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Alex Ferguson: confident. omni images

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson hails current crop as his best ever

‘The options we’ve got now all round the park, if we can keep everyone fit, are as good as I’ve had in my time here.’

ALEX FERGUSON BELIEVES his present Manchester United squad is as good a team as he has produced in his 26 years at Old Trafford.

United lead the Premier League and also remain in both the FA Cup and the Champions League, giving them a chance to replicate their historic treble triumph of 1999.

Key to their success has been the form of strikers Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck, a quartet that has been compared to the combination of Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 14 years ago.

“When you look at those lads up front, if they can each get to the 20 mark, we will really be in business,” Ferguson told reporters after their 4-1 thrashing of Fulham in the FA Cup fourth round.

“The options we’ve got now all round the park, if we can keep everyone fit, are as good as I’ve had in my time here.”

United face Southampton in the Premier League on Wednesday and resume their Champions League campaign with the first leg of their round-of-16 tie against Real Madrid on 13 February. Yesterday, they were drawn to face Reading at Old Trafford in the only all-Premier League tie of the last 16 of the FA Cup.

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    Mute Danger Here
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    Jan 28th 2013, 1:50 PM

    Bit of a sensationalist headline lads? ……his quote was “as good as he’s had in his time” at the club and not necessarily better than the teams of 95/96 or 98/99. The squad is much bigger than in the nineties, but in my opinion, there was more quality and style in the starting xi teams of the nineties. Current defence is a bit shaky and the midfield can’t dominate like it did back then.

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    Mute Robert Melia
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    Jan 28th 2013, 7:11 PM

    In what parallel universe is Danny Welbeck going to score 20 goals this season? He can barely control his legs for 20 steps.

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    Mute bacoxy
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    Jan 28th 2013, 10:31 PM

    The team of 1999 was the best in my opinion… great balance and they also had good options off the bench

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    Mute Eoin O Raghallaigh
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    Jan 29th 2013, 1:24 PM

    He can’t be claiming that this team are his best ever. Possibly you could argue that the current strikers are up there with the ’99 team, but at the moment Ferguson can’t put out a midfield anywhere near as good as Giggs- Keane – Scholes – Beckham. Big questions over the current defence and both goalkeepers as well.

    He’s probably just talking about the strength of the squad overall and his wealth of options, but even then I’d rather have the squad of 2007 to 2009 with Tevez, Ronaldo and a fit Owen Hargreaves. Not to mention a defence that went 11 games without conceding. Current crop can barely go 45 mins!

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    Mute Cornelius Collins
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    Jan 29th 2013, 3:51 AM

    might be time to cut back on the vino there Alex!!!

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    Mute ★bar
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    Jan 29th 2013, 7:10 AM

    ?22 million plus Wayne Rooney for Silva… jaysus are we on the same planet sunshine…wha???

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