune him out. I know the Red Devils won the Premiership title again, but wouldn't you agree that Arsenal's embarrassingly poor run at the end of the campaign had something to do with that? My point was that in big games Ferguson tries too hard to do something strange or different in order to stand out. That has cost him dearly at times, especially in Europe. I am not trying to take away anything from what he has accomplished in his career. So, looking ahead, here are other questions and comments that I received over the last days. Can Futebol Clube do Porto win the UEFA Cup?
Jose, I believe FC Porto have an amazing team, one of the best in Europe. Jose Mourinho has built a strong side, not only as far as skillfull players are concerned, but also as far as commitment. His team does something few Portuguese sides do -- run for 90 minutes. I believe Porto can beat Celtic in the final of the UEFA Cup, and I say this because they have more players who can tilt the game in their favor. Deco is an artist in midfield, and then up front Helder Postiga and Derlei have the speed and wit to unlock most defenses. Celtic are a solid team, but they lack the flair to score goals against Latin European sides. We saw that against Boavista, and Boavista are much inferior to Porto.
Hi Pedro, What has happened to Rivaldo? I do not hear much about him these days at AC Milan. I like the odd way he runs with the ball but some say that he's a selfish player. What do you think?
It's tough to talk about Rivaldo. He was so good at the World Cup, but on the other hand he always seems to be inconsistent in league play. His last season at Barcelona was mediocre, and although he scored some stunning goals he looked disinterested at times. At Milan, I've seen him have a handful of excellent matches, but the rest of his displays have been quite inconsequential. He is nearing the end of his career and it seems he needs a new challenge. Funny, because I thought that moving to Italy would have made him wake up a bit. What does the English league have to do now to improve to be the best in Europe and perform as good as Spanish teams?
The quality of the football played in the Premiership is still behind the level of La Liga and the Serie A mostly because of the fact English teams were prohibited from playing in Europe for six years after the Heysel stadium tragedy. Let's face it: Only Manchester United has done well in the European Cup in the last 14 years. They were the only team to make the final, while Italy, Spain and even Germany have sent more teams to the title match. What English teams need to do is start training their youngsters in another kind of game -- a skilled game. We're starting to see that now with players like Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and Jermaine Pennant. Give it time. English clubs will find their place in the European sunshine. Dear Pedro, I really considered that Real Madrid is the best (commercial) soccer club in the whole world, yet I think there is something missing. Would you please tell me, is it defense or what?
I think it is, Maz. Fernando Hierro is still decent, but he is running on fumes right now. Real definitely need to buy two more central defenders. I say this because Ivan Helguera is really not a center back; he is originally a midfielder. There have been rumors the Merengues are interested in Christian Chivu and Rafael Marquez maybe. They would be good buys, I think. Do you think that Ronaldinho will be a Man Utd player next season? What is your opinion?
Chances are Ronaldinho will not be at Paris St. Germain next season, even if manager Luis Fernandez leaves. The Brazilian forward is ready to try out new pastures, and I would not be surprised to see him wearing a different strip soon. Whether Old Trafford is his next stop depends on how much money Sir Alex Ferguson has to spend in the offseason. The Scot has expressed his admiration for the player, and recently said he would like to strengthen his side to fight for the Champions League title, but will he have the funds to do so? The United States is in the Top 10 in FIFA rankings. I think the U.S. should not be ranked that high. The U.S. had a glorious but lucky World Cup. What is FIFA thinking that the U.S. is better than Italy?
Raj, I am not going to argue with you. The FIFA rankings are a bit silly. The United States had a magical run in the World Cup, but they are not one of the 10 best national teams in the world -- definitely not better than Italy, although we all get upset about how defensive Giovanni Trappatoni is. Another example of how these rankings don't really work is that Mexico is listed in ninth place. It's obvious they don't deserve to be up that high. Sir...what do you think of Bayern Munich and their semi-dominance in the German League this season?
Steven, Bayern Munich dominated the league because they had no distractions. Normally they are involved in the latter stages of the Champions League, but since they were surprisingly eliminated in the first group stage, they had plenty of time to prepare for Bundesliga matches and rest their top players. Hopefully they will hang around longer in Europe next year, because they definitely are one of the best teams in the continent. Pedro Pinto is an anchor on CNN International's World Sport.
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