Sky Sports analayst Chris Kamara summed it up best when he referenced in his own blog -
What we saw at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon was the master at work.
There is nobody better at pulling rabbits out of hats than Sir Alex Ferguson. He has been doing it for years, but he still continues to amaze and surprise us all.
There is nobody better at pulling rabbits out of hats than Sir Alex Ferguson. He has been doing it for years, but he still continues to amaze and surprise us all.
Trailing to an Aston Villa side who had a 2-1 lead going away, he threw caution to the wind when he brought on a 17-year-old striker from the reserves who bags the winning goal. Unless you really followed the United reserve team, you would surely never of heard of Federico Macheda - the teenage Italian who had a hat trick in the reserves versus Newcastle this past week...on a totally different stage than the 'Theatre of Dreams' yesterday.
In the 88th minute, Ferguson also looked to his young bench when he brought on 18-year old Danny Welbeck for Tevez, who almost stole the game himself when he forced Friedel to make a great save in injury time. Minutes later, Macheda scored the goal that is now being hailed at the same level as Steve Bruce’s goal against Sheffield Wednesday years ago to bring Utd their first EPL title.
Only Sir Alex Ferguson could come up with that, only Sir Alex Ferguson. He is blessed with something special and even after all these years, he still shows it on a regular basis. In fact, I don't even know why I am still surprised by it!
You don’t have to like Sir Alex Ferguson or his Manchester United team, but you have to give him credit for going against the grain with his substitutions, as well as to continue to be driven to go for three points in a game where it would have been easy to feel sorry for himself, roll over and play dead in. Down 2-1, he immediately looked to his bench to not only bring life to his team, but to change their shape as well. After getting the goal back, and knotting the score up, rather than settle for a point he went for the kill by making more changes (bringing Welbeck on) and getting the win.
You could say that is every manager’s responsibility to work towards getting three points, but as we discuss in our coaches office here at the University of Evansville, it is not uncommon to find teams who are down a goal playing for a close scoreline; it is also not uncommon to find teams that are tied who are quite happy with a point; In Ferguson's case, he smelled blood even after his team was down a goal; once knotting it up, he went for the kill.
Two young lads, one of who hadn't played for the first team before, were asked to dig United out of hole. Only Sir Alex Ferguson would have come up with that.
Two young lads, one of who hadn't played for the first team before, were asked to dig United out of hole. Only Sir Alex Ferguson would have come up with that.
Macheda's goal will probably be the moment that United retained their Premier League trophy. Of course it is far from over and Liverpool will give it a real good go, but I do think that was the instant the momentum swung firmly back in United's favour.
We should know never to question Sir Alex Ferguson, shouldn't we?
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