Ferguson om Smalling och det framtida mittbacksparet
Ferguson uttalar sig om Chris Smalling, som gjort ett fantastiskt jobb i Rio Ferdinands frånvaro, samt Uniteds framtida mittbackspar.
I Rio Ferdinands frånvaro har Chris Smalling varit tvungen att ackompanjera Nemanja Vidic i mittförsvaret, men engelsmannen har klarat av utmaningarna med bravur, som exempelvis Manchesterderbyt och åttondelsfinalen i Champions League på bortaplan mot Marseille. På tisdagskvällen väntar dock kanske det svåraste testet för 21-åringen, när United möter Chelsea på Stamford Bridge. Sir Alex Ferguson är hur som helst väldigt nöjd med mittbackens insatser.
“We are very pleased with his performances. It’s an outstanding contribution he has made. But, do you know, I expected him to do well. I had no doubts about him.
He’s done really well for us and he is improving all the time. He is developing all aspects of his game because he wants to learn and improve. He likes defending, he enjoys it. So he’s a real bonus.
We started him against City with Rio being out and it’s not easy coming in for your first derby at 21 years of age, having only been with us nine months. But I thought he would do well.”
Den erfarenhet Smalling bygger på sig för tillfället kommer att bara ovärderlig i framtiden, och trots att det är Nemanja Vidic som återfinns bredvid honom på tisdagskvällen, så är det Jonny Evans som kommer att tillsammans med Smalling bilda Uniteds framtida mittbackspar.
“That’s the way I look upon it. They’re young, but Evans for example has already played a lot of games for us. He played almost three quarters of the matches last season. He is well grounded in terms of what’s needed here. His time will come.”
Försvaret är också något Sir Alex alltid byggt titlar på, och trots att det emellertid är svårt att hitta den rätta kombinationen som leder till framgång, är det prioritet nummer ett i skottens ögon.
“One of the first things I said to Martin Edwards when I first came to United was, ‘you don’t have very good partnerships at the centre of defence’, and the goalkeeping situation was never a regular thing either. When we got Schmeichel, Bruce and Pallister it was an incredible turnaround in consistency. The knowledge they gathered together, particularly with Bruce and Pallister, gave them that understanding. And they seldom missed games. That’s something you build over time.
That just shows that partnerships are vitally important. We’ve seen that with Nemanja and Rio, and hopefully Jonny and Chris can develop that too.”
Källa: manutd.com
