Fergie issues boss a gentle reminder about flair
SIR Alex Ferguson has issued a reminder about the responsibility of entertaining fans that could resonate with Jose Mourinho.
United’s most successful manager has been speaking to uefa.com for the Champions League match programme for this Saturday’s final in Cardiff between Real Madrid and Juventus.
Ferguson was in Stockholm last week watching Mourinho’s Reds add the Europa League trophy to complete the club’s set after beating Ajax 2-0.
Mourinho had already won the EFL Cup in his first season – but his pragmatic style hasn’t won over all United’s support.
Many will hope Fergie’s message hits home.
Speaking about the current football style trends Fergie, who retired four years ago, said: “The counter attack has become more prominent today. The condition of pitches is superb, and also the protection of footballers has become more prevalent.
“So a lot of these things add up to what you’re seeing as a far better spectacle.
“I think you have a duty and a responsibility to entertain. We have to always remember that there’s a public to be entertained.
“In my time at United, it was ‘as long as you win.’ If it was 4-3, OK, or 5-4, OK. My last game was 5-5 (at West Brom in 2013).
“I couldn’t ask for a better score in my last game at United.”
Ferguson, though, will be delighted that Mourinho has kept on Michael Carrick for another 12 months.
The former United manager bought the playmaker from Spurs on 2006.
“Possession now is definitely starting through your centrebacks and your goalkeeper,” he added.
“Barcelona, I think, were the originators of that: Pep’s team. It was probably one of the best European teams of all time.
“As long as you have possession, your opponents don’t.
“When I was at Aberdeen, that was one of the lessons we had to instil in the players.
“We have to make sure we’re still producing players that can penetrate with a pass, like Paul Scholes or Michael Carrick, Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo.” IT TOOK a season under Jose Mourinho to turn Ander Herrera into the player United thought they were getting.
The Spanish midfielder’s man-ofthe-match award in the Europa League final was symbolic – not just for his peerless performance in ZLATAN Ibrahimovic wants to stay at United according to his agent Mino Raiola.
Ibrahimovic, 35, suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the win over Anderlecht last month that appeared to prematurely end his United career after just one season. Stockholm, but his rise under a famously demanding manager.
It was a measure of how Mourinho has transformed Herrera after inheriting a player so inhibited by Louis van Gaal he practically needed to be reprogrammed when the new man took charge.
The 27-year-old was virtually broken down and reconstructed as Mourinho looked for a man capable of becoming the heartbeat of his
The striker, who scored 28 goals in 46 appearances last season, had the option of extending his Old Trafford stay by an additional year and suggested he would remain at the club in 2017-18.
Ibrahimovic said after the Europa League final he would be back on the pitch in ‘a few weeks’ and Raiola has fuelled optimism that the former Paris Saint-Germain goalscorer could play on at Old Trafford. midfield. Such has been the success of that process that he has even caught the attention of Barcelona.
It was early on in the campaign when Herrera is understood to have had a frank discussion with Mourinho.
During one training session he informed his manager that the instructions he was being given were almost entirely at odds with Van Gaal’s directives.
The former Athletic Bilbao player – so composed in possession and quick thinking – was among those stifled by the Dutchman’s obsession with safety first.
Mourinho has also brought a pragmatic approach to Old Trafford, but his intention to expand United’s play was evident before effectively writing off the final weeks of the Premier League season.
In Herrera, he wanted a player to help release the attacking qualities of Paul Pogba, without suffocating him in the manner of Van Gaal.
The 2-0 win against Chelsea in April was a classic example.
Herrera completely shackled
“Oh, yes,” Raiola replied when asked by TalkSport if Ibrahimovic wanted to remain at United.
“He wants to stay in England, he wants to stay at the top and if he sees that he can be a valuable asset for Manchester United, then why not Manchester United?
“He can be a valuable asset for some other top clubs also. I think it is respectful to talk to Manchester United and see what all parties Eden Hazard in a man-marking role, but also displayed his invention by providing the through-ball for Marcus Rashford’s opening goal. It was the perfect example of the balance Mourinho is trying to implement at United and Herrera has become pivotal to his plans. A player with the bite and tenacity that always wins round supporters, he has the technique so typical of Spanish players of his generation. Crucially, the speed with which he moves the ball is a quality Mourinho wants to inject elsewhere in his team. It is an element of his game rarely seen under Van Gaal, whose ponderous football so infuriated fans. At his worst ebb under Van Gaal, Herrera made just two starts in 20 games in the his first season at United. In his second he would be left out for long spells too – suggesting he was a David Moyes signing, rather than the former Holland manager. James Robson want.” In an interview with M.E.N. Sport last month, Ibrahimovic hinted he would stay at United when he said he ‘never leaves a job unfinished’.
The Reds are expected to reveal their retained and released list within the next month, with Ibrahimovic the only first-team squad member out of contract in the summer. Victor Valdes and Nick Powell were the high-profile free transfers last year.