The Four Horsemen

There's a couple of interesting articles on The Guardian's sport blog today (or, it being Sunday, should that be The Observer's Sports blog, so confusing...). This one, by Paul Wilson, is not really about Man Utd, but about the dissolution of the so-called "big 4". It mainly concentrates on Chelsea, Villa and Everton. In a passage looking at Chelsea's problems it has an interesting comparison betweeen us and them:

Steve Clarke has been allowed to join West Ham, whose notable improvement coincides too neatly with Chelsea's slump to avoid conclusions being drawn, and Frank Arnesen's much-vaunted youth production line, supposedly geared up to provide a first-team player every season from next year onwards, remains a low-profile project. Manchester United have the youth, in players such as the Da Silva brothers, Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck and Darron Gibson, and all the experience in the world in Sir Alex Ferguson. It raised a smile last week to read that Scolari at 60 was too old to take on the challenge of knocking Fergie off his perch, even if it made a certain sort of sense. Ferguson has not always been 67; he has been running United since his mid-forties and winning titles for as long as the Premier League has been in existence. That is a tough nut to crack, and all Chelsea have managed this season is to prove Ferguson correct when he suggested they were the ones with the age problem if a significant improvement was expected.

The other one, by Paul Hayward, is a rather poetic look at Michael Carrick:

For the neutral, Carrick's nimble passing has added an enticing new dimension to United's sweeping forward play. Where Scholes will chip or slap a diagonal pass from his low centre of gravity, Carrick strokes the ball with a longer leg and more languid gait. Scholes is a more static deliverer; he sets his body for the release. Carrick is often in a canter when he sends the package. His eye for a distant gap through the middle of the pitch is the best in the English paddocks.
...
Carrick is one defence against the entirely rational suspicion that Englishmen will never be able to pass or keep the ball as well as the best Europeans or South Americans.

One reassuring beauty is that we value the act of giving – the exquisite pass – in a game where success is usually measured by how much you take.

The rest of the day's articles seem to be filled mainly with recycled quotes and nothing new, so I'll just skim through the best of them. The Mail report that Gary Neville is likely to follow Ryan Giggs in signing a new contract. The Mail also has some quotes from Vidic on Giggs:

'Young players need to look at Ryan,' he said.

'He is a complete professional and any young player can learn from him about how to develop themselves and how to have a big career and a long career.

'He has done very well this season and I am glad he has signed a new contract and will be part of this squad for another 18 months.'

'He has been at this level for 18 years,' said Vidic. 'To do that at Manchester United is not easy.'

The News of The World has comments from Carrick about the possibilty of winning all 4 trophies and the disappointment of missing the treble last season:

“For us, we look back at Portsmouth last season in the FA Cup and know if we had won that game we might have won the Treble. That’s why this season we don’t want to finish with any regrets that we might have done better.”

The NOTW also has comments from Eric Cantona praising Sir Alex:

“Alex Ferguson is an example. United are one of the richest clubs in the world but he understands the importance of training and developing young talent and bringing English lads into the team. They are still doing that at United.”

And, if I can decontextualize and join together a couple of seperate comments from the article, he also has a sly dig at Liverpool and Arsenal:

“I can understand clubs being attracted by some of the top players in the world but there are lots of average clubs who have adopted what for me is a ridiculous policy. Teams like Arsenal and Liverpool have practically no English players. They are nearly all foreigners.”