How do we win the Champions League
without changing our way of playing,
changing our style?
And it was just little tweaks.
Maybe I played in the midfield a little bit more
or Becks did and I stayed out wide.
But also he brought in Jaap Stam because
especially at Old Trafford
he still wanted us to attack,
he still wanted the full-backs to overlap,
he still wanted midfielders getting into the box.
But he also had two defenders:
Ronny Johnsen and Jaap Stam.
They were quick, they were strong,
and they could defend 1v1.
I think the manager recognised that,
that Jaap was, just like Eric (Cantona),
was the final piece of the jigsaw.
A lot is talked about the
four forwards that we had,
but also in my position, Jesper Blomqvist.
In midfield you had Nicky Butt
who obviously played in the Champions League final.
We had so many players
who could play all the games.
But also we had players who could
come in who gave you that freshness
but you didn't lose the quality.
Every team wanted to beat you at that time.
So it was a juggling act for the manager
of getting that freshness
but also for having that quality on the
pitch that can win you the game.
The manager I remember before getting
me and Becks in and saying:
"I don't know who I'm going to play centre-midfield.''
Because if I played centre-midfield
along with Nicky then that
would give us the balance still
of Becks and Jesper on the left,
or Becks gives us that little bit more control,
rather than a different player in midfield like myself
who would be more of a dribbler,
and then I would play on the right which would,
especially when Sharpey and Andrei were in the team,
Sharpey would play on the left and I would play on the right.
But it wasn't my favoured position.
But he went with Becks, a little bit more control in midfield
and me on the right which I could play.
So it was a difficult decision for him I think,
I didn't have the best of games but
I think later on in the game,
the running that I'd done against the left-back,
I think it was Tarnat,
contributed in later on giving us that space
and pinning them back later in the game.
So I say we had the strength in depth,
that was a blow obviously not having Keane and Scholes but,
we were still able to manage with players
who had played in the lead-up.
Jesper had played in the FA Cup semi final,
he started that game.
Obviously Nicky had played enough games as well,
so we were able to cope in the end.
My first season when I really played in midfield,
Chicharito had just come in the team:
"Ok Chicha, where do you want the ball?
"I get the ball in midfield, where's your run?
"Are you peeling off the left-centre-half?
"Are you running in behind the right-centre-half?"
So instantly when I get the ball I know more
or less where he's going to be.
Wayne dropping in those little holes;
Ji-Sung Park: where do you want the ball?
Ok, he's coming in the pitch,
Patrice Evra's then overlapping. So I have a choice:
Ji's in that little pocket,
if the full-back comes I'll play It over the
top to Patrice who's going to be
overlapping or sometimes underlapping.
Where's Cristiano going to be?
Is he going to be high and wide
or is he going to be making them runs?
So before I even step on the pitch,
I had in my locker,
where I was going to hurt the opposition the most.
It becomes more, as you get older, more like chess,
like trying to find the right moves,
and it's a bit like the Matrix as well.
Everything just slows down a little bit
whereas when you're younger it's just 100mph.
You definitely take a lot more
interest in the tactical roles:
how are the opposition pressing?
How do you want to press?
All these things that you would never
think about as a young player.
Who's the danger-man in their team?
Is he left-footed is he right-footed?
Keep him on his right?
Are you going to play against a midfielder
who is constantly running in behind you?
Ok, right, they want to keep running
because you're going to run them.
So, I wasn't able to get up and down the pitch as much.
But rather than blowing up after 60 minutes,
you have to pace yourself.
I was equally as effective but probably
wasn't doing as much running.
For me, like anything: experience as well.
That experience that the game sort
of slows down in your mind
where you can see passes and
you're a lot calmer on the ball.
I kept the ball a little bit better
not trying that Hollywood pass every time,
just keep it ticking and then play them balls
behind the opposition's defence,
or play them balls through the lines
into the centre-forward's feet.
We had an opticional eye specialist
at the club, and she actually noticed
something that when I did come into midfield,
I wasn't playing as many passes left as I was right.
So we did a lot of work on my peripheral vision
and it found that I didn't have as good eyesight
looking that way which is
when you think about it, it's natural.
