The likes of Nicky Butt, Darren Fletcher and Ji-sung Park were the archetypal warriors in the middle of the park: they’d rarely pick up the individual awards, but they were integral to the Reds’ success and, inevitably, Sir Alex would deploy them in the games that really mattered.
Their domain were the domestic clashes between the ‘Big Four’ – then defined by the media as United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – as well as Champions League quarter- and semi-finals. On those occasions, the aforementioned players rarely, if ever, let their side down, even when they weren’t being given an even complement of minutes across the rest of the campaign.