Time to put Arsenal row behind us, says Brown
While the aftermath of Sunday’s tunnel dispute continues to rumble on, Alex Ferguson’s team are keen to focus on the fact they have suddenly run into form.
Tuesday night’s Carling Cup victory over Crewe saw them complete their fourth successive clean sheet and means they have still suffered only one defeat in a competitive match all season.
Excellent performances from Alan Smith and Tim Howard, backed up by solid displays from Brown, Louis Saha and Liam Miller, plus an impressive senior bow for Spanish teenager Gerard Pique, means Ferguson can look ahead to Saturday’s trip to Portsmouth with increased confidence. And it is the games to come, not those which have passed, which Brown feels United should be concentrating on now.
“We know what is being said about the Arsenal game but we don’t want to get into that side of it,” he said.
“The fact is we won 2-0, pulled three points back on them and we are happy with that.
“All we are concentrating on now is Saturday’s game at Portsmouth. We are getting a bit of form back now and by winning so convincingly with a completely different side to the one that started against Arsenal, the manager knows he has a great squad to pick from.”
Reports of a summit meeting between United chief executive David Gill and Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein have been played down, although the two will surely have an informal chat about Sunday’s unseemly events when they next meet on Football Association business.
The FA are continuing to establish exactly what went on in the tunnel before deciding whether there is enough evidence to bring charges.
That investigation may take some time and, in the meantime, it looks as though Ferguson has decided to give the Carling Cup greater priority than normal this season.
Aside from an unexpected run to the final two seasons ago, United have not reached the latter stages of the competition for over a decade.
However, instead of filling his team with youth team players as he has previously done, Ferguson selected the strongest side available to him at Gresty Road, with the obvious exceptions of his Arsenal starting line-up.
The result was a convincing win and if Ferguson maintains that policy, the Red Devils would probably go very close to winning the tournament for only the second time in their history.
And, as Brown pointed out, an extended run would also give the youngsters who did play, such as Pique and Kieran Richardson an experience they would not be able to pick up anywhere else.
“People always say this competition isn’t a priority to us but we have a lot of young lads who are eager to do well at the club and traditionally it has given them a chance to come in and show what they can do,” said Brown, who was handed the captain’s armband for the first time. “You get more experience in one first-team game than you would loads of reserve or youth-team matches combined, so it is important we stay in the competition to give them more chances to enjoy that experience.
“Besides, all the first-team players involved last night were happy to be there. If any of us had been given the choice of whether we wanted to play or not, we would have said yes.
“Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kieran Richardson showed their versatility by playing at full-back when they are normally in midfield, while John O’Shea did well back at centre-half having done a good job for the team in other positions this season.
“That flexibility will help the manager as the season progresses and all things considered, it has been a good few days for the club.”
O’Shea picked up a groin strain on Tuesday night which could make him a doubt for the Fratton Park trip but with skipper Roy Keane expected to recover from a flu virus, Ferguson should have a strong squad available.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
