Womanizer

Just a few stories about today, as Liverpool and Chelsea take centre stage before our game tomorrow.
There's a good article by Matt Dickinson in The Times, not exactly about us, but on the FA Cup, a subject I've often mentioned. Following on from reports of the viewing figures being down after the switch to ITV, Dickinson looks at the difference in coverage:

the BBC has the advantage of a huge platform, a variety of outlets and massive marketing clout — all resources that it deployed to put a shine on the FA Cup.

There was a time when you could not move for Cup adverts on Radio 5 Live, BBC Television and on billboards. Cup weekends once again became an event. The old trophy enjoyed a bit of fresh polish and figures that had been in decline showed marked improvement. The FA and BBC patted each other on the back.

...

This was a competition that desperately needed high-class exposure to thrive in a cluttered market, to escape from the shadow of the Champions League. The Beeb was providing precisely that. ITV’s coverage so far has included cutting away from a winning goal to show an advertisement for tic tacs and a preview show being canned for technical tests. It is as well for the competition that there could be two fantastic semi-finals, and perhaps Manchester United concluding a quadruple, otherwise the flow of bad news could be relentless until May.

Barwick would argue that he made a commercial decision for the good of the wider game, going for the highest bidder so that more revenue could be passed on to the grass roots. But as the ad tells us, there are some things that money can’t buy. There are some things that need diligent care and protection.

Most of the papers report that Rio is looking likely to recover in time for the Inter game, for instance, this in The Telegraph, which looks at the problems if O'Shea doesn't make it:

Although Ferguson was at pains to point out that losing Ferdinand would be a huge blow ahead of such a finely-balanced game, after the first leg finished goalless, he does, at least, have Jonny Evans available as a more than adequate deputy.
Losing O'Shea, though, would force the Scot to deploy Darren Fletcher at right-back for the most important match of United's season so far. Neither Gary Neville nor Wes Brown is expected to start training until next week, while Rafael da Silva is likely to be out until next month with a hamstring injury.

There's some comments from Scholes around, asked whether Ferguson would run down the touchline a la Mourinho, he replied, from The Times:

“At his age? He would probably collapse,” Scholes said. “It would be nice to see but I don’t think our manager goes in for that type of thing. He’ll probably stand up, have a little clap and be pleased we have gone through.”

The same article also includes a quote from Sir Alex on Berbatov:

“Berbatov’s a different type of player to what we had last season,” Ferguson said. “He’s got a patience and composure in the last third of the field that is helping us. I think he has scored about four or five winning goals now. Cantona used to score important goals and if he keeps on scoring important goals then it is an emphatic result for us.”

The Mirror have an article on the bottle of wine that Sir Alex will share with Mourinho which includes some warm words from Sir Alex on Mourinho:

"I've a good bottle of wine ready for him," said Fergie. "Jose actually popped in after we played Chelsea at Old Trafford in January and was on good form.
"The great thing about Jose is he can laugh at himself and he's able to separate what happens on the pitch and off it.
"He might lose a game, but you can still have a conversation with him about anything and everything after it. It's important for managers to be able to communicate with each other and forget the game, no matter what the result."

A "trusted aide" of Mourinho's is quoted in The Telegraph on the reports from the weekend of what Mourinho said about the Man Utd job:

Eladio Parames, a trusted aide of Mourinho’s, said: “Jose did not give an interview or speak with anyone about Alex Ferguson’s job.

“The contents of the article are ridiculous. First, it shows a lack of respect to Sir Alex, whom Jose is a great admirer of and believes will manage Manchester United for many years to come.

“Jose has a deal with Inter, which he plans to honour. And it shows a lack of respect to Manchester United in a week in which Inter are preparing to face them in an important Champions League match.

Those comments form the basis of Ian Wright's column in The Sun, from which I won't quote.
Evra is quoted praising our defence in The Daily Star:

“We really feel that people cannot score against us, be it home or away.
“It makes us feel incredibly confident. We know we can win by scoring a single goal because we are able to hold on to a result.
“There have been a lot of injuries in the back four, but the team is defending solidly. We acquired that last season.
“The proof of it is that our best game in the Champions League last year was the 0-0 draw in Barcelona.
“If one of our defenders is voted Footballer of the Year, it will not be a surprise.

Ronaldo is quoted today, from The Guardian, on controlling his anger:

"I am a target of course so it is difficult to avoid certain things," Ronaldo was quoted by the Sun. "I try to control my anger. Sometimes it's not easy, though, and it is something I have to improve on. Sometimes it is difficult because of the atmosphere in the stadium and the importance of the game. I'm only 24 but I have a lot of experience of big games and that helps because you learn through situations."

He emphasised that he was not cowed by being fouled. "If someone kicks me, I get up and I go again," he said. "I am not afraid of being kicked — it is part of the game. I see it as a challenge that they have to kick me to stop me."

And his Mum pops up to tell us he's not a womaniser:

"My son has only introduced two girlfriends to me - Merche Romero and Nereida Gallardo.

"If I believed what other people say, he has been with more than 100 and he is a womaniser.

"But I know that it is not true. When he likes a girl and the relationship is serious, he presents her to his family."

Which is nice to know...