ALEX FERGUSON believes Milan made a tactical mistake by playing David Beckham in the centre of midfield in Manchester United’s Champions League tie at San Siro earlier this week. Ferguson was “surprised” by Leonardo’s selection and, though careful with his words, made it clear he did not believe his former player could be effective in a central position.
Beckham always craved a central midfield role during his time at Old Trafford but Ferguson preferred to use him on the right wing with only a few exceptions, most notably the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999 when Paul Scholes and Roy Keane were suspended.
Beckham played only a peripheral role in Tuesday’s game after being selected ahead of Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso, and Ferguson, speaking on the American radio station Sirius, agreed when the co-presenter, Giorgio Chinaglia, said the former United player “cannot play in central midfield, he can only play on the wing”.
“That’s true,” Ferguson replied. “I was surprised that they played David in central midfield, I thought that they’d have played him wide right.”
The second presenter, Charlie Stillitano, remarked that playing Beckham in the centre meant “you lose what he does best more than anything”. Ferguson agreed again: “Yeah, his crossing.”
Ferguson was reflecting on his team ending “a bit of a hoodoo” by winning for the first time at San Siro but the United manager was not entirely happy with the 3-2 victory and made the unusual admission that some of his players seemed to have been afflicted by stage fright.
“For the first 15 minutes I was feeling in shock, really in shock, because the atmosphere was unbelievable. It certainly unnerved me and it unnerved my players. No matter how much experience you’ve got, you get into that cauldron of noise. To get through that really did take a lot of courage.”
Ferguson was so agitated during that early period he could be seen giving Jonny Evans what he now describes as “a gentle bit of advice” – which to everyone else looked like the infamous hairdryer treatment on full power.
“I think that our whole back four were going to get it,” he said. “He (Evans) was unfortunate that he was the defender nearest to me.”
Meanwhile, Everton could be without Tim Cahill for a pivotal week in their season after the Australia midfielder damaged a calf muscle during the 2-1 Europa League win over Sporting at Goodison Park on Tuesday night.
Manager David Moyes is expected to discover the full extent of Cahill’s injury today but the 30-year-old is almost certainly out of tomorrow’s home Premier League match with Manchester United and there are concerns he will also miss the return leg against Sporting in Lisbon on Thursday.
Guardian Service
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