Steve Bruce has spoken about his first memory of Ryan Giggs as a teenager taking the piss on the training ground.


“My first memory of Ryan was Fergie nicking him from City,” said Bruce. “Ryan would have been 14 or 15 at the time. Sir Alex was saying, ‘We’ve got this young kid coming over today, he’s going to train with the first team, so just be careful with him.’ We thought, ‘Oh well, he’ll just fit in,’ but then he took the mickey out of Viv Anderson, dribbling round him three times and we were all thinking, ‘Who is this?’ He murdered Viv. He was a kid and Viv was England’s right-back. That was my first memory of Ryan. I just went ‘wow’. Even if I’d wanted to kick him I couldn’t have got near him. I’d never seen anyone as natural. He’s the only kid who, at 14 or 15, you knew would be a superstar, the only one you were entirely sure about. I don’t mean this disrespectfully to Gary or Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Scholesy or even David Beckham but the one absolute certainty when we first saw him was Giggsy. I’ve never seen anyone as natural. Running, dribbling, passing – he could do it all. It was just effortless for him. Ryan could cope with any running session, he would just glide along – and he was just as quick with the ball as without it. What a great piece of business, nicking him from City, it was on Sir Alex’s part. Everything came so easily to Ryan.”

Sir Alex Ferguson admite ca mijlocasii sai ii dau bataie de cap in privinta selectiei deoarece evolutia lor in ultima perioada a fost impresionanta.

Managerul lui United obisnuieste sa foloseasca sistemul rotatie pentru pozitia de mijlocas central; el are la dispozitie doar 2 locuri pentru care se bat Scholes, Carrick, Anderson, Fletcher si Gibson. Ferguson a fost foarte multumit de evolutiile lui Anderson si Carrick in meciul de miercuri din UEFA Champions League cu VfL Wolfsburg, Carrick aducand si victoria prin primul sau gol din acest sezon. Datorita competitiei foarte mari pentru locurile de titulari Anderson si Carrick nu au locul garantat si in meciul de azi, Fergie optand pentru Scholes si Fletcher in meciul de saptamana trecuta din Premier League, cu Stoke.

Sir Alex:

"I thought our two central midfielders were fantastic on Wednesday as I thought Fletcher and Scholesy were fantastic against Stoke."

"So it is going to be a real headache but it is a good one. Someone like Darron Gibson, who I think is an exceptional young player, is having to bide his time but he will get opportunities I am sure of that as the season goes on."

"The form of the team is good and my only concern is picking the right team."



Carrick a fost titular doar de doua ori in acest sezon, dar Ferguson este multumit de jocul internationalului englez, el profitand de faptul ca miercuri a plouat.

"Michael is always a slow starter but there was some juice on the ground on Wednesday and he seemed to revel in that so we are pleased that his form is coming right. He knows himself he is not a quick starter and I thought he was fantastic on Wednesday, I am really pleased for him."

Cu Anderson si Scholes intrand in forma si cu Fletcher imbunatatindu-si jocul mereu, Ferguson recunoaste ca nimeni nu are locul garantat in primul 11.

"Anderson`s form in the last two weeks has become really top, really, really good. Scholes I thought on Saturday at Stoke, he had an absolute master performance an incredible performance. He had 78 passes in the match and four off target. Four balls given away out of 78 it`s a phenomenal strike-rate that in terms of passing."

"As Tony Pulis said after the game (he) can`t think of a better United player that (he) has seen and you can understand that because when you see that kind of performance it`s wonderful."

Ferguson a mai subliniat ca va avea si probleme cu selectia echipei si in alte compartimente, cu Edwin van der Sar (mana) si Rafael (umar) aproape sa isi revina din accidentari.

"Van der Sar is not far away, young Da Silva is training well now so touch wood we have a strong squad available."

"Now the problem you get with everyone being fit is picking the right team."