Venue: JJB Stadium Kick-off: Tonight, 8pm On TV: Sky Sports 1ADVISERS TO Carlos Tevez have criticised United's treatment of the Argentinian but insisted that he was not embarking on a one-man protest against the club's hierarchy during Sunday's defeat of Manchester City.
Tevez ran in front of the dugout after scoring United’s second goal before positioning himself in front of the South Stand at Old Trafford and looking up to where the chief executive, David Gill, and his fellow directors were seated. He then cupped his ears in what was perceived to be a calculated show of displeasure about the way United have prevaricated about turning his two-year loan arrangement into a €36 million long-term deal.
Tevez claims that he simply ran to the wrong part of the ground and was actually responding to a newspaper article last week that questioned whether he was worth the projected transfer fee.
“He wasn’t (protesting about United),” said Kia Joorabchian, the man responsible for finding Tevez a new club. “Before the game he said: ‘Someone told me there was an article in the newspaper about me last week’ and I said, ‘Yes, there was and they were saying you were not a prolific goalscorer.’ So he said: ‘I want to know where the pressbox is because I want to go and show them my ears if they wrote that.”
Tevez had gone public with his grievances at the weekend in a interview with the News of the World in which he accused United of not treating him like “one of the family” and said he had no option but to leave. “He pretty much feels that there is a very big chance that his time (at United) has come to an end,” said Joorabchian.
“The glory and the time he has had at Manchester United have been special to him but he also realises they have not offered him a contract or wanted to sign him up and that means he has to move on.”
A host of Europe’s top clubs, led by Inter Milan, have already expressed an interest, but Tevez is open-minded about staying in England, with Manchester City one possibility. Sources close to Tevez have said that his “tribal” nature makes him reluctant to consider a move to Liverpool but he does not believe joining City would be considered such an act of betrayal by the United fans who have repeatedly implored Ferguson to “sign him up”.
Meanwhile, at some time over the last couple of days it is not too difficult to imagine Alex Ferguson reminding Cristiano Ronaldo there is only one man whose voice truly counts at Manchester United. Whether Ronaldo would be humble enough to listen is another matter but, when it comes to the practice of rotating players, Ferguson’s policy should be vindicated by the team’s league position without having to resort to the computer data that tells him after every game how far each player has run, how many sprints they have made and how the figures relate to previous performances.
Ronaldo’s fit of pique after being substituted against Manchester City on Sunday not only left him open to allegations of showing a lack of respect towards his manager but also an apparent inability to comprehend what is uppermost in Ferguson’s mind, namely that United are going into unexplored territory over the next few weeks in terms of the side’s powers of endurance.
Tonight, when Ferguson’s team play at Wigan Athletic, it will be their 63rd game of the season, and by the time an already epic campaign reaches its conclusion in Rome in a fortnight’s time they will have played more games (66 in 290 days) than any other season in their 131-year history.
On the cusp of retaining the Premier League title and the European Cup, as well as winning the World Club Cup and the League Cup and reaching the FA Cup semi-final, it is already shaping up as a remarkable feat of longevity but it is also a demonstration of how the oldest manager in the business has mastered the art of rotation and the importance of keeping his team “fresh” for the business end of the season.
Ferguson has not named the same team for successive matches once this season and, with more changes planned tonight, it will be 65 games since he last resisted the temptation to stick with his starting XI, going back to last May.
“Not everyone agrees and there are some supporters who want me to play my best team every game,” says Ferguson. “But if I could sit down with them and explain the number of miles the players are running in every match, the intensity, the speed, the number of times they have to sprint, they would maybe realise how difficult it is.”
Ferguson has made rotation his forte, using a combination of computer analysis and his judgment. He has used 34 players this season, with Ronaldo, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic the only outfield players to have started 40 or more games.
That apart, Ferguson’s squad is asked to share the load and, by repeating the process every week, a culture has developed whereby the players have come to expect it.
Guardian Service
