United - The Backlash!

Having been knocked out of the Carling Cup, at West Ham, by such a despairing score-line, it hasn`t taken long for Sir Alex Ferguson to start taking flak.

As usual it is the stars of yesteryear who seem only too quick to give their views on the situation and this time its Viv Anderson and Lou Macari that are only too keen to have their say.

Viv, in his day a classy full back, reckons the defeat was a real wake up and that United should be concerned that the kids that are coming through are just not good enough, remarking,

"I don`t think they are quite up to the task everyone thinks they are."

"We changed the whole back five, including the goalkeeper. And that is a bit of an ask."

"It has backfired on Ferguson, you could see that in his face."

"He is going to have to really think about the younger lads, they cannot match up to the expectations of this club."

Viv goes on to brush away any comfort we may have attained form a similar experiment undertaken against Glasgow Rangers, at Ibrox last week, explaining,

"It was a bit of a false dawn. That night the system suited us as Rangers had only Kenny Miller up front."

"West Ham played with two up front and that was difficult for us. We conceded some shocking goals."

"It was a hard night and a learning curve for all those lads in the back four."

As for Lou, his remarks make for more cutting reading with the Scotsman remarking about the youngsters,

"I can`t remember the last time I saw one of them come into the team and you thought a star had arrived."

"You go back to the time when Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs played in a game against Port Vale and you knew when they had arrived."

"I keep wanting to see the same thing happening now but I just can`t. They were given the opportunity but they let the manager down."

And as for Tuesday night and the continual changing of the side,

"West Ham bullied us - and they are the one team that can`t bully anyone."

"We read all the time about players getting tired but I am not a great believer in chopping and changing."

"But if those who played on Saturday had played again, do you think they would not have been able to play at Blackpool this weekend? They would be itching to play."

"Berbatov scored five against Blackburn and would have been on an all-time high."

"If he had scored another couple on Tuesday there would have been even more pats on the back."

Are Anderson and Macari right, or do you have a different view?




Vital Man United on:

Vital Man United on:

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