Looking ahead to the December fixtures we will soon know how we are faring in the pecking order. Games against Liverpool and Arsenal as well as away to Blackburn and Middlesborough will surely test our credentials in the PL. Then there is the next phase of the CL plus some WC matches to test the progress of one or two youngsters hopefully.
It's essential, surely, that we get results against both Liverpool and Arsenal not just to keep us in the title race but to prove a point as well. That is to show that those sides have not gone ahead of us more or less permanently. That we are still the best side in the land despite the fact that a lot of supporters including us die hards believe that maybe we aren't anymore. Above all it is a test for Fergie to show the growing band of doubters that he still has the nous to put one over Wenger and Houllier, especially as the latter has come out on top in the last five encounters and, despite one aberration, Wenger's recent record is also rather damning from our perspective. Can Fergie get the team selection and tactics right ? Can he motivate them to perform considerably better than in most other games played this season ? Can he assess and counteract the strengths of both these main rivals as well as identify and exploit their weaknesses ? Does he realise that further defeats against these two in particular is almost unthinkable? Or is his focus now almost totally consumed by at least one more Eurpoean Cup before he calls it a day? Has the team sensed this single minded objective at the expense of PL performances ?
Hopefully, Keane will be back and , from a playing point of view, unaffected by the off the field goings on as well as the injury of course. Brown will also be back for part of that month to provide back up support. Hopefully Fergie will once again be spoilt for choice and up for the challenge in whatever shape or form that challenge comes. Despite everything he's achieved he needs to prove a point once again.
It's essential, surely, that we get results against both Liverpool and Arsenal not just to keep us in the title race but to prove a point as well. That is to show that those sides have not gone ahead of us more or less permanently. That we are still the best side in the land despite the fact that a lot of supporters including us die hards believe that maybe we aren't anymore. Above all it is a test for Fergie to show the growing band of doubters that he still has the nous to put one over Wenger and Houllier, especially as the latter has come out on top in the last five encounters and, despite one aberration, Wenger's recent record is also rather damning from our perspective. Can Fergie get the team selection and tactics right ? Can he motivate them to perform considerably better than in most other games played this season ? Can he assess and counteract the strengths of both these main rivals as well as identify and exploit their weaknesses ? Does he realise that further defeats against these two in particular is almost unthinkable? Or is his focus now almost totally consumed by at least one more Eurpoean Cup before he calls it a day? Has the team sensed this single minded objective at the expense of PL performances ?
Hopefully, Keane will be back and , from a playing point of view, unaffected by the off the field goings on as well as the injury of course. Brown will also be back for part of that month to provide back up support. Hopefully Fergie will once again be spoilt for choice and up for the challenge in whatever shape or form that challenge comes. Despite everything he's achieved he needs to prove a point once again.