Fergie's Embarassment Of Riches

Sir Alex Ferguson praised the strikers at his disposal, claiming their abilities match the four attackers' who were on United's books in 1998/99, in the Treble season.

At the start of the season, many pundits claimed United would suffer from lack of goals as the Reds did not have a proven finisher following the departure of Ruud van Nistelrooy. Now, 23 games into the league campaign, United top the table and their success is based on their attacking play which saw the Reds amass 52 goals in the Premiership.

With the arrival of Henrik Larsson, the return of Rossi and the new contract of Chinese striker Dong, Sir Alex is able to call into action no less than seven forwards. But it's not the quantity that makes his attacking resources so valuable but the quality of them, insists the Scot.

'My thoughts go back to our treble year with no doubt in my mind that the key to our success in 1999 on three fronts was the fact that we also had four top-class strikers.

'I was able to vary my selections and keep our attack fresh and firing on all cylinders with each of them making a telling contribution as we went quickly from one competition to another, especially in the closing stages when the games arrived thick and fast.

'Hopefully, with four strikers available now, we will be able once more to keep the goals coming in the Premiership, the FA Cup and soon in Europe,' he said.

That four is seven, as I've mentioned but Fergie didn't take Smith, Rossi and Dong into the account. I don't know why as all of them can play in the Champions League and in the FA Cup, too.

Oh, and talking about the Treble is just nonsense. Forget it. It's NOT 1999.

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