Berba 'can be like Eric'

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with Dimitar Berbatov's contribution in his first season at United and hopes the Bulgarian can have the same long-term impact on the side as Eric Cantona.Berbatov has already popped up with several crucial goals for the Reds – something Frenchman Cantona made a happy knack of during his four-and-a-half seasons with the club."Dimi is a different player to what we had last season," Sir Alex said. "He has a patience and composure in the final third of the field, which is helping us. "He’s scored four or five winning goals for us now. Cantona used to score important goals and if Berbatov continues to, then it’s an emphatic result for us."United are seven points clear at the top of the league and Ferguson admits he couldn't have hoped to be in a better position heading into the run-in."If you’d asked me at the start of the season where I’d like to be in March, it wouldn't have been far off where we are at the moment," he said. "We’re in the position we want to be and the next week is important. If we navigate it well, there are a lot of exciting things ahead for us."

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Sir Alex sees Wenger's point

Sir Alex Ferguson believes Arsene Wenger's widely-reported comments on Cristiano Ronaldo's "arrogance" have been misinterpreted.
Friday's What The Papers Say article on ManUtd.com carries quotes from Wenger in which he claims Ronaldo "provokes" opposition defenders, but Ferguson feels his Arsenal counterpart has been misquoted.
"I don’t think he actually said that," Ferguson told reporters at his press conference ahead of the FA Cup quarter-final at Fulham. "I think you’re trying to twist something to get a story. What he said is that sometimes Cristiano appears he’s arrogant – there’s a difference. "I can understand what Arsene is saying. When a player expresses himself in such an entertaining way then defenders don’t enjoy it. It was exactly the same when George Best was playing. Ronaldo's great assets are that he has wonderful courage and always wants to entertain and do something good with the ball."Ronaldo is statistically the most fouled player in the Premier League and was on the receiving end of a Steven Taylor swipe on Wednesday, which the Newcastle defender followed up with a lunge at Michael Carrick. Taylor was booked and referee Steve Bennett later confirmed it was for the second tackle. After reviewing video footage, Bennett said he would have booked Taylor for the foul on Ronaldo, which would have therefore amounted to a red card. But the FA are powerless to change punishments that would involve two yellow cards rather than a single red. Not that Ferguson is too bothered.

The Reds boss said: "I’m not really upset about it at all – it doesn’t do us any good anyway if he gets punished after the event. He should be punished at the time.
"On the other hand we didn’t want Taylor suspended because he can play against Chelsea and Arsenal now! And with the position Newcastle are in it would have been devastating for them to lose him, given the injuries they have at the moment. "I didn’t think at any stage during the game on Wednesday that Ronaldo was badly treated. It was a fair game played in a great spirit and Newcastle worked their socks off. The referee handled the game perfectly well – it was just that one incident that he obviously didn’t see, but it’s over with now."

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