Ex-united star Why Pep must follow Alex to Wonderland! Fergie blueprint shows City the way to European glory
HENNING BERG
Richard Edwards
SOME of Manchester City’s football last season has put their opponents in a spin. But greater rotation could be the name of the game if Pep Guardiola is going to follow in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson and bring the Champions League home to Manchester next May. That’s the view of former treble-winner Henning Berg, who helped City’s rivals win the title, FA Cup and Champions League 20 years ago. Despite his success with United, Berg is full of praise for Guardiola’s side following their demolition of the competition domestically last time out. But he believes the former Barca boss would do well to take a leaf out of Ferguson’s book if the club are to blossom on the continent and win their first Champions League title in 2019. That was something Ferguson’s side managed twice. In 1999 they pulled off one of football’s greatest comebacks against Bayern Munich in Barcelona. And nine years later, a John Terry slip handed them the trophy on penalties against Chelsea in Moscow.
Strolling
City came up short in Europe last season despite strolling through the group stages and hammering Basel in the last 16.
Guardiola’s men were then thrashed 5-1 over two-legs by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
They were also humbled by then League One Wigan Athletic in fifth round of the FA Cup.
Having won the League Cup – beating Arsenal 3-0 at Wembley back in February – City fans will argue that two out of four ain’t bad.
But Berg points to the example of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad management as an illustration of what might be possible next time around.
“Maybe this is one thing he can improve – keeping his squad fresh all the way through,” says Berg, who also won the title with Blackburn back in 1995.
“That was one of Ferguson’s strong points. When it got to March or April, you knew that every United team under Ferguson would be in top form, with lots of energy and ready to go.
“Maybe United weren’t quite so good in September, October or before Christmas but you knew when the season neared its end that United would always be strong.
“United were traditionally slow starters but Ferguson was very, very clever.
“He knew when to give players a break and he was one of the first to start to rotate players. There was always a lot of talk about it in the media – people asking why someone wasn’t playing or why this player had been given some time off.
“Of course, he had a squad that enabled him to do it but he managed it brilliantly to make sure everyone was still peaking in March and April when everything was going to be decided.”
His haul of 38 trophies in 26 years is unlikely to be matched, no matter how long Guardiola stays at the Etihad.
But having not won the title since 2013, most United supporters would gladly settle for a crack at English football’s greatest prize.
Failing that, they would welcome United keeping pace with City for far longer next season.
Power
“How many points separate them at the moment? I think that’s probably a reflection of where the balance of power lies in Manchester,” says Berg. “Things can change pretty quickly – look at the turnaround between Chelsea and Manchester City this season.
“But at the moment, I would say United were far behind City. Yes, United beat City but that can happen when you have players like (Paul) Pogba, top players who find their form on a given day.
“It’s also not a two-horse race now either because you have the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham in the hunt.”