Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken on his striking issue, saying he has no real problem apart from having to tell the a player or 2 that they haven’t been included in the team.
United’s front line has been the talk of the town after all four staked their claim for a place in the team in the past 7 days.
Ultimately Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney will occupy 2 of the potential 3 places leaving Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez to battle for the 3rd spot.
But it is a position he has been in before, notably in 1999 when United did the treble and it doesn’t faze him. Speaking at his presser this morning, the manager said:
“It’s a good problem to have.
“I don’t always enjoy it [telling players they’re not playing] but it has to be done. In fairness to all the players they’ve accepted it well and adapted to it.
“I don’t have any great problems other than having to tell one or two of them they’re not playing.”
Sir Alex also used the presser to again praise Javier Hernandez, who he feels has benefitted from a less taxing summer:
“Chicha was tremendous the other night. He’s a really terrific player and such a dedicated footballer and professional in every training session. He’s improving – that’s the good thing about him.
“The thing that is making the difference to him is he got a proper rest in the summer. It was exhausting in the way it had been in the previous three years for him. That’s helping him.”
I see no problem in Man Utd having four quality strikers. The problem is the media and it shows how much they get involve now compared to the 90’s.
We had 4 quality strikers in 1998-99 as well. At the beginning of the season it was Dwight Yorke signing, which must mean someone is leaving. Andy Cole was linked with Aston Villa every day, Teddy Sheringham was moving to Crystal Palace and, to be fair, we accepted a £5.5 million offer from Tottenham for Ole Gunnar Solskjear. Ferguson said he wanted him to stay and he rejected the move.
My point is that back in 1999 they couldn’t believe we needed four strikers. We started the trend and soon nearly all teams had four strikers. Arsenal had Henry, Wiltord, Bergkamp and Kanu. Liverpool had Owen, Heskey, Fowler and Litmanen. Even today Man City have Aguero, Tevez, Balotteli and Dzeko. I can’t understand why there is always constant speculation around our strikers.
We have four top strikers and I think we can keep them all. We are even playing with three of the strikers quite often as well. Hernandez has had games but didn’t always take his chance. He did against Braga and now we will see if Ferguson wants him to start against Chelsea. Welbeck also did well against Stoke so he would warrant a start as well. This is what we want and I see no reason to change it.