Unfazed by the latest influx of young, attacking talent, UnitedÂ’s nine-time title winner is relishing another season at the very topÂ…
Firstly, did Phil Neal or Alan Hansen been in touch to congratulate you on your ninth league winnerÂ’s medal?
[Laughs] It would be nice! ItÂ’s obviously great [to set the record]; the Liverpool team of that era was such a great team. ItÂ’s not something I think about too much because I want to win more, but itÂ’s something that IÂ’ll be immensely proud of when I finish. It was nice to overtake players from a team who are our rivals, and who I watched winning everything while I was growing up.
And even if though youÂ’re not one for looking at records, it would be a good feeling to get a 10th title this season...
It would be nice to get to 10 – but it would be nicer to get to 11! [Laughs] I don’t want to be greedy but that’s my shirt number, so that’s what I’m aiming for…
Many people were surprised United won the title last season. With that surprise element gone, will things be tougher?
Last year, at the start of the season, a lot of people thought we were still going through a period of transition. They didnÂ’t think we were capable of putting together a decent challenge, especially with Chelsea being so strong. But we got a good start and we were quite lucky injury-wise up until Christmas, so we were able to sustain it. Obviously in the run-in we got a few injuries, but the momentum was already with us, really. The players who came in did brilliantly for us and everybody contributed to the success.
From your experience, is there much difference between defending a title and trying to win it back? Which of the two is the harder?
[Puffs out his cheeks] Yeah, it is probably a little bit harder to defend it because everybody wants to beat the champions. There is that extra pressure, and thereÂ’s also extra hunger from the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal because they havenÂ’t won it the season before. So it is probably a little bit harder to defend it. But if you have won it, then the players have that hunger to do it again. And if the players who won it last year have got that same hunger again, then weÂ’ve got a great chance.
Where do you see the main challenges coming from?
Just the usual suspects really. The quality is Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea. Everyone, including ourselves, has all added [players]. Tottenham have added a lot of players as well, so you’re looking at those sorts of teams. Liverpool have brought a lot of players in. Arsenal have obviously lost Thierry Henry but have added quality too – Eduardo da Silva, from what I’ve seen of him, looks decent. You never know, it might give the chance to players like Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor to step up for them. They’ve still got quality. Arsenal obviously relied on Henry to score a lot of goals for them, but they’ve still got top-quality players. We got a close look at Chelsea in the Community Shield and Florent Malouda looks a good player. Everybody’s strengthened where they felt they needed to, but we’re happy with the way we’ve bought.
Sir Alex Ferguson has strengthened the squad substantially in pre-season; what have you made of the new boys?
They’ve all done well and overall we’re looking good. With all the loan players who have come back and the lads that we’ve signed, it’s an exciting time. The players we’ve signed are talented. I’ve said before, though, that our main focus is defending as a team and not giving away too many goals. Because of the attacking options we’ve got we’ll always create chances. If we can keep clean sheets, we’ve always got a chance – that showed last year.
Both Nani and Anderson have been touted as potential replacements for you. Do you feel any pressure from that?
No, I donÂ’t think so. Over the last two or three years the manager has bought young players as he looks to the future, which is something youÂ’ve got to do at this club. You canÂ’t stand still. Myself, Scholesy, NevÂ… weÂ’ll not play forever. We needed to bring the age of the team down and weÂ’ve done that, but at the moment weÂ’ve got a good mixture of experience and young players. Eventually these young players will be the future of United. The club never stands still and never will.
Has the manager spoken to you about how he's going to use you this season?
Not really, no. Over the last couple of years IÂ’ve played on the left, IÂ’ve played in midfield and off the front. IÂ’ve got the experience to play all the positions, so it doesnÂ’t really bother me where I play. WeÂ’ve got that strength in depth now and plenty of options up front, so IÂ’m sure the manager will be freshening things up. HeÂ’ll probably try to keep the back four and midfield as solid as possible really, not changing too much. But heÂ’s got the luxury now of being able to change the front players around, which is obviously important because they need to stay sharp.
Your playing role has evolved over the yearsÂ…
ItÂ’s had to! IÂ’ve had to change my game because IÂ’m not as quick as I used to be. That means, as a winger, you canÂ’t rely on your pace as much. You have to use your head a bit more. The yards that IÂ’ve lost in pace, hopefully IÂ’ve gained in experience and intelligence of reading the game.
ThereÂ’s a real unpredictability about your role, and UnitedÂ’s attack as a wholeÂ…
Yeah, we have got the sort of players who can change roles. Wayne Rooney sometimes plays on the left, Ronaldo on the right, Louis Saha up front, myself just off the front. But it doesnÂ’t always stay like that. Wayne can come in, I can go out wide, Ronaldo is capable of swapping. So weÂ’ve got that fluidity really, and weÂ’ve got personnel who can interchange. Often last year that really worked for us.
How much of that interchanging is pre-meditated?
WeÂ’re talking about class players here with real imagination, so the creativity that the players have got, they use it. But we also work at it on the training pitch. Sometimes you have to hold your position, others you have to be more structured, but sometimes youÂ’ve got the licence to go wherever.
Do you think retiring from international football will allow you to play more for United?
ThatÂ’s the plan. Hopefully it will end up prolonging my career with United.
ItÂ’s Chelsea at Old Trafford this month: how difficult are they to play against?
TheyÂ’re a solid team with good experience. They have great discipline so itÂ’s hard to create chances against them, but weÂ’ve done alright in the last few years. TheyÂ’re normally tight affairs so you like to try and score the first goal. But itÂ’s all about having consistency against all the teams you have to play against. Whether we win or lose that particular game, I donÂ’t think itÂ’ll have too much bearing on where the championship goes. ItÂ’s all about being consistent across the entire season.
Much has been made of the teamsÂ’ contrasting stylesÂ…
I donÂ’t read too much into that. Chelsea are an efficient team and donÂ’t really play like ourselves. TheyÂ’re not as flowing. But theyÂ’ve still got quality, exciting players and, most importantly, effective players, which is what itÂ’s all about.
What are your memories of the FA Cup final?
Obviously not very good ones, but it was still a good season. We got hit by injuries probably at the wrong time and overall I thought we put on quite a good performance without getting the result.
YouÂ’ve said previously that you tend to remember the disappointments. Where does last MayÂ’s defeat against Milan in the San Siro rank?
It was disappointing, but not as disappointing as games in the past that we should have won. Leverkusen, Dortmund, PortoÂ… games like that were really disappointing. Milan was different because we had game after game after game, and you could see the lads were getting tired. The back four had a few players coming back and werenÂ’t fully fit. We just werenÂ’t prepared, whereas Milan werenÂ’t going for the league, they were just totally prepared for the Champions League. We werenÂ’t.