"We're trying to analyse all the stuff he has said and there will be a statement later to address that," Ferguson said."As far as I am concerned my medical staff is one of the main reasons why we have been so successful over the last few years.
"Do you think we would be successful if they were not 100% brilliant? Our doctor and his five physios are fantastic - that is my opinion and that is more important than what anyone else has to say about it."
Which is Sir Alex's response to today's main story in all the papers- an interview with Owen Hargreaves in which he suggests we somehow buggered him up. The quotes in all the papers are given various spins, the most popular version being Owen Hargreaves blames us for making worse his injury problems. They come from this interview in The Guardian, which backs up, in a roundabout way and despite Hargreaves mixing the blame game with the odd nicety about the lovely folks at the club. I'll give a selection of quotes for a flavour of the interview:
Despite the magnitude of what he is saying, it is not bitterness in Owen Hargreaves's voice. There is no overwhelming sense of malice or resentment and, at various moments, he talks warmly of all the "lovely people" he came across during those years at Manchester United when he was faced with his hardest times.It is not a finger-jabbing rant and, now with Manchester City, he is sensitive to stirring up trouble between the two clubs. But, equally, there is the sense of a man who is clear in his mind that the medical staff at Old Trafford administered the wrong treatment for his knee problems and put his career on the line just at the point when he should have been at the peak of his profession. ...Does he think United mishandled the situation? "You would have to ask them," he replies. "There were a few crucial points. We treated it and it got significantly worse through the injections. That obviously had a huge impact. Basically, I was left to pick up the pieces, which was incredibly frustrating. That was surgery, and that was 18 months gone." ...Hargreaves's account is that he told the club he was unable to play and knew he was so injured he would not even be able to run at full speed. "I started that game with two muscle injuries but I should never have been in that position to begin with. People at times must look at it from a distance and say: 'Shit, he's made out of glass.'"But I don't know many people in the world who could do any sporting event with two muscle tears."This is such an important point that it feels necessary to ask Hargreaves to confirm what he is saying. His plan, he says, was to try to get through the match without sprinting. "I know it sounds comical. I was just going to try to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start. But I didn't even last five. I wasn't surprised. I'd said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did. I said: 'I think I've got a bit of a problem here.' I was surprised it didn't go in the warm-up, to be completely honest." ..."I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments. But when you're left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit it out and rest for six months.' With hindsight it's a lot easier. And, yes, the injections I had I probably should not have had.
"But it's difficult. All the people there [at United] are lovely. Everybody tries their best but, at times, you come to a certain point when you need to make a decision. They said it [the injections] would help and that I wouldn't have any side-effects. That obviously wasn't the case and, if I'd known I could have had a reaction like that, I wouldn't have done it. It's my career – I'm in it. I'm trying to get all this information. I'm hearing about tendons and, before, I didn't know anything about tendons. I mean, I knew I had one, but I didn't know its real function. It was a shit position to be in, to be honest."
I think the long quote is absolutely necessary because of the tone of it. On the one hand he seems to exonerate us of any blame, saying that he had to try something, doing nothing wasn't an option; yet on the other hand the implication throughout is that he was left alone, cast out - he had the injections and then "I was left to pick up the pieces," Then, he says he was injured but no one was listening, they forced him onto the pitch. Even the way he exonerates the medical staff from blame is a little disingenuous. Saying they weren't to blame, but making it sound like they really didn't know what they were doing - "everybody tries their best but..."
What I get from this is that he is casting around looking for someone else to take responsibility for his injuries, as if he's trying to escape from being the injured joke he's been all this time. The bit about playing at Wolves seems particularly hard to swallow. Would we really take a chance if we thought he was injured? He makes it sound like he had an obvious and very bad problem - "No one in the world could have played..." yet his words to the staff were "I think I've got a problem..." It sounds like a creation after the fact, such an embarrassing comeback, who would want to take responsibility for that?
And I don't want to be too harsh on him, but saying this type of thing after going to City, where's the class?
"A change of scenery, sadly enough, was essential for me. The guys here [City's medical staff] have been great so far. I have been here three weeks and you can already see the difference in me moving. I knew it was all there. It was just a matter of doing things right, I guess. You have to take things step by step."
There is an inference that this was not the case at Old Trafford. Hargreaves now believes he could play 40 games this season but understands why people will be sceptical. "If anybody had all the facts of the last three years and some of the things that have gone on, they might understand why [I say that]. But I don't think people will believe me, to be honest."
And this not a month(?) after claiming he wanted to stay with us? Suddenly he's all, "I always wanted a change." So after sticking with him all this time, he first off all blames our medical staff, and adds insult to injury by claiming that now he's at City, "It's just a matter of doing things right."
I can understand his frustration and his desire to escape the "sicknote" jibes, but really, trying to stick all the blame onto us and immediately going on about how wonderful it is at City seems particularly poor form to say the very least.
The injections of a solution into ligaments is an established medical procedure aimed at stiffening and strengthening the tissues
And The Independent:
But Hargreaves did admit that the course of treatment, which Rio Ferdinand has also undergone as a last resort to resolve persistent and chronic back trouble, was embarked upon at a time when other solutions had failed. After playing for England against the United States at Wembley in May 2008, Hargreaves prepared for an early return to United a week ahead of pre-season to embark on the treatment.
Anyway, I'm no doctor so probably best to wait till the Man United statement to deal with that.
Elsewhere there's some more pleasant news about another, more pleasant, former player. The Guardian report that Solskjaer is on the verge of winning the Norwegian title for Molde, their first ever title:
Following his appointment there was a rush in season-ticket sales. The club had finished 11th in a league of 16 teams last season. Solskjaer began life as a manager at a club in need of a boost. His debut match, against newly promoted Sarpsborg 08 (opponents so raw they are only three years old) ended disastrously, the final score Sarpsborg 3 Molde 0.
United fans will recall Solskjaer as a player who had an uncanny gift for turning up at just the right moment with just the right touch, though, and with that early hiccup out of the way Solskjaer the manager is in position to strike gold with Molde. Today they stand top of the Tippeligaen, six points clear of their nearest challengers, Tromso, having played one game more, with seven games remaining. It is a nervy but exciting time.
Finally The Mirror have a silly story about Rooney having haircuts...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment