In the last twenty-five years, Sir Alex Ferguson has upset me on several occasions.
When Mark Robins stooped to head an FA Cup winner at Forest to save his job – that was one. All those “accusations” and mind games with Kevin Keegan – that wound me up a bit. That annoying clock-watching period on the sidelines. Every time he greets a goal with that “Dad dance” celebration of his – that kind of grates a bit too.
Today, on the day that the whole football world acknowledged his immense spell at the helm at Old Trafford, Sir Alex was at it again.
Having stuck my neck out to push forward Jonny Evans and David De Gea as prospects, Ferguson conspired to drop them both to the bench a week after keeping a clean sheet at Everton.
Who am I to question the logic of it all? The man is an undisputed football genius. After all this time, he’s also still bloody unpredictable.
The selection of Rio Ferdinand alongside Nemanja Vidic wouldn’t have been a surprise not so long ago. There’s little doubt that, when fit and at their best, that pairing are the first choice centre-backs. But, in a week where Ferguson had admitted Ferdinand has had to change his game to play a part in the United defence, it seemed likely that creaking Rio would be spared a second game in a week. Evans looked highly likely to start alongside the imperious Vidic.
Not so. Evans was benched – all those who invested in the Irishman were left frustrated and I’m left with Evans in our Scout Picks for two weeks; taunting me like a grinning Aleksandar Kolarov wearing an “I love Victor Moses” T-shirt.
Suddenly it seems Sir Alex is over his Evans blind spot. Maybe Mike Phelan has sat him down and taken him through some highlights. Even with a dodgy back and the tedious Twitter habbit, Rio’s the better bet.
We kind of knew that but, for a while, it seemed Sir Alex was happy to back Evans. Having seen the press make a meal of his comments on Ferdinand, however, it’s almost as if he stuck with Rio to make a statement. To keep us all guessing.
To compound my frustration, Ferguson rested David De Gea to the bench to confirm him as a rotation risk for the remainder of the season.
Thanks for that. By all means rest him before a Champions League game Sir Alex – that’s signposted, we can anticipate that. But rest him before a two-week international break? I can’t work with that – we need some logic to play with, otherwise this relationship is going nowhere. First you shift Wayne Rooney to midfield, now this debacle. We’d quite like to consider your players for our Fantasy teams this season, but if you’re going to act up, we’ll have to look elsewhere.
Honestly, how long does it take for these Premier League managers to work out that there’s Fantasy points and reputations at stake? Longer than twenty-five years, clearly.
