The concept of a double handful is hardly a novel one to an owner of horseflesh such as Sir Alex Ferguson. At about 4.25 on Saturday, Andrew Cole having just made the score 3-0 to Manchester United, Ferguson turned towards the directors' box and with a gesture of a jockey holding the reins, inquired as to whether his horse Candleriggs had won the 4.15 at York.
The fact that Ferguson could have his mind on matters other than the beating of Sunderland with what amounted to a United reserve line-up, said much about not only this game but of the Premiership as a whole. This was a breeze.
Candleriggs lost as it happens, but it was Ferguson's only loser of the afternoon. Able to give David Beckham, Fabien Barthez and Juan Veron the day off, leave Ruud van Nistelrooy on the bench and forget about the suspended Roy Keane, Ferguson saw a Luke Chadwick-inspired side assume early control and make the pace from there.
Long before Stanislav Varga opened the scoring with a comical own goal in the 35th minute, United and Ferguson were sitting on a double handful of their own. Paul Scholes should have made it 1-0 in the fifth minute. Chadwick and Nicky Butt were close soon after. When, finally, United did break through it was via Chadwick's purpose on the right.
"Bloody handful," was the phrase Ferguson used in connection with his 20-year-old afterwards. Condemned to the unpromising role of Beckham's understudy, Chadwick had his best 90 minutes in a United shirt.
It cannot last, of course. Beckham is sure to reappear against Deportivo La Coruna in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Wednesday and, bearing in mind the defeat to Real Madrid there two seasons ago, the thought of Spanish opposition in Manchester prompted this from Ferguson. "We lost to Real Madrid because of our tactics, we tried to play them from the first minute.
"They changed system because we were absolutely battering them. They found a system during the game and went on to win the Cup. They were lucky, believe me. Don't get me wrong, they attacked well at times, but we threw that game away."
The conversation was topical as prior to that Madrid match United stuffed West Ham 7-1 at Old Trafford. They could have won by the same margin here and Sunderland could not have complained. It is the relevance of weak Premiership opponents juxtaposed with strong continental sides that was the theme.
To an extent Ferguson had rendered that relevance irrelevant with Saturday's omissions, but the point stands. Ferguson said that he had decided on excusing Veron and Co. on the flight back from the Olympiakos game. "Picking the right team will always be the problem when you've got so many good players," he said. Asked if Chadwick presented him with a different sort of problem, Ferguson replied: "It's not a problem for me, I've only six months to worry about it. He's a perpetual motion lad, bloody restless. We see him every day in training and he's a bloody handful for our players, never mind anybody else."
SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Gray, Williams, Craddock, Varga, Kilbane (Bellion 45), Thirlwell, Schwarz, Arca, Phillips, Quinn. Subs Not Used: McCartney, Medina, Laslandes, Macho. Goal: Phillips 83.
MANCHESTER UTD: Carroll, Gary Neville, Silvestre, Blanc (Phil Neville 76), Brown, Giggs (Yorke 61), Butt, Scholes (Stewart 67), Chadwick, Solskjaer, Cole. Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, van Nistelrooy. Goals: Varga 35 og, Giggs 59, Cole 66.
Referee: G Poll (Tring).
