Many Bitter Men

So let's start today in much the same way as we started yesterday, that is with the bitterness of Benitez:

Asked if the best team always wins the league, Benítez responded: "It just means they have more points.

"If United win the league it means they will have more points, clearly, but there are some very good teams in different positions in the table. It depends on the time of the season. I don't think I ever said we were playing the best out of everyone, maybe just at certain moments. I do have a lot of respect for the other teams, but to say who is the best at one moment is not easy." ...

Benítez again revisited a disallowed goal in the opening minutes of the home game against Stoke City as an example of the fine margins that have worked against Liverpool this season.

And what does having more points signify? That we're better over the season than everyone else. What is the point of having a league but to judge who is the best? And what's this "one moment" thing? We're not talking about moments, we're talking about the best over the season. Just accept it. And he whines about money again, which I won't bother quoting.
And speaking of Liverpool, there's a good article on The Guardian blog which looks at our equalling of their Championships:

Liverpool's supporters have always been good at recognising United's weak spots. "Eighteen times," was one of their popular refrains, simple but effective, whenever they visited Old Trafford. "It always seemed such an insurmountable figure," says Andy Mitten, author of We're The Famous Manchester United, a book about United during the 1980s. "But Ferguson has well and truly knocked them off their perch now."
Except Ferguson, naturally, wants more than just to pull level. The man who stands on the verge of winning his 11th title in 17 seasons gave the impression yesterday of not being satisfied until he can see Liverpool disappearing in his wing mirrors. "The prospect of winning more titles with this team resonates with me far more than equalling someone else," he said. "This team has got a bit to go yet. It can go on to win many more titles, and that's more exciting for me." ...
it could certainly be argued that United supporters would regard this as their most important league title since 1993. "We do share something [with Liverpool's fans]," says Shaw. "They now shiver with their nightmare scenarios of us winning so many trophies, just as we once did with them, and they will probably lock themselves away all summer, just like we did in 1992. They have given it their best shot and they say they can get better, but then so can United, and I know who'll be having the sleepless nights this summer."

And on Steven Gerrard winning the FWA player of the year award Sir Alex had this to say:

While Gerrard took 73 of the votes, 10 higher than Ryan Giggs, the winner of the Professional Footballers' Association award, he was the only Liverpool player to win more than one nomination, whereas almost half the vote went to Old Trafford players. Wayne Rooney was in third place with 36, whereas Ferguson's own choice, Nemanja Vidic, received 12, Rio ­Ferdinand had six, Cristiano Ronaldo three and Michael Carrick two.

"The fact that we had six players in there didn't do them any good because the vote has been split," said Ferguson. ­"Steven Gerrard is a terrific player in his own right and you can't deny the lad his position in the game but, from the ­Manchester United perspective, I thought Vidic had a great chance this year. His form has been magnificent all season."

Continuing our theme, The Times make a nice contrast between Sir Alex and Benitez:

The man who once described his biggest achievement in football as “knocking Liverpool off their f***ing perch” will ensure United move alongside them on the domestic pedestal if they take a point from Arsenal’s lunchtime visit to Old Trafford, but his mind will immediately switch to other challenges; the hunt for fresh titles, new trophies. It seems that the 67-year-old’s appetite for success will never be sated.

Ferguson’s refusal to glory in United’s dominance of the Premier League era — this would be their eleventh title in 17 seasons — is commendable, but appeared even more dignified yesterday when Rafael Benítez refused to concede that the champions are the best side in the country. They have the most points and the most money, but not necessarily the best team, was the gist of the Liverpool manager’s argument.

Benítez should choose his words carefully, however, because the events of the past few months have demonstrated beyond all doubt the folly of picking a fight with Ferguson, particularly when he is set on coming back for more. The Scot has repeatedly claimed that this is the best squad he has worked with in 23 years at Old Trafford and is determined to prove it through sheer weight of silverware. Moving ahead of Liverpool — and cementing his own legend — is merely a happy by-product.

