Giggs still playing for United because of his football brain

By Sam Allardyce/London Evening Standard

I have always thought that it is the brain that makes the real difference in a footballer. You can measure skill, you can analyse a player’s endeavour and contribution but how can you really quantify what goes on inside someone’s head?

If I could unlock that particular secret, I wouldn’t be a manager. I would be so wealthy, I’d be able to afford a yacht as big as Roman Abramovich’s. Take Ryan Giggs as an example. I can still vividly recall his 60-yard pass straight to the feet of Robin van Persie, who took it into his stride and scored at Upton Park last season.

Ryan did something similar on Wednesday against Olympiakos and it demonstrated just how much he has learned over the years because he never had that range of passing early on in his game. Then, he received the ball down the left side, dribbled past the opposition and either crossed the ball or got in the box.

As time went on, he dropped into midfield and began making those killer passes — long balls — the sort which some say should have no part in our ‘modern’ game but are often still the most effective passes you can make if you get them right, as Ryan invariably does. There are some who believe he should still be playing every week but let’s be realistic. He’s 40 years old and just setting out on a coaching career.

Recovery times become longer the older you get and, although Ryan looks after himself, he would have been lucky if he could walk yesterday morning!

He is, nevertheless, a huge credit to himself, particularly after some people were questioning his longevity earlier in his career when he was beset by hamstring problems.

The main reason why he is still playing today is because his brain is the best part of Ryan Giggs. The fact that he has changed his game so fundamentally — not many can do that — demonstrates his football intelligence. I watched United’s match against Olympiakos on TV. We are playing Manchester United at Upton Park tomorrow and, in the past, I might have felt it necessary to go to Old Trafford but these days the analysis of the opposition is so thorough that there is no real need to be there.

Every conceivable piece of information on United is available to me via the analysis staff at the club plus all the data from ‘Prozone’ from the previous match we played against them.

Sir Alex Ferguson changed the way he viewed the opposition wwwhen he was in charge at United. He wouldn’t have looked at us in detail in our match at Stoke last weekend — instead he would have concentrated on our most recent performances against his team, both home and away.

His thinking was that almost every team changed when they played against United. He was probably the only manager then who did things like that and obviously it worked well for him. It’s different in the early part of the season when everyone scouts everyone else because clubs have new players and may play a different way. For tomorrow’s match, I have looked at a detailed report of the last time United played away.

As for Wednesday night’s match, there isn’t a huge amount we could learn from that, apart from possibly the way they set up for a free-kick or a corner, which they may have changed and could possibly use again when they play us.

Van Persie was the standout man because of his hat-trick but he was injured near the end of the game. I am not so sure he would have played against us anyway because United face their great Manchester rivals, City, next Tuesday so David Moyes will be shuffling his players carefully with that in mind.

Not that he is short of options, so I would expect United’s team to be different from that which did the business against the Greeks. Team rotation is commonplace these days but it was Sir Alex who pioneered that policy years ago — and received some stinging criticism in the process. He was the first to be labelled as a ‘tinkerman’ but he saw into the future before anyone else and could see the game was becoming so physically demanding that he needed two teams of international players to cope with things. Juan Sebastian Veron was a perfect example. When he played in the Champions League for United he was a different class but — as an opposing manager — I used to pray he was playing against us because, under pressure and being closed down quickly, he struggled to cope.

♦Sam Allardyce is manager of the EPL side West Ham