Since I was 11 I'd always looked that way
because I'd been hugging the touchline
so I'd always had that pass where actually,
she'd noticed that there were a few runs
that players were making that I hadn't
noticed as well as there.
So I did a lot of work on my eyesight that way,
trying to strengthen that vision looking that way
because now I'm looking at the whole pitch,
I'm getting the ball in the middle of the pitch,
there's players running there,
so, I did a lot of work on that.
When you've got the energy that I had around me:
Wayne Rooney dropping in, Ji-Sung Park on the left,
Patrice Evra up and down, Michael Carrick next to me.
I had energy and young legs all around me.
So I was lucky in that respect as well.
And I had to develop my passing,
because I was always able to dribble which again,
in midfield was great for me because,
[you] maybe had Paul Gascoigne who would get
the ball in midfield and take players on.
That was something that I had in my armoury as well,
that if it wasn't on to pass,
I could dribble past players,
which the opposition midfielder perhaps wasn't used to.
So, I loved it.
I loved being more involved.
I loved having those different options.
The last probably five or six years
were the most enjoyable.
As you get older then you start thinking:
"Ok, you've been told to do that. Why?''
I was always asking,
especially the last six or seven years.
The advice of Mick Phelan, René Meulensteen,
the coaches, Carlos Queiroz.
"Why are we doing that?"
And also giving them options: "What about this?"
You start thinking more [like] a coach,
and you become more vocal in the dressing room.
Even at half-time,
giving your opinion a lot more,
helping the younger players,
both in training and after games.
Your role in the team becomes different
from when you were younger.
When you're just really look after yourself.
You're putting so much pressure on yourself
and you're worried about your performances
rather than the whole team's performance.
I didn't know what was going to happen
with David Moyes coming in.
I think I had a year left on my playing contract,
and I was actually on my pro-license.
I was in Turkey, we were watching the under 20s World Cup
and I got the phone call off David Moyes
asking me to be part of his coaching staff
and remain as a player.
I had a decision to make:
could I do both, could I do the coaching and the playing?
I was thrilled to be asked to be on the coaching,
because that's the next step.
As I just said, I was already on my pro-license
so I'd done my B-license, done my A-license.
I was nearly completing my pro-license,
so I was ready in regards to all my qualifications
but actually, getting on the training pitch
and putting coaching sessions on: I'd never really done.
I was keen to have that development
but also have an impact on the pitch.
It was a difficult decision to make.
I think it was a team that
the key players coming towards the end of their careers.
Obviously myself, Rio [Ferdinand].
You had Nemanja Vidić.
All coming towards the end,
depending on the individual or how old they were.
So it was difficult in that respect.
Also, putting your own stamp on a team.
Every coach wants to do that.
It was easy in regards to
coming into a team that's just won the league
so it must be a good team.
But also a team that
did need a little bit of freshness as well.
It was pretty easy because
I don't think there was an alternative for a start.
But it was easy because
it was only four games.
I had good people around me,
joining the coaching staff:
Scholesy, Nicky [Butt],
Phil [Neville] who would have been a coach that season.
The difficult part was I was still a player,
and I'm not picking some of my mates;
some of my teammates who I've
shared the dressing room for a long time.
So that was the difficult part.
Also, I knew that it was going to be my last
year as well so I wanted to
enjoy it as a player which I probably
never got the chance in the end.
But, I got the chance to manage Manchester United.
I talk about the badges and the qualifications,
you need them and it's great, but nothing prepares
you for the actual experience of being in that hot-seat.
Being in the office after training, picking your team,
the problems that you encounter:
organising travel, organising different times,
players knocking on your door,
young players knocking on your door because
they're coming to the end of their contract: "What's happening?"
And also everything on the pitch:
preparing the team for training, picking a team.
It was brilliant, it was an unbelievable experience.
I put myself under a lot of pressure to win the four games.
It was an experience that I'd never change.
And it was in that time,
I think especially after we got beat at Sunderland here 1-0,
that I knew that I had the mentality
and the right stuff to become a manager.
I talk about teammates and friends;
after that defeat I had no problem in not picking them.
I didn't lose any sleep over it
because they didn't perform.
Then I knew I had it in me to
make the tough decisions.