Alex Ferguson's Attempted Mind Games Are Slightly Embarrassing

As I leafed through the sports pages of today’s papers, one story clearly dominated. Sir Alex Ferguson has questioned Chelsea’s ability to improve on last season, given that the club has a number of older players. Here are some excerpts of what he said:

"Chelsea are an experienced side and I don't see outstanding progress coming from a team in their 30s."

“I'm not concerned about Chelsea. Mourinho won the title two years in a row and beat us in the FA Cup Final [in 2007, as well as winning two League Cups], so there's no one who can improve on his record really.

"They have lots of experience and big-game temperament and in a sense Scolari is fortunate, joining a big club with a team of internationals. 

"But it's hard to see where there is going to be an improvement. Maybe they have reached a plateau—although perhaps that's not the right word." 

However, when you look at the facts, Chelsea’s squad is not that much older than that of Manchester United. The average age of the Chelsea side sent out by Avram Grant for the Champions League Final was 28.45, while the average of the United side was 27.45. That is hardly men versus boys.

Also, the average age of Chelsea’s first team squad is 27.32, while Manchester United’s is around 25.43. Again, hardly men versus boys.

Chelsea have no players over the age of 32, while United have a 33-year-old Gary Neville, a 33-year-old Paul Scholes, a 34-year old Ryan Giggs, and a 37-year-old Edwin Van Der Sar on their books.

Scolari has refused to be drawn into responding to Ferguson’s claims.

"I will not answer this question. This is not a question for me," said the former Portugal coach. 

"I think I have a lot of experienced players and also some young boys in my team but I feel we have experience for the Premier League or whatever league."

I find Ferguson’s comment that Chelsea can’t improve on what Mourinho achieved to be pretty funny as well.

How can Chelsea improve from Mourinho’s reign? Easy. Win a Champions League trophy. It’s not rocket science to come up with that idea is it? (Although, of course, carrying it out is another matter).

What do these comments tell us? In my opinion, Ferguson is worried. He’s already started talking about Chelsea, while Scolari has kept his counsel and instead got on with preparing the team for the new season. 

Last season Chelsea pushed them all the way in the Premier League and were a penalty kick away from winning the Champions League. This was achieved with a manager who had no prior experience of coaching a top level European team and a host of injuries to key personnel.

Now a highly qualified manager who has won the World Cup and has coached across the world has taken over. Factor into that a group of players who will be chomping at the bit to right the wrongs of last season, and you have a potent mix.

Ferguson has a right to be worried.