We Are Your Friends

"We are confident because we are Manchester United.

“I think Manchester City will want to show people that they are the kings of the city – but they aren’t..."

It's always good to see the words of Patrice Evra in the papers. He has the happy knack of always saying the right thing. Not just in the usual, paying lip service to the fans, the club, whoever, while remaining polite about the other team, but actually sounding involved, not just as a player, but as a fan, as someone who cares. The full quotes from which the above are an excerpt:

“I always said we would have a clear idea of how we were doing after the Arsenal, Spurs and Besiktas games and I think if we win against City that will be very important for the season ahead,” added Evra.

“It will be a big start for us. City are going for the Champions League. It will be difficult because they haven’t lost.

“They are ambitious and want to stay in the top four. They’ve bought a lot of players and beat Arsenal 4-2 so, they will be going into the game with a lot of confidence.

“But we are confident because we are Manchester United.

“ Over the years, we have won a lot more than City and we need to make sure we do that again.

“We have a lot of respect for City but we are Manchester United and every time we play City, we really have to show that.

“I think Manchester City will want to show people that they are the kings of the city – but they aren’t yet. We have to make sure that doesn’t ­happen.”

And on Tevez:

“We have been joking a bit on the texts.

“He told me they are coming to win here.

“I’ll wait for the reception he gets from the United fans, but I think ­Carlito will do a great job for ­Manchester City.

“He is a good professional and he ­respected the United shirt a lot.

“The fans loved him. I don’t know if they will boo him or clap him. But anyway, I said to him: ‘If they boo you, I will boo as well with the fans!’” ...

“I was surprised he left and a little bit angry about it.

“He’s a friend and was a great player for Manchester United – and when you lose a great player, it can be ­difficult to accept.

“I kept talking to him, telling him to stay here. I tried to persuade him to stay because I didn’t want to lose my friend but he made a choice and I ­respect the choice.

“He had some good reasons to go and I just told him ‘Good luck.’ It’s not about one player or two players at Manchester United.

“We know the club has lost players in the past, people like Beckham, Van Nistelrooy and now Ronaldo and Tevez, but we are Manchester United and that’s all that matters. The team is more important than any one ­player.”

Another good quote that the above report misses is included here:

"It's not about one player or two players at Manchester United. We know they have lost players in the past," Evra said. "People get jealous and just want to say bad things about the club."

Some quotes from Paul Scholes on missing the City game:

"The derby is always a massive game but after what has gone on there at Eastlands it is probably a little bit bigger. It is tight at the top of the league," said Paul.

"I am disappointed to miss out especially when I was sent off when I shouldn't have been. I was disappointed on Saturday because I think most people could see it wasn't a second yellow card.

"I just had to put that behind me and come into the game against Besiktas hoping that we could win this one. It was not the best performance but we won the game and that is the most important thing when you come away in the Champions League.

"It was professional. We would have liked to have played better than we did do and create more chances and generally play better. We haven't done that but we have got an important goal and won the game.

"It has been a while since I scored. It was one of only a couple of occasions that I have been able to get forward these days."

And Sir Alex on Scholes, from the same report:

"I don't think this is his last season. Not the way that he plays," said Sir Alex.

"It's difficult to say how long he can go on for but what else has he got? He is a football man. He isn't going to drop through the leagues I am sure of it.

"Once you have played for United for as long as he has - 20 years - what else are you going to do?

"I have read that stuff about playing for Oldham in his last year. No chance!"

Quotes from Ben Foster on the game which don't really say enough to be quoted.
Platitudes from David Silva on Man United which also aren't worth quoting.
There'll be a tribunal to decide the fee Burnley will pay us for Richard Eckersley. I like this quote from Burnley, which makes you wonder why he went there:

“It’s all down to people’s opinions. “Right the way through, everything we do at the football club we back our manager.

“He sees him as one figure, and Manchester United see him as another, and we’ve valued him as a lot less than they have.

A couple of opinion pieces to finish with - Louise Taylor, on The Guardian blog, defends Rooney after his reaction to being subbed on Tuesday night (does he really need defending for what was pretty much nothing?) and calls on Glen Roeder to help for some reason:

"Truly calm people don't make top professional footballers," he explained. "Yes, they generally learn to control their aggression but, to be a winner, that passion has to be there and sometimes it spills over. At the moment Wayne Rooney is probably the best player in England but you can't hit those heights unless you care deeply about your game.

"There was a time when Wayne Rooney could be unacceptably indisciplined but, thanks to Sir Alex Ferguson's management, he's made marvellous strides in controlling his temper. But you've got to remember he's still a young man who wants to do well and play in every moment of every game. In an era where some players are happy to pick up big money for sitting on the bench, that is not the worst thing in the world.

"Whatever Sir Alex does in response to the Besiktas incident will be the right decision – he knows Wayne better than anyone and, as we saw with Eric Cantona, knows how to get the best out of players who are not angels. But if he did nothing at all in this instance I would not disagree with that decision. It was an instant reaction and sometimes it's best to accept that these things sometimes happen and move on."

And Brian Moore gets all sanctimonious about "cheats" in this piece in The Telegraph. He takes the opportunity to have a go at Sir Alex:

Of Eduardo's alleged dive, the Scot said: "I wouldn't say it publicly but I wouldn't be pleased if it was my player who did that" but that "When you make a public criticism of your players you are in danger of losing the morale of the dressing room."

Ferguson's justification for public silence is no excuse and his real priorities are revealed by the words that followed: "Your job is to protect the dressing room and keep it solid."

For Sir Alex's words to be seen as anything other than a self-serving, opportunistic attack on a bitter rival, he has to give details of how he censures his players in private when they commit similar acts. His stance exacerbates the problem; until high-profile managers are brave enough to criticise publicly, players are tacitly encouraged to continue.

First off, indulge my love of criticising the form of arguments - the second paragraph is quite unnecessary, because the quote there just repeats what he said in the first paragraph. So Moore's big "reveal" isn't a reveal at all, we knew it from the first paragraph. Secondly; so keen in his sanctimony is he that he fails to see that loyalty (to players, to the club) is a virtue.