PHOTO CREDIT: Scolari (Top, Guardian); Ferguson (Below, BBC)
PK’s Premiership/PATRICK KINMARTIN
In a league that now seemingly revolves around the names of its managers, luster emanating from another Chelsea-Manchester United uber-matchup should have come mostly from the notion of Sir Alex Ferguson taking on Phil Scolari for the first time.
When comprehending the coaching wealth the two towering leadership figures have accumulated in their combined 60 career seasons, thinking about why it took this long for their paths to tangle can strain the brain quite a bit.
Still, with no past to speak of, Ferguson and Scolari hardly put a dent in the hype more fixed around the old familiar themes — in this most recent case, the Champions League rematch angle and all the usual subplots the teams’ superstar playing talent affords.
Then, once Sunday’s smash started to take shape, reasons for the void in managerial excitement became evident. What has made both so easy to fawn over during the course of their illustrious histories was largely missing in the 1-1 draw.
For Scolari, more the star in this case since he is the latest challenger to come into the ring with the longtime proverbial champion Ferguson, there wasn’t the chance to stamp his shining management traits.
A key ingredient helping Scolari endear his ways to England in the early going of his Chelsea stint has been the emergence of Deco as a standout in the stud midfield expected to render him frequently disposable. Deco is the latest restoration project Scolari has been trumpeted for executing.
His largest glories in that regard, of course, include the ignition of Rivaldo and Ronaldo in Brazil’s 2002 World Cup run, not to mention sustaining Luis Figo’s international career while Portugal’s younger generation of promise took flight.
But what could have been Deco’s biggest statement in the Premiership to date fizzed out with his injury in the pregame warmup. That left Michael Ballack — such a key example of everything that ended up flourishing with Avram Grant at the helm last season — to fill the open slot in the famed five-midfielder formation Scolari has long championed.
Scolari was also prevented from getting to sell his brand of forward-thrust football to the grand audience watching. The hallmark of this young, young relationship between him and West London’s powerhouse has been overtly offensive starts to matches. In other words, it hasn’t taken a goal from the competition to bring them out of an early slumber. Famously, that was the knock against the club during Jose Mourinho’s tenure.
Manchester United’s 18th-minute goal from Ji-Sung Park to go up 1-0 took that sense of Scolari sizzle out of the equation. Even if it was under Scolari’s offensive system, Chelsea had to fly into attack mode because of the score line, not to appease their hard-pressed boss.
Ferguson, meanwhile, was taken off his game long before the pre-match handshake with his newest nemesis. Putting the right pieces in place, even if slightly out of position, has been a major strength in this freshest incarnation of his legendary character.
Against Chelsea, there was practically no canvas for the artist to work off of. Nemanja Vidic had to sit with the previous week’s red card, leaving the gaping hole in the middle of the back line that altered the rest of the lineup in several facets.
Jonny Evans, because of his physical stature better-suited to deal with the likes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, was Vidic’s replacement. With Evans flaunting the inexperience a 20-year-old Big Four newbie brings, Ferguson had to make sure he had controlled cover in the midfield. That prompted possession players Owen Hargreaves and Park to get starts.
Ferguson left himself open to a contained measure of criticism by keeping Carlos Tevez out of the affair, but playing to earn the draw on the heels of the Liverpool loss may shore up hopes for a third straight league title and another Champions League trophy in big fashion. And staying conservative became especially pertinent when Edwin Van der Sar had to leave his post with the injury knock in goal.
To truly see how Ferguson could counter the aggression Scolari brings into title-implication matchups, judgement would be particularly valid if there was the chance to see how the Scot general would integrate a healthy Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Carrick into a lineup layout similar to the expansive depth Scolari had the fortune to work with Sunday.
United and Chelsea are set to meet again Jan. 9. It took long enough to get the these two titans of their profession into the same match — come three months now, we’ll truly get to see if waiting some more was worth it.
Wrapping up the rest of the Prem weekend…
OWED DRINKS: All the managers with no top-table experience down grinding it out in the Championship. Often dismissed as being there for a reason, perhaps there are loads of credibility without embrace in those spots considering the collective performance that promoted Hull’s Phil Brown and Stoke City’s Tony Pulis have started off with. Both were at it again with the respective draws nicked off of Liverpool and Everton.
OWES DRINKS: Fitness instructors throughout the league. A problem last season is already rearing its head again — two more players, Deco and then Mido in the Middlesbrough-Sunderland match, were ruled out of starts because of injuries in pregame warmups.
GOAL FULFILLED: The second of David Di Michele’s two scores in his West Ham debut that turned out to be a complete drubbing of Newcastle. Di Michele essentially passed the ball to himself within the 18-yard box, left to right, in a great hustle effort rewarded in the back of the net.
LET IT BE: Arsenal remain unchallenged as the standard bearer for what quality offense looks like — that being said, this parade of theirs continues to have a familiar patch of dark clouds lingering overhead. Extending a trend that has dogged the franchise since Thierry Henry’s departure, the Gunners have been able to put home just 32 percent of their shots on goal (11 for 34).
SAY IT IS SO: That Martin Petrov is getting lost in the crazed shuffle at Manchester City. The turn of events may well down the line send the currently injured Petrov, a centering influence for City before their world was rocked by the landmark ownership change, into the hands of a smaller club. The midfielder, normally known for that play of his on the flanks, and his increased presence as an effective central-positioned producer could kickstart the likes of Middlesbrough or Bolton singlehandedly if obtained during the January transfer window.
3-POINT FINISH: The Arsenal percentage of shots on goal converted is fifth among the top five scoring teams. That list is topped by Aston Villa’s 52 percent (11 for 21), followed by Manchester City’s 48 percent (15 for 31), West Ham’s 46 percent (11 for 24), Chelsea’s 37 percent (10 for 27) and then the Arsenal figure. … Remember, not for a while does judgement day actually loom for City, notorious for dropping off come spring in recent seasons. Their 6-0 thrashing of Portsmouth on Sunday means 14 of the 22 league matches they’ve hit or surpassed the three-goal mark in the last five seasons have come between August and December. … The novelty of defenders under the age of 21 playing esteemed roles on the field just keeps fading. In that club, Evans’ start for United at Stamford Bridge went in the books as merely one of three from the slate of 10 matches. The other two cases came in the same match, the Pompey-City meeting. Micah Richards, not 21 until next summer, was in his usual spot at Blue Moon and Armand Traore, who won’t reach the magic birthday until 2010, picked up his sixth start of the season.
