Evra: We're the Freddie Kreuger of football
Published 22:30 09/01/12 By David McDonnell
United’s dramatic 3-2 FA Cup third-round triumph over Roberto Mancini’s side saw the holders knocked out on the back of two straight Premier League defeats for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.
But Evra claimed it meant more than mere progression to the next round, where they’ll meet arch-enemies Liverpool.
He said the manner of their win was a reminder that Ferguson’s team can never be written off, despite suggestions their squad lacks the depth and quality required to win the major prizes.
“But when you have the story behind this club, you know that when there’s a difficult moment you’ll answer back, because everyone in this team has a big character, a big personality.
“If we hadn’t shown that we would have lost the game. But we know we’re strong.
“The manager told us it was a big game and that we had to go out and show what Manchester United is all about – and that’s what we showed.
“He told us that we’re not going to win every game just because we’re Manchester United. We had to walk out and play with the Manchester United spirit, and that’s what we did in the first half.
“Even though we lost two games in a row, I didn’t think everything was over.”
Despite his bullish post-match claim, Evra’s analysis told only half the story of the thrilling FA Cup tie at the Etihad Stadium. United benefited hugely from the contentious dismissal of City skipper Vincent Kompany after 12 minutes, enabling them to race to a 3-0 half-time lead.
But 10-man City produced a formidable second-half display, coming close to producing a remarkable comeback and forcing a replay, only for United to hang on and win by the slenderest of margins.
“The manager wasn’t happy with the second half and he’s right because we didn’t kill the game by scoring more goals and they scored two,” said Evra.
“But, in the end, there’s a lot of satisfaction because many people before the game were saying that Manchester United wouldn’t win.
“When I came to this club six years ago, they had already gone out of the Champions League at the first stage and people said it was over for United. But since then we’ve been in the Champions League four times and won the league four times.
“The most important thing is believing in yourself.”
In many ways, United’s performance was a shapshot of their overall season – exhilarating at times but bafflingly poor at others, such inconsistency having already seen them knocked out of the Champions League and the Carling Cup.
Despite the victory over City, there remain doubts United’s squad has sufficient quality – certainly in midfield – to last the distance in their dogged title race with City, whose lead remains three points despite United’s back-to-back defeats to Blackburn and Newcastle.
The decision to bring Paul Scholes, 37, out of retirement eight months after his last game smacks of desperation, a panic move by a club short of midfield cover but which lacks the financial clout or emerging talent to address the issue.
Scholes rejoining in a playing capacity – he was coaching up until now – means he is the first central midfielder to sign for the club since Anderson in 2007, a telling fact in an area which is crying out for a fresh face, not tired old legs.
Predictably, Scholes’s team-mates, who nicknamed him ‘Sat Nav’ because of his remarkable accuracy in finding targets with a ball, were queuing up to pay tribute to him.
Evra said: “It was great news, a big surprise. I never understood why he stopped. He’s the type of player who embodies the story of the club. It’s a big boost for everyone.”
But the return of Scholes is undoubtedly a short-term fix to a long-term problem, a course of action Ferguson claimed he was unwilling to take just 48 hours before he made his dramatic comeback at City.
“Players who are available, and who we like, we can’t get,” said Ferguson. “So what do you do? Take a second-rate player? Of course you don’t.
“I’d rather stick with the ones I have got, rather than bringing someone in who ends up not getting a game because they’re not good enough.”
But Scholes, revered as the best midfielder of his generation, is likely to be restricted to late cameos, such as the one at City, where his most significant contribution was giving the ball away for their second goal.
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