Fergie acknowledges City threat

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson recognises the threat of Manchester City's buying power, but believes they will still have their work cut out in order to enter the Premier League title race.

The derby rivals meet at Eastlands on Saturday lunchtime for their most significant meeting for many years, with United desperate to keep alive hopes of retaining the title, while City want to hold on to fourth place.

Mega-rich City have already spent millions in reshaping their team since the takeover of Sheikh Mansour in September 2008 and they have since been able to attract Roberto Mancini as manager.

But while Ferguson acknowledges the weight of City's wallet, he has always issued warnings to United's neighbours that money will not necessarily guarantee success in the long term.

He said: "City would still have the small problem of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and, possibly, Liverpool, who have been disappointing this season, to overcome, but they will be revved up to do better.

"But the great thing about City is that they have an amazing amount of buying power. They can go and buy another team and you can be rest assured they will be buying."

If United fail to beat Chelsea to the Premier League title there will be calls for signings at Old Trafford, but Ferguson will remain calm.

He said: "We may need to tweak here and there but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with our structure. We may have to look at one or two things but nothing serious.

"It is important not to confuse ourselves with others who can buy as much as they want. We don't need to worry about that. It was the same when Chelsea were buying.

"What we tried to do was make sure we looked at ourselves and look where we could develop our team. It proved successful."

Source: Sky Sports
Date Published: 16 April 2010

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What a cracking day saturday turned out to be!! I thought we played well against City but still not quite right although winnin git like we did will really give us the lift we need. HE SCORES GOALS GALORE.... Spurs were awesome against Chelsea who bottled it big time, created nothing and looked like the could concede 4 or 5. IF we can get 3 points against spurs at OT then the pressure is on Chelsea BIG TIME and the one of the last teams they will want to play is Stoke, be it at SB or not. They will fight for everything and will hopefully be launching long ball after long ball at their defence minus Terry and a dodgy looking Cech! WE SHALL NOT, WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED~!!

- birchy

Anyone else pleasantly surprised by Berbatov when he came on? I was shocked at the way he picked up the ball, turned and then ran at the City defence a couple of times. Usually he'll pick it up then just look to pop a pass out to a wide man. He looked more direct yesterday when he got on the ball. His problem is that he plays at a different tempo to the team and tends to slow things down. If he just upped that temp then I think he would be so much more effective. The most frustrating thing is that we all know he has the talent and ability to be a United player, but maybe time has run out for him?

- Menace

If you could bottle that feeling when Scholes scored, it would be the most expensive addictive drug in the world. I went and stood right in the front row behind the goal in the 2nd half, I have bruises and cuts all over my shins where I ended up over the barrier when Scholes scored. Then we stopped off on the way back to watch Spurs beat Chelsea. What a mint day. Moments like that are what make all the money/travelling/getting up at 4am etc all worth while. And in stoppage time again?! Brilliant.

- Matt

What a day yesterday. I'll be smiling all of next week. Our never say-die-attitude over the years has been incredible.

- Geoff

Very pleasantly surprised the way this weekend has turned out! However, as Jonny and Neil say - we play these guys next week... So let's hope they don't continue their dream run with us!

- Abner

What a wonderful day. Couldn't really have been better. Unless we didn't have to play Spurs next Saturday - that's going to be a very, very tough game. Oh, and given Terry's current form it's a pity he'll be suspended next week. England better hope Rio is on tip-top form come the World Cup, Terry looks dreadful.

- Neil

Great to be only a point behind with 3 games to go hopefully we can win our next 3 and Liverpool do us a favour when Chelsea go to anfield. But im still gonna moan because Tottenham should have won that game by 4 or 5 with the amount of chances they created and missed. But id definitey have taken a 2-1 at the start of the day.

- Munsterman

i never thought at the end of the day we'd be within a point of Chelsea. brilliant day.

- Shaun

if it stays like this we will be one point behind and only 2 goals down on Chelsea. then if we win against Spurs next Saturday our goals would probably be equal and be 2 points clear, with Chelsea playing the next day. Big pressure. All big ifs though of course.

- Shaun

Until we have secured 3 points against Spurs at OT I shall not be getting too excited about this one.

- jonny