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Milalai · Site Admin Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 12137

<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/23731?ns=guardian&pageName=Football%3A+Ferguson%27s+winning+form+is+history%2C+says+Ince&ch=Football&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Carling+Cup%2CBlackburn+Rovers+%28Football+club%29%2CManchester+United+%28Football%29%2CSir+Alex+Ferguson%2CFootball&c5=Premier+League&c6=Andy+Hunter&c7=2008_12_03&c8=1127805&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Football&c12=Carling+Cup&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FFootball%2FCarling+Cup" width="1" height="1" /></div>Former Manchester United players-turned-managers regularly ask Sir Alex Ferguson for advice but they know better than to expect his charity. Tonight Paul Ince seeks a rare victory for the apprentices over the master, and while form and history suggest an ordeal awaits him in the Carling Cup, the Blackburn Rovers manager senses only an opportunity to revive a season before it slips dangerously into a fight for survival.Ince returns to Old Trafford with his Blackburn side second from bottom of the table, without a win in nine Premier League games and with illness sweeping through an already injury-plagued squad. Now here is the really bad news for the Rovers manager: in 51 matches against teams managed by his former charges the Scot has lost only five times, with Mark Hughes and Manchester City the latest to be kept in the stranglehold during Sunday's Manchester derby. In 32 games at Old Trafford against former players who have followed him into management, Ferguson's record is even more impressive: 26 victories, four draws and only two defeats."Jesus, you're killing me!" says Ince when told of the ominous statistics, before burying his head into his hands. The trepidation, characteristically, proves only fleeting. "Alex won't have a full side out but it will have top quality. Carlos Tevez is worth £32m and he will probably play and Nani is in the £15m bracket and he will probably be involved . But we can go there and embrace the situation in front of 65,000 people. We are playing well away from home and I am looking forward to it. The lads should be [doing] the same."A 3-2 defeat at Portsmouth on Sunday, having recovered from a two-goal deficit to draw level, has left Blackburn without a league win since September 27 at Newcastle. Their only release since then was the Carling Cup fourth-round win at Sunderland that secured tonight's date with United. But it was not simply to keep critics from the door that Ince talked up his chances beating the league champions. "I would rather play a league game than a cup game because we are close to turning it around and league points are more important than cups at this moment," he insists. "We had a situation when I was at Macclesfield where we were bottom of the table and had to go to Walsall, who were top of the league. We beat them 1-0 and it lifted everybody. We went on a long unbeaten run and ended up staying up by the last game of the season. If we can go to Old Trafford and get something, it could just lift everybody and put us on a run."Ince is struggling for players as well as confidence tonight, with Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba doubtful with flu, Danny Simpson and Keith Andrews ineligible plus Vince Grella, David Dunn and Steven Reid - three-quarters of arguably his first-choice midfield - on the long-term injury list. All Ince requests, however, is patience from his board."Sir Alex is the greatest manager of all time but in 1990 he was probably 20 minutes away from the sack until Mark Robins scored that winner against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup," said Ince. "It would have been easy to sack him if they had lost but look at him now. You do need time to build things. That's what annoys me because people do try to tear up clubs and managers early in their careers."Ince has now employed Nigel Winterburn, the former Arsenal left-back, to coach the Blackburn defence two days a week and yesterday revealed that the club plans to improve security at their players' homes following a raid at Roque Santa Cruz's house in Cheshire on Saturday. The striker's wife, Giselle, and his two young children were confronted with knives during the incident."Roque is shook up, obviously," Ince said. "He drove back on Saturday night and came back to Portsmouth on the Sunday, so it was hard for him. It is scary and it puts football into perspective. It has also happened to Zurab [Khizanishvili] and a few Liverpool players who live in that area so it is something we need to look into. I will sit down with the chairman and we may start using security firms to look over the houses when players are away."<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/carlingcup">Carling Cup</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blackburn">Blackburn Rovers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchesterunited">Manchester United</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/sir-alex-ferguson">Sir Alex Ferguson</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
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