The Independent suspect that Sir Alex might just be being a bit coy about his real feelings on Matching Liverpool's titles:

The new generation he has assembled at United gives Liverpool fans far more grounds for gloominess today than the fact that Ferguson – the man whose club trailed theirs by 16 championships to seven when he first walked into Old Trafford 23 summers ago – has finally reeled them in. Any satisfaction at putting one over on Merseyside was "a fan thing," said the United manager, preferring to dwell instead on those players, none older than 22, whose collective emergence has been a genuinely unexpected part of United's evolution this season.

Danny Welbeck, Federico Macheda, Darron Gibson, Jonny Evans and Rafael da Silva all earned an honourable mention. None, as Ferguson acknowledged, has yet proved beyond doubt that he can offer what the "dinosaurs" like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have done. But Evans looks like a United legend in the making and that Da Silva, Welbeck and Macheda have shown such potential at a level of football which, as Ferguson acknowledged, is "higher and harder" than that which Giggs, Scholes and Gary Neville cut their teeth on, offers grounds for substantial hope.

That is for another day though, whatever Ferguson chooses to say. Who can possibly believe that he "hadn't even thought about" equalling Liverpool's titles until "you lot mentioned it" – his claim to the press yesterday. The 2-0 defeat to Liverpool which handed Leeds the title at the death 17 years back, Liverpool fans outside the stadium asking for Ryan Giggs and Paul Ince's autographs, then tearing them up in their faces, lives with him still and when his work is finally done at Old Trafford he can say that he has placed United alongside them in days when there are Russian oligarchs around the corner and when every relegation-threatened side is fighting multi-million pound stakes to survive. Not the kind of preoccupations to have kept Shankly and Paisley awake at night.

The Telegraph have a long piece on what makes Sir Alex so good:

If the Premier League is retained today and the European Cup likewise 10 days hence, then his handling of Ronaldo in particular can be regarded as one of the great examples of man management in the history of the game by arguably the greatest club manager of all time.

Power today is with the player. In the pampered culture of plenty that protects them from the forces of economic gravity that have the rest of us pinned to the credit-crunch floor, alpha footballers get what they want when they want it. For the World Player of the Year you can multiply the Madonna effect tenfold.

Ronaldo had made up his mind to join Real Madrid, the club who fill the hearts of children doing keepie-uppies before breakfast in Madeira. Ronaldo has an emotional attachment to the idea of Madrid beyond the reach of reason.

That Fergie persuaded him to come back to Manchester one more time demonstrates the charismatic influence that he has on those around him. What arguments did he use to overcome a prejudice towards Madrid nurtured since nappies? The wisdom of Ferguson is a powerful instrument, the same one that when the occasion demands it turns his tongue into the turbo-lash of legend.

None is infallible, of course. Judgment in these matters is not an exact science. Fergie did after all buy Ralph Milne, and more recently Kleberson and Djemba Djemba. Rather than expose him, the mistakes confirm his genius for getting most things right. And when he makes a decision it is made absolutely, for good or bad.

And they also have a long interview with Ryan Giggs which is a good read, I'll just quote the one sentence, as a little reminder to Steven Gerrard:

"Personal awards come second to winning leagues but I was really pleased to get that PFA award"

And finally onto Tevez and The Sun has a quote from Maradona which I hope is a misrepresentation of Tevez:

Tevez has grown increasingly frustrated at being dropped for Manchester United’s big matches and, according to his national boss Diego Maradona, fears Fergie wants him out.

Maradona said: “I spoke with Tevez on the phone and the first thing he said to me was ‘That old man doesn’t like me.

"He’s not playing me and he is lowering my value’.

“When he comes to Argentina, I’m going to reassure him. As I see it, he’s fast, incisive, he scores goals.

"He is about to be called up for Argentina and he will be playing.”

I really don't see that Tevez can have said that, so bluntly looking at the money, when he plays with such passion for the game.
The Sun also has a Tevez mask for people to wear to the game to show their support for him...