Fergie Looking For Eighty From Manchester United--And That's Just The Forwards

ALEX FERGUSON reckons the Manchester United strike force can break through the 80-goal mark this season and carry them to glory.

All the recent chat has been about the 1032 minutes since United last conceded a Premier League goal and the fact United haven't conceded in eleven straight games but now Fergie wants his strikers to get themselves in amongst the headlines and start scoring freely much as they did against West Brom on Tuesday night as they dished out a 5-0 thrashing and the United boss believes Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo can all go on and get 20 goals each this season.

Ferguson said: “I certainly think they are capable of doing it. Quite rightly the defenders have been taking the credit this season up until now. I just hope now that it’s going to be the forwards who take the credit. The case of Ronaldo is a good one. Last year was a miracle season. To score 42 goals as a winger, it is hard to imagine he could replicate that. Yet people are saying he has not had a great season but he’s still got 13 goals for us and had 11 assists.

“If we could dismiss last season altogether you would say that was incredible for a winger to score 13 goals by the half-way mark. So he will without doubt end up with over 20. Berbatov’s record at Tottenham was 20 goals or more a season and we expect that again. And of course if we can get the extra stuff from Carlos and Wayne it gives us a better chance.”

As things currently stand Ronaldo has 13, Rooney 12, Berbatov 11 and Tevez 10. After a slow start Berbatov has now scored in four of United’s last five and Fergie said: “The most important aspect is the other players are understanding him now. They are feeding him with passes, playing to him much more and bringing him much more into the play now. It took the players time to recognise his talents. He’s a different type of player from what we are used to but now they are doing that and you are seeing the benefits of that.”

United look confident on top of the table, two points clear of nearest rivals Chelsea with a game in hand ahead of today’s home task against Everton. If they can chalk up a win today they can sit back and watch at least one of Liverpool or Chelsea drop points as they do battle at Anfield tomorrow.

Fergie said: “If we win I don’t care what happens at Anfield, if they both lose — that would be the perfect day! Look after yourselves is the name of the game. Do your job and you don’t have to worry about elsewhere.”.......Back To Home Page...

FA Cup: Manchester United 'v' Tottenham Preview

A couple of years ago, an FA Cup tie with Manchester United would have been the highlight of the season for Spurs as they had usually cemented their place in mid-table and could afford to concentrate on the cup competitions. The Carling Cup being Spurs preferred cup right now as they won it last year and made the final this year again.

Harry Redknapp has been promising wholesale changes from the side that almost shamed the club by blowing a three-goal lead at Burnley in midweek. Guessing what the side will be for this match is almost impossible but it is possible that Spurs fans will spend the first half of the game simply trying to work out who half the players are and the other half of the game wondering how United scored so easily against them.

Spurs will likely play Gareth Bale, Ricardo Rocha, Giovani Dos Santos and Adel Taarabt. Roman Pavlyuchenko may only have come off the bench but even he would be a risk given Spurs lack
of strikers. Similarly with no other goalkeepers to call on, the hapless Ben Alnwick will get a chance to redeem himself after the horror show at Turf Moor.

United picked up three more injuries in their victory over Derby County in midweek but their squad has a huge amount more in terms of depths than Tottenham’s. Whereas Spurs will have to look to academy starlets to fill the void, United can cover the loss of Evans, Anderson and Rafael with players such as Tosic, Fletcher and young players who are almost guaranteed to slot
easily into the side given their Old Trafford upbringing.

The lack of expectation may help Spurs after the trauma of midweek but a similar scoreline after 90 minutes is still likely to be reached as Spurs gear up for Stoke on Tuesday rather than FA Cup glory.

My Prediction: Manchester United 3 - 0 Tottenham

Expected Line Ups:

Manchester United: Foster, Chester, Neville, Fletcher, O'Shea, Nani, Gibson, Tosic, Giggs, Welbeck, Tevez.

Tottenham: Alnwick, Bale, Gunter, Rocha, Dervite, Zokora, Huddlestone, Bentley, Dos Santos, Taarabt, Pavlyuchenko.

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