I love swagger of Ronaldo, says Ferguson

I love swagger of Ronaldo, says Ferguson

The purposeful way that Sir Alex Ferguson is trying to tone down the old adversarial persona in his weekly press briefings and instead ease unobtrusively towards Manchester United's 19th title has been absorbing to behold in recent weeks. But it was with a barely concealed sense of glee yesterday that he was able to seize on Arsène Wenger's claims that Cristiano Ronaldo displays a "provocative" type of "arrogance" and agree with every word the Frenchman had said.


Ferguson redefined the quality as a "nice arrogance" – a footballing oxymoron if ever there was one, but a mark of greatness, according to Ferguson, and symptomatic of those legends of the game who simply have "belief in themselves". The Manchester United manager raised his eyes to the ceiling and laughed when it was put to him that he might seek to limit that arrogant quality in the player. "I don't see why I should restrain him," he said. "That is the way he plays. I enjoyed watching that. Christ, I paid £10m to watch that."

Many will agree. Others might reasonably argue that Ronaldo's arrogance is as evident when he does not have the ball at his feet – niggling opponents and officials and indulging in the histrionics which have made him as much a source of frustration as delight this season – as when he does. It certainly might be easier to view Ronaldo's tunnel spat with Steven Taylor at St James' Park on Wednesday with a little more sympathy had it not come in a season when the Portugal winger squared up to Emanuel Pogatetz during United's 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in December and had he not been fortunate to avoid censure for kicking out at Celtic's Scott Brown, Tottenham defender Michael Dawson, and Andy Wilkinson, of Stoke City.

Other football people have different words for the characteristics which can earn Ronaldo a rough time. The Villarreal manager Manuel Pellegrini used the Spanish word encarar, which translates as challenging "face on", as the reason why so many of his players fouled him at El Madrigal stadium in November, though the winger dished out some petulance that night, too. The debate will rage for as long as the player is plying his trade but Ferguson, who includes Ronaldo in the 20-man squad he takes to Fulham in the FA Cup today, says the player's assuredness puts him in the hallowed company of George Best and Johan Cruyff.

"All the great players have the courage to want the ball and express themselves," Ferguson said. "It didn't matter who they were playing against, they wanted the ball and they wanted to play. That is a vein that courses through all the great players you can name. And they get treatment from defenders. George Best got it. Cruyff, too, if you remember the tackles the Brazilian defenders gave him in the 1974 World Cup. Maradona and Pele had it. That's what great players do, they express themselves and that frustrates defenders. Defenders don't enjoy it. You can also understand him lashing out when he keeps getting kicked and nothing happens. If you are not getting the protection sometimes you can lose your temper."

After playing in 13 of United's last 14 games, Ronaldo looks due a break, with Ferguson openly admitting that, in a week which he believes could define United's season – "the next seven days are important and if we navigate them properly there are a lot of exciting days ahead for us" – Internazionale in the Champions League on Wednesday night represents his overriding priority.

Though he avoided the question yesterday of whether his current squad are even better than last season's – the best ever as he called them back then – a full sweep of five trophies would settle the argument and it is hard to believe that the thought of the place in the football firmament that such an achievement would offer United has not crossed his mind. That may stir their competitiveness today.

Fulham have Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora likely to start up front and Diomansy Kamara pushing hard for a place. Ferguson may find starting places for Carlos Tevez, Nani, Anderson, as well as Jonny Evans or Darron Gibson, though Gary Neville will not be back in training until next week, with Wes Brown and Rafael da Silva facing longer recuperations.