It was reported back in England that Sir Alex Ferguson was pretty unhappy with his team’s 2-2 draw at Fulham last weekend and let his players know about it after allowing the tying goal in the last minute. Ferguson said the points dropped by Manchester United were silly as they’re going to need as many as possible if they want to recapture the English Premier League crown from Chelsea this season.

Things looked like they were going United’s way as they had a 2-1 lead at Craven Cottage in the 87th minute and were awarded a  penalty kick. A 3-1 lead at that point would have probably wrapped things up, but Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale saved the penalty by Nani and then came back and drew the game when Brede Hangeland scored. Ironically, it was Hangeland who put United ahead with an own goal about 10 minutes earlier.

But after the game, Ferguson told Manchester United Television (MUTV), that he thought Ryan Giggs should have taken the penalty as he scored two of them against Tottenham at the end of last season. Well this begs me to ask the question, whose fault is that, just who’s in charge of the team anyway?

If Ferguson wanted Giggs to take the penalty then why didn’t Giggs take the penalty? If he felt so strongly about it because the Welshman had scored a couple from the spot previously, then why didn’t he appoint Giggs as the team’s penalty taker before the game started?

I don’t really see the point of moaning about throwing away points when Ferguson could easily have done something about it. Isn’t letting the players run the squad akin to the inmates running the asylum? I can understand if your team’s ahead by three or four goals and then letting the players choose who’s going to take a spot kick, but in the 87th minute of a 2-1 battle it just doesn’t make sense, as proven in this instance.

There’s no other professional sport I know of where the manager or coach isn’t in charge of his troops. If a penalty shot’s awarded in ice hockey you can bet your ass the coach decides who’s going to take it. It’s sometimes hard to understand the football mentality. Ferguson shows who’s the boss in other areas of the game, so why doesn’t he do the same thing when three points are on the line?