Mata: Let’s do it for Sir Alex!
MATA URGES TEAM-MATES TO MAKE SIR ALEX PROUD
JUAN Mata has called on his teammates to honour the ‘winning mentality’ and ‘fight’ of Sir Alex Ferguson in their final three games of the season.
The 76-year-old underwent emergency surgery for a brain haemorrhage on Saturday.
In a club statement, United confirmed that ‘the procedure has gone very well’ but Sir Alex ‘needs a period of intensive care to optimise his recovery.’
A number of current United players have been sending messages of support to Sir Alex on social media, including Michael Carrick, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and David de Gea – who all won trophies under him. And, writing in his weekly blog, Mata has his sights set on doing Sir Alex proud ahead of the FA Cup final on May 19.
‘All of us were overwhelmed by the news about Sir Alex Ferguson’s health condition. This circumstance has had a huge impact on Manchester United, as you can imagine,’ he wrote.
‘All of us are united right now, wishing Sir Alex a speedy recovery. He has been a unique and fundamental figure in the football world over the last few decades.
‘I’ve never been coached by him, unfortunately, yet I know well his incomparable legacy on this club, that winning mentality and fighting gen that we must honour in the last three games of the season, especially in the FA Cup final.
‘To achieve that, we are going to work hard while we eagerly await good news about Sir Alex’s recovery.’
United play West Ham on Thursday before the final league game of the season against Watford on Sunday. Six days later, they face Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
IT will have affected them all. As the convoy of customised Range Rovers, Roll Royces and Lambroginis roared into Carrington yesterday morning, the players will have one man on their mind: Sir Alex Ferguson.
There may be a game to prepare for – West Ham on Thursday – but every member of that squad will have a personal memory of Sir Alex.
This is the manager who helped some of these players win their first Premier League title. The ambassador who told them entertaining tales of old while travelling on the team coach. The legend who provided such unforgettable memories on the touchline when they were a youngster watching on like the rest of us.
An ‘incomparable legacy’ as Juan Mata put it.
‘I’ve never been coached by him, unfortunately, yet I know well his incomparable legacy on this club, that winning mentality and fight that we must honour in the last three games of the season, especially in the FA Cup final,’ he wrote.
‘To achieve that, we are going to work hard while we eagerly await good news about Sir Alex’s recovery.’
United will be desperate to do him proud – and exorcise those demons of the Amex Stadium. That game against Brighton seems a lifetime ago, but Jose Mourinho will have certainly not forgotten about it.
The ghosts of Ashton Gate and the John Smith’s Stadium returned as United were again felled by a side who got in their faces while a vociferous crowd roared them on.
Yes, it was an end of season game and United had a firm grip on second place, but a good performance could have put any number of these fringe players in contention for at least an active substitute’s role in the FA Cup final.
But this was a passionless performance and David de Gea, as has so often been the case, was the only saving grace in his first outing since reclaiming the club player of the year award.
If United carry on in this vein against sides fighting for their lives at the other end of the table, that bronze figurine of Sir Matt Busby will be resting on the Spaniard’s mantelpiece for some time yet.
Worryingly, even after Mourinho’s words at halftime, there was no real improvement as he looked to seal that runners-up spot.
After that famous comeback against City, Mourinho had targeted 89 points – a total that would have been enough to win the Premier League on 18 previous occasions – but sloppy defeats to West Brom and Brighton have put paid to that. “I did not succeed in persuading my players that getting four more points is important. It is for me, but perhaps not for them,” he hissed post-match. It was not a surprise that no player was willing to front up to the written media afterwards and that is understandable after a defeat. When skipper Ashley Young was asked for a quick word, he followed his teammates’ lead as they trudged out in single file. Silence. Until he reached a fire door and made a point of slamming it wide open off the wall. The stand-in skipper cared, at least, and knows what it means to wear that red shirt. Sir Alex has helped to set the standards of what it means to be a United player – whatever the opposition. These players will be desperate to do him proud as he fights on.
Every member of the squad will have a personal memory of Sir Alex Ciaran Kelly