英超曼联主教练弗格森以“好斗”而闻名于天下，也正因如此，不到水落石出，他是决不会在任何对手面前认输的。然而，弗格森10月17日在接受记者提问时却异常坦诚地表示，在联赛中赶超“领头羊”切尔西的任务，曼联恐怕已心有余而力不足。

    据英国《卫报》10月18日报道，在切尔西取得联赛9连胜后，特别是在安菲尔德重创欧洲冠军利物浦队后，很多人已经开始纷纷预测，这个赛季的英超冠军已经非“蓝军”莫属。曾经在03-04赛季创造了多场不败纪录的“火药库”阿森纳队现在已经沦落到了人见人欺的地步，本赛季他们已经输了3场比赛。也正因为如此，落后切尔西队10分的“红魔”曼联俨然成为了惟一的一支有能力对切尔西队发起挑战的球队。但迫于如此严峻的形势，曼联主教练弗格森现在纵有点石成金的本领也很难挽回曼联将连续3个赛季两手空空的事实。

    “很显然，除非切尔西队开始丢分，否则他们将一直占据夺取联赛冠军的有利位置。”弗格森表示：“这是目前显而易见的事实，但不要忘了现在联赛才刚刚进入到10月份，所以在这个时候就认为切尔西队已经是本赛季联赛冠军那是很愚蠢的。但不管怎样，他们目前连胜的势头无人能敌。目前我们能做的也只是紧紧咬住对方，希望对手一不小心能从高处滑下来。”

    近一时期以来曼联取得了联赛中的3连胜，这多少给老帅弗格森一丝安慰。此前，他们在老特拉福德球场1：2输给了布莱克本，愤怒的球迷甚至抛开了弗格森从前的功绩，将满场的嘘声送给了这位“落魄”的老人。球迷和媒体也公开要求弗格森重新回到4-4-2的阵容，抛弃现在不受欢迎的4-3-2-1阵型。

    往事不堪回首。对于在老特拉福德19年以来首次遭到的嘘声，弗格森虽然不愿提起，但肯定难以忘怀。在谈起18日将要进行的欧洲冠军联赛曼联同里尔队的小组赛时，“老爵爷”弗格森对那些希望他改变战术和球队阵型的球迷进行了“严厉”谴责。“我知道你们这些球迷现在很不满意，”弗格森生气地说：“但我必须说，媒体将球队现在的‘进球荒’归咎于球队所采用的战术和阵型的说法是一派胡言。在自己的主场输球我当然很生气，但我们至少应该明白问题的症结所在，承认我们的失利在于不能在比赛中善始善终。而这显然同阵型、战术或者踢法保守没有任何关联。”

    虽然，人们对他所采用的战术和阵型议论纷纷，但17日真正让弗格森生气的是一份周末报刊所刊登的由前曼联和爱尔兰队后卫丹尼斯·埃尔文所撰写的专栏文章。埃尔文在这篇文章中写道：“我在曼联和都柏林的两个非常可靠的消息来源说，爱尔兰足协和我的老教练（弗格森）已经开始有了接触。当然他不承认，因为弗格森现在还和曼联有约在身。但这并不意味着，在爱尔兰队明年9月参加正式国际大赛之前他不会成为爱尔兰队的主教练。”

    考虑到这篇专栏是埃尔文本人所撰写，而埃尔文并不是一个爱无中生有的人，因此我们暂且可以相信这篇文章的真实性，另外不要忘了，弗格森此前也曾经说过，有朝一日，如果他从老特拉福德退下来，他会对爱尔兰队主教练一职很感兴趣。

    从曼联老板那里看，美国人格拉泽决不会任由曼联成为切尔西队之后的二流强队。因此也正如弗格森说承认的那样，上述所言正慢慢变成一种可能的前景。

    The fighting qualities within Sir Alex Ferguson will never allow him to concede a championship before the leaves have stopped falling from the trees but the Manchester United manager was candid enough yesterday to admit that the task of catching and overhauling Chelsea might prove beyond his team. Two publicity-conscious bookmakers have already paid out on Chelsea retaining the Premiership trophy after nine straight wins, including inflicting Liverpool's heaviest defeat at Anfield since 1969.

    With Arsenal having already suffered three defeats, United may be the most likely challengers but they are 10 points behind the champions and Ferguson is confronted by the possibility of a third successive season without a league title.

    "It's obvious that unless Chelsea start to drop some points they are in a very strong position," he said. "It's only stating the obvious, too, that we're still in October, so it would be silly to think of them as champions already. But they're relentless at the moment. Right now we're just trying to stay within their slipstream, hoping they slip up."

    Ferguson can take encouragement from the fact that his side have won all three games since the now-infamous 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers, a match that will be remembered for the throngs of supporters who turned against the manager and the mutinous chants demanding a return to 4-4-2 and the scrapping of the unpopular 4-3-2-1 system.

    United's fiercely proud manager has been reluctant to discuss one of the most chastening experiences of his 19 years at Old Trafford but, in his programme notes for tonight's Champions League tie against Lille, he chastised those who had dared to dissect the team's formation. "I know you supporters were not happy but I have to say there has been an awful lot of rubbish in the media trying to blame the shortage of goals on our system of play. It doesn't make me very happy to lose on our own ground, but at least we should recognise the core of the problem and admit that our failure was simply down to very bad finishing.

    "It had absolutely nothing to do with formations, tactics or an unwillingness to attack, but these criticisms were levelled at us by a number of pundits and even a few fans. We have, in fact, played the same way for years. Certainly we have not changed our style and hopefully we will continue to score and entertain."

    Ferguson's argument might have been slightly more persuasive had he not, in the next sentence, proceeded to contradict himself. "One change we have made over the past year has been to play three in the centre of midfield, an adjustment we made to retain Roy Keane in the team. When Roy was at his peak and worked from box to box we needed only two in the engine room, but the day came when we could no longer ask quite so much from our captain."

    Ferguson is clearly aggrieved by the scrutiny of his tactics, but his major source of irritation yesterday emanated from a weekend newspaper column penned by Denis Irwin, the retired former United and Republic of Ireland defender. "My very reliable sources in both Manchester and Dublin say there has been contact between the FAI and my old manager," wrote Irwin. "Of course he is denying it. He has to - Alex is under contract to Manchester United. But that doesn't mean he won't be manager of Ireland by the time our next competitive games come around next September."

    Perplexingly, Ferguson's first reaction was to say that Irwin had told him he had not spoken to anyone in the media, so it could be discounted as "rubbish". Given that Irwin actually wrote the column himself, and that he is not a man to go in for speculation or hyperbole, it should probably be taken reasonably seriously, particularly as Ferguson has confided in the past that the Republic of Ireland job would appeal to him should he ever leave Old Trafford.

    There are still no guarantees that the Glazer regime will accept being second best to Chelsea and, by Ferguson's own admission, it is becoming an increasingly likely prospect.