A Big Week For Manchester United

The class of 92 reunited for Neville's testimonial

What a love-in it’s been at Old Trafford this week!

On Sunday Nemanja Vidic lifted Manchester United‘s 19th League Trophy, the twelfth of manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s amazing reign at the club. And to heighten the party feel yet further, goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar was made captain for the day in tribute to his final home game before he retires. A nice touch, and with the title already secured a week earlier, why not? Even the opposition, Blackpool, helped to make the occasion a special one, gifting United with 3 second half goals to hand them a 4-2 victory.

United’s 19th championship is also the one that edges them ahead of Liverpool in amount of league titles won, making the Red Devils the most successful club in English football history. Ferguson set himself the task of taking United above Liverpool when he first joined the club in 1986, promising to “knock them (Liverpool) of their perch”. Job done on that front then, for now.

Continuing the celebratory theme, on Tuesday Old Trafford hosted Gary Neville’s testimonial. The class of 1992 were re-united for one last hurrah to celebrate the career of a true Manchester United great. Seeing Neville accompanied by brother Phil, Giggs, Scholes, Butt and of course David Beckham on the Old Trafford pitch once more really rolled back the years. It was a class act and a lovely touch for a man whose love for United is greater than almost any other player who has played for them either before or since.

There wasn’t even a whiff of any injunction chat at the Theatre of Dreams either, unlike earlier in the day when Fergie had tried to ban journalist Rob Harris from Fridays Champions League Final press conference for daring to utter the words “Ryan Giggs“. Harris asked Ferguson how important Giggs was to United’s chances of beating Barcelona at Wembley on Saturday and Fergie immediately asked his aide to ban him from Friday’s press conference. Sadly for Fergie, he’s powerless to stop Harris, the Associated Press journalist, as Friday’s press conference is governed by UEFA and therefore out of Old Trafford’s control, but you sense any questions Rob may have for Sir Alex might not be well received.

In many ways Neville’s testimonial was the perfect diversion for the club away from the untimely revelations of MP John Hemming in the House of Commons on Monday. Giggs being implicated in the injunction story is hardly new news, but the press (news press I hasten to add – sports hacks seemed to have steered clear) jumped all over the allegations on Monday and threatened to eclipse what should be a fantastic footballing occasion at Wembley on Saturday.

Giggs, ironically, will have a pivotal role to play against Barcelona. He will almost certainly start in the centre of midfield and United will set up with either Fletcher and Carrick together in a 4-5-1, or with one of those two in a more adventurous 4-4-2, the formation that Ferguson has favoured in almost all of his big matches this season.

I personally hope it’s the latter. United were destroyed last time the two sides met in Rome 2009, also in the Champions league final, and most of the damage was done through the midfield, but I would still favour a more attacking option because the Barca back line can be got at, and United’s team is fluid enough to re-shape when out of possession to assist the 2 guys in central midfield.

Rooney always drops back when United lose possession, adding an extra man into the midfield to help break up Barcelona’s play-makers Xavi, Iniesta and Messi. With Park on the left and Valencia on the right, you also have two wingers that are happy to do their fair share of defending too, so essentially when out of possession, United will still have 10 men behind the ball, whether it’s 4-4-2 or 4-5-1.

And in having Hernandez up top as well as Rooney, you give yourself an outlet. If Rooney were to play as a lone striker, he would still naturally drop back into midfield and as a result United will have no outlet to relieve the pressure with. As Spurs found out against Real Madrid in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League this season, albeit with only ten men, if you don’t have an outlet, eventually the opposition will break you down.

A lot has been made this season about United’s lack of flair, but that’s a tad unfair. What Ferguson has developed this season is a team with pace on the wings and up front with Hernandez, but whose attacking players all work hard for the team, which the same cannot be said of previous United teams containing Ronaldo or even Nani for example. Rooney, Hernandez, Park and Valencia will run all night for their team and they will need to not only to close Barca down but also, probably, because on the break will be one of their best chances of scoring.

In 2008 United kept two clean sheets against Barca over two Champions League semi-final legs and progressed to the final 1-0 on aggregate. If any defence in Europe can keep Barca out, it could just be United’s.

The Manchester United side that lost to Barcelona 2-0 in 2009 was basically Ronaldo’s team, he was the main man. And in what transpired to be his final match for the club, his mind was clearly already in Madrid. He kicked Puyol all night and tried to compete with Messi for the best player in the world title, trying to impress the fans in Madrid, rather than trying to win a second successive European Cup for the United fans who still idolised him. With Ronaldo AWOL, the rest of the side didn’t have the confidence to win without him, and once Eto’o scored after ten minutes there was only going to be one winner.

This class of 2011 fight for each other. They will run all night to close the opposition down and there’s enough quality going forward and pace on the wings to cause Barcelona problems and create chances. In some ways, perhaps this side is not so different from the class of 1992 after all?

Not withstanding Giggs, whom I suspect has had better weeks; it’s been party time at Old Trafford this week. Hopefully that continues into Sunday morning.