Ferguson favours Owen to protect tiring Rooney - 7M sport

Ferguson favours Owen to protect tiring Rooney

Posted Sunday, February 28, 2010 by The Independent

Sir Alex Ferguson has cannily identified that finals at the new Wembley stadium tend to lack goals and leave the players feeling tired

If slightly more democratic in its favours than the FA Cup, the 50-year-old League Cup still tends to favour the bigger boys. The only final of the last 10 between genuinely unfashionable clubs was the one in which Middlesbrough beat Bolton. Aston Villa and Manchester United contest today's jubilee game as members of the Premier League's top seven and clubs with such a strong tradition in the competition that only Liverpool have appeared in more finals.

It is an eighth final for each club (Liverpool have been in 10), Villa having been the very first victors back in the early Sixties, at a time when other big clubs held the late Alan Hardaker's brainchild in such low regard that Rotherham United and then Rochdale were the first runners-up.

United came to it rather later but, despite often fielding young teams in recent years, have been sufficiently enthusiastic by the time the later stages came around to have won two of the past four tournaments. As Sir Alex Ferguson puts it: "The only way you enjoy Wembley is by winning."

"We've now lost three players, Eduardo, Aaron Ramsey and Abou Diaby, to horrendous challenges," Wenger said. "I refuse to believe it's a coincidence. I'm just shocked because that isn't football to me. People have to respect the rules, and respect each other, and the players who don't do that should be punished. For a boy of 19 with his talent to be kicked out of the game is beyond words. I can't enjoy the win."

Addressing the press pointedly, he added: "Spare me the articles about how nice Shawcross is because the same thing happened [with Taylor] after Eduardo's injury."

However, the Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, said: "Ryan comes from a lovely family and he's a smashing kid. There's no way in a million years he would ever go out to break someone's leg. I signed him when he was 19 and there is no bad blood in him whatsoever. He has come off the pitch broken-hearted. His mum picked him up straight away and took him home.

"The game pales into insignificance when something like that happens. We send our condolences to Aaron Ramsey. Being a fellow Welshman, I'm devastated. He's a terrific talent."

A game that had started thrillingly, with Danny Pugh putting Stoke ahead with their 11th goal this season from a Rory Delap throw-in and Arsenal replying from Nicklas Bendtner's header, seemed to be drifting towards a draw after Ramsey's injury. Then, with Stoke's 10 men forced ever deeper in defence of their unbeaten record in 2010, Pugh handled Bendtner's pass and Cesc Fabregas converted the penalty. Arsenal knew they had narrowed the gap on Chelsea and Manchester United – with the easiest run-in ahead. Thomas Vermaelen struck from point-blank range in stoppage time to embellish the win.

In their previous two visits to this venue, in the League last season and the FA Cup a month ago, Arsenal's defeats were sparked by goals stemming from Delap's projectiles. What happened in the eighth minute suggested they still had no idea how to counter the ploy. Delap launched a typically long, flat throw which found Shawcross rising to glance the ball to the far post. Pugh, almost kneeling by the upright, heading his first League goal in more than three years.

Wenger protested to the fourth official about the time being eaten up when Delap crossed the pitch from his right-side midfield role to take another throw, and again when the Irishman wiped the ball with great deliberation before the next delivery.

Arsenal's formation was not, ostensibly, an attacking one. Yet Bacary Sagna and Gaël Clichy pushed forward on the flanks, forcing Pugh and Delap to track back with them, while Fabregas began to impose his authority in midfield. The Spaniard's 30-yard volley forced a sprawling save from Thomas Sorensen and he was again involved as Arsenal drew level.

The goal had its origins, ironically, in a throw-in on the Arsenal right from which Sagna found Fabregas with time to look up and cross into the heart of the penalty area. Bendtner, rising between Shawcross and Andy Wilkinson, planted a header beyond Sorensen.

Arsenal increasingly dominated possession in the second half when Shawcross's ill-judged left-footed challenge left Ramsey crumpled on the turf. The reaction of the Arsenal players, turning away with their hands covering their mouths, testified to the severity of the injury.

Attendance: 27,011

Referee: Peter Walton

Man of the match: Fabregas

Match rating: 7/10



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