One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

Ryan Giggs is the talk of the town today, the occasion being the signing of his new one year contract. The Guardian report that he wants to continue playing beyond that as well:

Giggs ... has agreed a one-year extension that will take him to the summer of 2010.

By then, Giggs will be 36 but the most decorated player in the club's history, currently going for his 11th Premier League title, has spoken to Ferguson about the possibility of continuing even longer. He has already started taking his coaching badges but, whereas Paul Scholes and Gary Neville are widely expected to join Edwin van der Sar in retiring in 18 months' time, Giggs is hopeful of playing until 2011 at the earliest.

The Times has a good summary of Sir Alex's comments on Giggs:

“Ryan’s performance level has not diminished and in some ways he’s added to his game in terms of experience and composure,” Ferguson said. “And he’s so fit. His training times in the summer were sensational. “It would be easy for him to be complacent after all has achieved, but he isn’t and that speaks volumes for his character and explains why we wanted to extend his services and use that experience.”

The Daily Mail have comments from Eric Harrison, "former United youth director — and former Wales assistant manager " who said:

‘When the day comes for Ryan to finish, and it’s a while away yet, he will be great as an ambassador or as a coach because he has always been prepared to help younger players out.

‘Ryan is a fantastic role model for kids. His behaviour is impeccable.

‘When he was with Wales, for example, if ever a new player came in and joined the squad he would be straight over there offering advice and help.'

While The Mirror goes for comments from Dennis Irwin, the player who was substituted for Giggs on his first appearance:

"It's frightening to think that was 1991 and he's still going strong in the first-team 18 years later.

"To play nearly 800 games over 18 years, in this day and age, is incredible. Ryan is lucky he hasn't had many bad injuries, but when you play that many games in the modern era it's some achievement.

Someone else getting praise today is Wayne Rooney, who by missing the Spain game gets to look pretty good. Henry Winter in The Telegraph suggests that "Rooney is so important to England that he almost needs a preservation order placed on him":

Still maturing under Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney is probably still three to four years from his peak, a welcome shaft of sunlight amidst the gloom spreading after the defeat.

On an evening when Spanish technique was rightly feted, it is worth remembering that Rooney could have controlled Xabi Alonso’s pass with the velvet touch shown by David Villa. He could have turned a defender as the Valencia striker did Phil Jagielka. He could have slotted that low shot home.

In a decent pack, Rooney remains Fabio Capello’s ace. He can create and finish. He can link up and lead the line.

On The Guardian's blog there is a piece examining our defence and how to score against it. It's a good piece overall, worth a read, with a lot of good stats:

Opta stats show that last season United averaged 458.5 passes per game, with a completion rate of 80.50%. This season, they're up to 518.5 passes per game and a completion rate of 83.54%, and in the last 13 games, they've made an average of 540.5 passes per game with a completion rate of 84.33%. Possession has risen from 58% last season to 62% in the last 13 games.

The best stat is perhaps this one, which demonstrates that our defensive record is not simply a sign of our emphasis switching from attack to defence:

That they have had more touches in their opponents' half over the last 13 games (5,626) than any other side demonstrates that their preference most of the time is to take the initiative.

The one thing to criticise is the answer to how to score to against us, after much deliberation it turns out the answer is to attack us...

it seems this season that attacking United can unsettle them

(to be fair he does pick out a couple of things as well but still...)
One more story and it involves Fabio Aurelio saying, from The Sun, that

“They won’t get positive results right until the end of the season, plus we’ve got to go to Old Trafford.

“So if we keep getting our points, we’ll have a chance to beat them"

The phrase "grasping at straws springs to mind". I'm fairly sure that we'll be getting more positive results than Liverpool from now till the end of the season. My favourite sentence of the article has to be this one:

Aurelio, 29, is something of a rarity at Anfield in that he has a title medal.

And then there's Ryan Giggs, going for his 11th...