Has Sven got Fergie rattled?

Few relationships in the Premier League can be frostier than the one between Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven Goran Eriksson.

The fiery Scot with the working-class

credentials has little in common with the

ice-cool Swede who speaks five languages

and exudes an air of detached confidence some

interpret as aloofness.

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Fans packed into the City of Manchester

Stadium this afternoon will see for themselves

whether the verbal exchanges between the pair

that have preceded the most eagerly awaited

Manchester derby for years spill over into

anything less than cordiality in the respective

dug-outs of Ferguson's United and Eriksson's City.

The diplomatic Eriksson has been trying hard

all week to assure observers there is no hangover

from the clashes the two men had when the

Swede was England coach.

Ferguson, though, has

been in little mood for olive branches.

A master in finding the sensitive areas of

opposition managers, he ruffled the normally

phlegmatic Swede by making a jibe about his

supposed fondness for money.

And he reasserted

his own position as the champion of attacking

football by claiming that his City rival had always

been, at heart, a defensive manager.

Eriksson has never been forgiven by some for

earning £4 million a year with England and

continuing to collect up to £13,000-a-day

compensation after he resigned, although it is

hard to blame him for taking advantage of the

FA's largesse.

But his sensitivity over the issue left him bristling

with indignation after Ferguson's barb and he

launched into an unusually impassioned defence of

his motives, insisting that ambition, not money, was

the reason for him taking the job offered at City by

the club's new Thai owner, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Ferguson has seen off 12 previous City managers

in his 21 years at Old Trafford but none has

presented a threat to his local domination like

Eriksson. Having initially brushed off his rival as

"just another City manager", Ferguson raised the

stakes when asked if he was surprised that

Eriksson had taken a job in the Premier League,

given the criticism of him in English football

following last year's World Cup.

"No,he probably would have had a better financial

offer in England. I think that would

be far more suitable to Sven," he said.

"Maybe League management is a better

thing for him — only he could answer

that. The guy (Shinawatra) has shown

he has money at City so this might be

just the start for them."

Ferguson is a great supporter of British

managers, from Howard Wilkinson to

Sam Allardyce, and is instinctively

suspicious of foreign coaches, whose

image leans towards the professorial.

Just ask Arsene Wenger about that.

BUT as a great advocate of

attacking football, Ferguson

does not think much of

Eriksson's tactical CV either.

"Sven's teams are always

defensive," he said. "I know

that from his days with Benfica and

Lazio. He has had two wins without

conceding a goal this season, which

must act as a confidence-builder, but I

still think they'll play with only one up.

"Still, we had that in the game last

season with City [when Stuart Pearce

was manager]. They hardly had a shot

on goal against us, even though we

were knackered from playing the AC

Milan game. It surprised me because I

thought they would try to stop us

winning the title."

Having seen spats with Chelsea's Jose

Mourinho and Arsenal's Wenger

become slightly tiresome, it is intriguing

to see Ferguson being thrown fresh meat

to chew on in the form of Eriksson.

Ferguson once withdrew Paul Scholes

from an Eriksson squad and played him

in a club match a few days later,and he

was incensed by the 'I'm in charge' stance

taken by the Swede when Ferguson was

reluctant to let Wayne Rooney go to the

World Cup with a broken metatarsal.

Always in the background is Ferguson's

belief that Eriksson was ready to step

into his shoes as United manager

before the Scot did a U-turn and decided not to retire in 2002.

If Ferguson

had attempted to get under Eriksson's

skin with his 'financial' jibe, it worked.

"I don't want to discuss stupid things

like that," said Eriksson. "I don't have an

answer to that, why should I?"

Then, perhaps fearing Ferguson

would gain the upper hand in the mind

games, he tried to explain his position

more fully. "I took this job because it's

Premier League, No 1," he said. "No 2, it

is a big club. No 3, it is a big project.

That is why I said yes to the job."

So far, Eriksson, whose salary of

£2.5m a year lags some way behind

Ferguson's £4m annual pay packet, has

masterminded the project brilliantly,

even if expectations from long-suffering

City fans has gone overboard after two

games.

He has built a virtually new

team in a month and got them playing

as a cohesive, entertaining unit.

The way experienced Brazilian Elano

set up exciting young academy player

Michael Johnson to score the winner

against Derby in midweek summed up

Sven's new City.

Eriksson admitted it has not been

easy bringing in eight new players from

overseas and rejecting countless

others.

"The only surprise for me coming

into club football again was how to

buy players," he said. "I really don't

know how many agents one player can

have today. It's an absolute jungle out

there. In one day, you can have three

different agents all quoting different

prices for the same player. It is amazing.

"You have to laugh sometimes. I had

an agent ring me about a player; 10

minutes later another agent came on

about the same player — at three

times the price. The football itself has

been less surprising than this. But I saw

hundreds of games as England

manager, so I had good knowledge

about what was happening in the game."

Eriksson is indignant with suggestions

he has thrown his team together.

Using his extensive contacts book and

five languages, he made personal

checks on all his signings. A move for

exciting young Croatia defender

Vedran Corluka was not sealed

without seeking the opinion of the

player's national coach, Slaven Bilic,

who knows the Premier League well

from his days with West Ham and

Everton.

Expectations at City are high today

with the team four points ahead of

United, who have drawn their two

games and will travel the short

distance without injured Rooney and

suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.

Captain Gary Neville is still out — his

ankle operation has been successful but,

according to Ferguson, he now has a

calf strain — while Owen Hargreaves is

a doubt as he recovers from tendinitis

in his knee.

Eriksson said: "I'm staying in the same

hotel as Owen and I always ask him if

he's going to play, but he won't tell me I hope he has a good career here

but that it starts on Monday.

"Whoever is in the United

team, they are the favourites.

You are never favourites

playing against the champions."

While Ferguson's choices are

restricted, Eriksson has to gamble

on a 20-year-old goalkeeper, even

if his name is Schmeichel.

At least history is on the side of

Kasper Schmeichel. He has two

clean sheets since replacing injured

first-choice Andreas Isaakson and

his father, United great Peter, was

victorious against them in 2002

when City won the last derby at

Maine Road 3-1.

"It's hard to say with a young

goalkeeper; sometimes he can be

nervous, sometimes he can be

inspired," said Ferguson, who

lost out on Schmeichel Jnr

after he trained with both Manchester clubs as a youngster.

Eriksson does not see goalkeeping

as a problem despite failing to

sign an experienced loan

keeper in time for the derby.

"Both Kasper and Joe Hart

are very good. I am not

concerned," he said.

What happens after the

game has attracted nearly as

much publicity as on the pitch.

Neither Ferguson nor Eriksson

see the Swede splashing out on a

decent bottle of wine for the two

to enjoy.

"I don't think he would spend

his money too much," said

Ferguson. Eriksson replied:

"Maybe the club have bought

him something, not me. I will

leave Alex to the wine club."

If the players of the two

manager's respective teams

can produce a game half

as entertaining as the

preliminaries, a global TV

audience of millions will be

in for a cracker.