Reds revelling in Chelsea boss’s attack of self-doubt
Of course we are revelling in it — especially in Mourinho’s sudden attack of self-doubt, which frankly doesn’t suit him at all — and thus far we seem to be semi-capitalising on it in typical United fashion, at one moment storming home, and yet then dropping points on Monday with the carelessness we have come to expect and accept as part of being Red. I suppose the feeling could be summed up by grabbing another hoary analogy: we are the Germans attacking through the Ardennes in December 1944, hoping to race ahead pellmell and build up enough distance before the defenders get their act together and surround us. (John Terry will play the role of Patton, I guess.) Except this time, I expect our petrol to last better, judging by the superhuman way Ronaldo and Scholes have responded to the challenge of this season. Those two were being written off back in August — even I had my doubts about Scholsey, and he’s my favourite player by a long chalk — but this Christmas period has belonged to them, with worthy assists from another written-off old warrior, Ole Gunnar. Fergie spent much of last week trying to make out that our great squad, about whom any doubt is apparently an “insult” to him, would be the key factor over this period, but there has been precious little evidence of that.
The sudden bigging-up of the fringe players might, some cynics would contend, have rather more to do with Fergie potentially shopwindowing potential sales and loans for January and July’s windows. Richardson, we hear, is a €5million target for West Ham, where his great mate Anton Ferdinand plays and which is conveniently located for all those nightclubs “Lord Snooty” likes to frequent. Smith continues to attract interest and even Gabby Heinze is tipped by some for a move, though in his case next summer. That latter potential move would explain why Southampton’s Bale is on our watchlist, along with the fact that Silvestre’s time at O.T. is surely coming to an end. Poor Mickey thought his new deal last summer betokened a United future; Phil Neville could have told him that it rarely means any such thing these days.
