SAF Happy To Being Second Best To Barca For Now

Drifter

American
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
68,364
Sir Alex Ferguson has told his Manchester United players they must be happy playing second best to Barcelona for the time being, but has challenged them to close the gap on the European champions.

Last season United failed to emulate their Premier League heroics in Europe, falling to Pep Guardiola's men in the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley.

That triumph saw Barca lift their second continental title in three years, having also ousted the Red Devils in the 2009 final.

Two months later Ferguson's men are preparing to meet their conquerors again, this time in the final game of their pre-season tour of the United States in Washington DC on Saturday.
Benchmark

The Scottish manager believes Barca's achievements over recent years have set the benchmark in world football, and he has urged United to reach that level.

"I think their performances and their feats over the last two or three years have elevated them," Ferguson told Sky Sports News.

"In everyone's mind they are the best team, currently, in the world.

"I'm quite happy to be in second place at this moment in time because that's our challenge. Our challenge will be to get to that level."
 

Red Hand Devil

Plan M ish
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
19,511
Location
"I said a hip hop, hippie to the hippie..."
Well thats why we should be splashin cash in midfield now. They've improved further with Sanchez, and Fabregas could be on his way too.. Scholesy has great faith in Andie to fill the void tho, hope he can be that man this year, reckon he can aswell..
 

Cina

full member
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
50,911
Well he hasn't bought what would be needed to challenge them, yet.
 

giggs-beckham

Clueless
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
6,968
Doesn't think an expensive mid will make any difference as barca have already got the thing wrapped up. But thinks what we've got is good enough against the rest at home and in Europe.

Anderson wont be the answer in my opinion.
 

Lance Uppercut

Guest
Fergie has never been "happy" being second best at anything.
 

MacMUFC

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
4,351
There's nothing wrong with the headline you weirdos. The content says the exact same thing!
 

Red Hand Devil

Plan M ish
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
19,511
Location
"I said a hip hop, hippie to the hippie..."
anver said:
Sir Alex has a better chance of popping a pineapple from his ass than beating Barca with this average midfield.
Click to expand...
Thing is - apparantly "there's no-one available that will improve on what we have.."

I never heard so much shite. Its feckin obvious there are better players out there that are available, if we pay for it. We dont seem to want to pay for it tho!
 

Domzi

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
2,163
Don't like our manager saying this. Shows a lack of ambition. Time for him to leave.
 

gormless

Full Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
8,544
Location
comfortable and settled in my rut
Red Hand Devil said:
Well thats why we should be splashin cash in midfield now. They've improved further with Sanchez, and Fabregas could be on his way too.. Scholesy has great faith in Andie to fill the void tho, hope he can be that man this year, reckon he can aswell..
Click to expand...
Its got to the point where when i see that word i think of the poster rather than the player.
 

Cina

full member
Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
50,911
You're only the second best team
.. second best team
.. SECOND best team
 

dmode

Full Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2002
Messages
5,085
Location
vega
New title:
SAF's new craze: Knocking Barca off their perch
 

FranklyVulgar

Full Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
10,266
Location
I've got a pretty little mouth underneath all the
where is the harm in this? you cannot always be the best, to be respected as the 2nd best side in the world is pretty good going. To always be challanging for the top prizes and more often than not either winning or being very close should be enough to satisfy fans.

You can't win everything all the time, you can't always be the best but what you can be is extremely proud of the club you support.
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,515
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
He knows we need to wait until they pass their peak. They have the best midfielders in the world and there is no way we can match them right now. We could sign Sneijder and still never close the gap as he's still inferior to what they have. He'd probably rather buy young/bringing through the young players and aim to be at the top around the time when they suffer a dip.
 

SteveJ

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian
Scout
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
62,851
Red Dreams said:
Morning Steve.

Fergie is addressing the current reality and saying we need and will close the gap.
Click to expand...
Hello, mate. :)

My post (as was cina's) was a riff on lines from a sitcom called Father Ted. :D

Although SAF is simply being honest, I doubt anyone's fooled by his words - he'll still believe we can overhaul Barca, and soon. :)
 

mariachi-19

Full Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
18,616
Location
I may be the devil, but i'm not a monster
FranklyVulgar said:
where is the harm in this? you cannot always be the best, to be respected as the 2nd best side in the world is pretty good going. To always be challanging for the top prizes and more often than not either winning or being very close should be enough to satisfy fans.

You can't win everything all the time, you can't always be the best but what you can be is extremely proud of the club you support.
Click to expand...
You're a fool if you think anybody at Manchester United is happy with second best. If you don't strive to be the best, you have failed as a sports person.

My favorite quote from Schumacher 'in my opinion the most complete sportsperson of all time' "You must always strive to be the best but you must never think you are the best"
 

Dr. Dwayne

Self proclaimed tagline king.
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
97,638
Location
Nearer my Cas, to thee
My interpretation of the comments is this:

Sir Alex is pleased to be widely considered the second best team on the planet right now. Barcelona are on another level and that is the challenge, reach their level and compete with them for #1 status.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
 

Red Dreams

Full Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
55,373
Location
Across the Universe....from Old Trafford.
SteveJ said:
Hello, mate. :)

My post (as was cina's) was a riff on lines from a sitcom called Father Ted. :D

Although SAF is simply being honest, I doubt anyone's fooled by his words - he'll still believe we can overhaul Barca, and soon. :)
Click to expand...
cool mate. course I have not seen that sit com.

I agree. I dont think he will retire until he has that 3rd CL trophy in his hands. He would 'luv it' if we do that against barca.

and we have a great chance of doing that once we get Sneijder ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.