Sir Alex Ferguson had a bit of a pop at Chelsea’s aging squad yesterday, questioning whether this current crop of played plateuxed under Jose Mourinho. Chelsea’s three highest scoring players from last season carry an average age of 30.3, in contrast to the average age of 22.6-years-old that United’s top three scorers have.
Fergie was clearly testing the waters with Scolari, after enjoying mind games with Kevin Keegan, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez over the years. Did Scolari take the bait?
“I will not answer this question. This is not a question for me,” said Scolari, when asked about Fergie’s comments. “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.”
Boring.
Lol ..the banter btw those two is gonna get interesting ova the course of the season. No doubt SAF will come up trumps tho, as he always does…
I usually agree with what you say, Scott, but not this time. Just like Fergie refused to comment when Scolari was urging Ronaldo to join Real, i respect Scolari for not saying anything, cus thats exactly what the press wants to hear. They;d like it if a war of words ignited between Fergie and Scolari, but as a United fan, i have to say, i respect Scolari for not taking the bait and just keeping quiet.
Scolari is no Mourinho… he is very animated person and gets excited too much…. he’ll be found out in the first season…. managing at club level is totally different cup of tea…Just reading his reply I bet he’ll burst like keegan..
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
I think you will find that during his time, Scolari was the most successful club manager in Brazil and S. America.
Scolari is a tough guy Kunal. Only abject ignorance would leave you to make such an ignorant statement.
I actually thought he was smart for not wanting to get himself drawn into it.
Although I do get your point about calling him a chicken in the headline
(We’ve all been through this… can’t wait for the rent boys to come here and spew their venom)
OT Red, couldn’t agree with your post more mate. Fergie should concentrate on our business, and leave other clubs to take care of theirs. Fergie should know better, that everything he says gets misinterpreted and hyped. The media love to take his words and voice them to cause eruptive warfare with our top opponents.
Hello Red Ranter, how you doing then?. Good to see you posting here mate!.
Craig,
I’m doing good mate. I do comment here from time to time. Apart from my own site as well as other United blogs.
This is where Scolari’s weakness shows; he has previously only dealt with a team or group of players on a limited basis, the media, even less so. While there can be no doubt about his ability to make different moving parts work together, one wonders if he can cope with the 24/7/365 media coverage, the consistent pressure to succeed and the need to put more than 8 or 9 games together to get a trophy.