Manchester Utd 2 Charlton Ath 0:Alex Ferguson has always been blessed with supreme self-belief but it has been a long time since he has worn such a confident, expectant smile. To see the Manchester United manager right now is to see a man returning to the peak of his abilities, fit and focused, determined and driven, and seemingly in complete control of his own destiny. A man who, quite simply, cannot possibly see how his team can fail.
It is a level of confidence that is typically associated with Jose Mourinho, but with none of the look-at-me braggadocio. Ferguson is refusing to say anything that could encourage complacency but his body language is far removed from the familiar image of the gum-grinding Glaswegian furiously eyeballing referees and pointing at his stopwatch, blood pressure rising. The 2007 Ferguson has been calm and relaxed, radiating confidence. Even press conferences have become fun for the oldest manager in the business; full of gags and wisecracks.
His only complaint on Saturday was the state of the Old Trafford pitch and even that was only a minor grievance. That apart, Ferguson was thoroughly satisfied as he left the stadium, laughing and joking and wreathed in smiles. Whistling even.
Another game had been chalked off and Ferguson did not seem in the slightest bit concerned by Chelsea's recent improvement. "We don't need to look over our shoulders at Chelsea," he volunteered. "I don't think we need to do that in our position."
When he does, however, he must like what he sees. Chelsea do not have another league game in February and when they kick off against Portsmouth on March 3rd the margin will be 12 points if United win at Fulham and Liverpool. Taking into account their vastly superior goal difference, the gap would effectively be 13 points. Unlucky 13, surely, for Mourinho and everyone else at Stamford Bridge.
Hypothetical, for the moment, but United are playing with such verve they are going into every match expecting to win. They were not at their fluent best against Charlton but, then again, they did not really have to be against a side looking to save themselves from relegation.
Edwin van der Sar, Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo were all unavailable but Ferguson's squad has looked more robust than Chelsea's for some time and it was two of the replacements, Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher, who scored the headed goals. Alan Pardew's team did better than had been expected but there was still a considerable imbalance of talent between the two sides and it was tempting to wonder what mayhem Ronaldo could have caused against a full back such as Osei Sankofa.
Ferguson reserved most of his acclaim for his defenders, admitting he was "surprised" by Charlton's adventurous approach and telling Pardew afterwards that he thought they would stay up.
Gary Neville, meanwhile, noted the significant improvement in United's home record. In all competitions, United have won 17 of their 19 matches at Old Trafford this season. There has been only one defeat, against Arsenal last September, and when Fletcher headed in Wayne Rooney's lay-off with eight minutes to go it was the 35th goal at Old Trafford in 14 Premiership games .
"For the last few years we've heard opposition players saying that it's a lot easier to come to Old Trafford than it had been in the past," said Neville. "They thought they could come here and get a result and that was sickening for us. We knew we had to get back to making Old Trafford a hard place to visit and I think we have done that this season."
Neville's own form is a consistent factor in the turnaround, while Patrice Evra deserves immense credit for the way in which he has kept a robust competitor such as Gabriel Heinze out of the side. Evra was again one of United's key performers at left back, and there are similarities between the Frenchman and Ashley Cole in terms of their willingness to act as an auxiliary left winger. One typical burst led to the first goal when Park headed in Evra's deflected cross, though Pardew was justified in complaining that his defenders ought to have cleared the high ball.
Fletcher's goal came at the point of the game when Charlton were audaciously pressing forward and had forced a succession of corners. Yet Tomasz Kuszczak, deputising for Van der Sar, scarcely had a save to make and United have kept three clean sheets in succession, having previously gone through a sequence of seven games without one. On this evidence, Ferguson's confidence seems fully justified.
Guardian Service
