Irate Ferguson rubbishes Mancini's claims

Posted Saturday, April 13, 2013 by Foxsports.com

Sir Alex Ferguson has blasted back at Roberto Mancini's claims Manchester United have it easy and accused the Italian of looking for "self-sympathy".

Despite Manchester City's victory at Old Trafford on Monday, the Blues still trail their rivals by 12 points in the Premier League title race.

The likelihood is that gap will get even wider this weekend, when United head to Stoke as City are engaged in FA Cup combat.

Last week, Mancini claimed one of the reasons why United have such a formidable advantage is that their opponents play with fear against them and believes they cannot win.

Given the number of times Ferguson's team have had to fight back from losing positions this season, it was never an assessment the Scot was going to agree with.

And he answered Mancini's point in typically robust fashion.

"That's absolute nonsense," he said.

"He was maybe looking for a bit of self-sympathy or something like that.
"We all recognise the English game is the most honest in the world and has been for many years.

"At Norwich this season the energy their two wide players expended was phenomenal. They ran 100 miles. That's an example of the Premier League. And the Reading game, when it went to 3-2, I thought we were going to lose 30.

"There are a lot of games I've watched this season, when I've said to myself 'are they trying?' - of course they're trying.

"These teams have 3,000 fans following them away from home. There is no way they could come to Old Trafford and not do their best. That also applies itself to the Etihad, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates or Anfield.

"That is the nature of the English game."