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Ruud van Nistelrooy Juan Sebastian Veron and Rio Ferdinand each broke the British transfer record

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Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron and Rio Ferdinand each broke the British transfer record. They cost collectively some £80m and only the first has been an unqualified success. The 11 players Wenger started with in Wednesday's victory over Roma cost roughly half that.With Roy Keane, David Beckham, Gary Neville and Ferdinand all due to return from injury before Christmas, it had been thought that United would not be seeking reinforcements in January but if, as Ferguson senses, the tide is starting to turn his way, he, like his fellow Scot, Gordon Brown, might be prepared to splash out to secure the club's long-term prosperity."I hope it is a defining week for us," he said of the encounters with Liverpool and Arsenal. "The Newcastle game on Saturday was the first time we have got a result and capitalised on it. When we've won other games or when Arsenal have lost we haven't tended to gain any ground at all For the first time on Saturday we pulled some back.

We are still six points behind Arsenal and that's a lot at this time of the season, but it can be whittled down in two games; football is like that."Asked if he would have accepted being six points behind Arsenal as the price for the prolonged absences of Beckham, Ferdinand, Gary Neville and, above all Keane, Ferguson said: "Faced with the injuries we have had, you would have accepted that and we are starting to score goals again. We probably created five chances against Basle and if we had really pushed the button more we could have scored more."They need to find their goal touch, if for no other reason than, historically, a massively superior goal-difference has always put them a point ahead of their rivals. In their last title-winning season, 2000-01, they entered December with seven straight wins, a sequence they have never come close to managing this time. They could even afford a first defeat by Liverpool in more than five years, without losing momentum.

They most assuredly cannot afford that now and if both games are lost Ferguson will have to think of rebuilding for a title tilt in 2004 or, perhaps, a run at this season's European Cup.. Martin Edwards has today resigned as a non-executive director of Manchester United plc.Edwards, a former chief executive of the Old Trafford club, will step down from his position at the plc with immediate effect. Even the man himself stressed the importance of teamwork but there was no escaping the individual role of Thierry Henry in Arsenal's conquest of Roma on Wednesday. Well though Gilberto Silva, Patrick Vieira, Pascal Cygan and other Gunners played, the French striker's sublime finishing was the decisive factor in the Champions' League win. No wonder Arsenal sought to push on with plans to agree a new four-year contract, as Henry confirmed he is as happy in mind and body as he has ever been. "I wouldn't swap him for anyone," Ars? Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said.Vieira, another widely coveted player who the club hope will realise his ambitions at Highbury (or Ashburton Grove), said: "I think Thierry is the best striker in the world because he can score the goals that make a difference. Even if he's not having a good day, he can give a pass or can still help us."I think by far he's one of the best at the moment. If they picked the European Footballer of the Year on club form he should win it but, because France didn't do really well at the World Cup, he might not.

If he wins it I will be very happy."Henry responded that while such honours were "nice", he was more interested in team performances. "The most important thing was to start the second stage well, not to score a hat-trick," he said. "It's a massive lift for us as we've been looking for that kind of victory for a while but nothing is done yet. We have three points but we have to keep our feet on the ground, be relaxed and carry on playing our game – being concentrated, defending from up front and helping everyone. This win doesn't mean anything if we don't do it against Valencia [at Highbury on 12 December]."Henry added: "After the Auxerre game I said I was a bit tired and couldn't perform I am only a human being. You always go through some periods when you can't deliver and it's a bit difficult, but now I have my legs back. I can run."With Arsenal's main Group B rivals, Valencia, being held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Ajax at the Mestalla, the stage already appears nicely set for the Gunners to stake an early claim for a place in the quarter-finals."Valencia are a very good team, they were much stronger than us," admitted the Ajax coach, Ronald Koeman "Arsenal will probably give us the same problems We may be glad that we drew here.

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