Sir Alex Ferguson is no stranger to breaking records or matching records set by other clubs/managers. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal went unbeaten in the 2003/04 season to claim their third Premier League title since 1998. United are currently unbeaten after fifteen games, but the Manchester United manager doesn’t believe his side can remain unbeaten in the remaining twenty three matches. United welcome Arsenal to Old Trafford tomorrow night.
Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted as saying:
“It won’t happen again. The time Arsenal did it they had 12 draws. It was a great achievement but in this present league you cannot think for a minute you will go through undefeated. It is an amazing league this year. We keep looking at the points we have dropped and I am sure Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham will all be saying the same. It is a self analysis that doesn’t get you anywhere. This is a funny league; we have definitely seen a tightening up of it. It is like the Championship where you can win two games and be back in a play-off position and then lose two and be back down to fourth or fifth bottom. The Premier League is looking that way. Sunderland were down near the drop positions, then they won a few games and got a bit of consistency. Now they are challenging for a European place. That seems to be the way this league is.”
Arsenal’s captain Cesc Fabregas also spoke of the unbeaten run but didn’t appear to be too fazed with United’s current form:
“Though Manchester United are unbeaten, they are not miles ahead because they have had so many draws – nearly half their games, I think. That’s not like them. I remember in a game against Fulham they drew after conceding a goal in the last few seconds. Normally, Manchester United don’t throw away the lead like that. And usually it is United who score in the last few minutes. They don’t concede. Against Aston Villa, it was the opposite. They were losing 2-0 and came back with late goals to save the game. It is not very often you see United losing 2-0 like that. So everything is very strange, the league is wide open and we are sitting on top.”
Yes we CAN go unbeaten. Anybody can, in theory. Will we? Doubt it very much.
There’s a very good reason teams barely ever do it.
And it’s better that the players just worry about the next game.