Sir Alex Ferguson came to praise José Mourinho, not to bury him, but the tributes were kept to a minimum. The Manchester United manager said what he wanted – expressing “disappointment” at the departure of his rival and sometime friend and hinting at doubt about Avram Grant’s prospects of being more than a stop-gap replacement – but then it was time to move on and to add insult to injury for Chelsea’s seemingly vulnerable players tomorrow.

As a fierce protector of his fellow managers, Ferguson is certain to have strong views on Mourinho’s departure and, in particular, on the idea that a manager who brought Chelsea “unparalleled success” should be the principal casualty of the power struggle at Stamford Bridge. “Unbelievable,” Ferguson said on Tuesday about the internal pressure that Mourinho was under and, while he would not expand on those thoughts at United’s training ground yesterday, his sympathies lie firmly with his former rival, who can expect a supportive text message and telephone call, if indeed he has not had them already.

But, as he talked of “something fresh and new” that Mourinho had brought to English football, Ferguson did not have Chelsea’s football in mind. As much as he may have hated to see a fellow manager undermined by a billionaire, he does not share Mourinho’s apparent belief that successful football and winning football are mutually exclusive. It was a beguiling encounter between United and Real Madrid in April 2003 that prompted Roman Abramovich to invest in a football club and, with Chelsea at Old Trafford tomorrow for the start of Life After Mourinho, nothing would satisfy Ferguson more than to underline the contrasting philosophies of the two clubs with a triumph of free-flowing football.

The problem is that United have not produced too much of that lately. They have won their past four matches by scoring a solitary goal, a run that would sit proudly with Mourinho, but not with Ferguson. “Four 1-0 victories, we’re not renowned for that,” the United manager said, “but, nonetheless, they are victories. We’re gradually getting towards something like our better form and other players are coming back to fitness – Owen Hargreaves, Gary Neville, Louis Saha, Anderson.”

What United do not yet know is how their squad will come together once those players are fit. The situation in attack is unclear, with Wayne Rooney’s early-season injury meaning that he and Carlos Tévez have yet to disprove the theory that they are too similar to form an effective partnership and that Saha, if fit, would be a better foil for either of them. Nor is it clear how Anderson and Nani will fit in alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the creative department, or how the midfield will function when Hargreaves recovers from a thigh problem.

“I don’t know [about the Tévez-Rooney-Saha conundrum] because I don’t have any evidence,” Ferguson said. “What I’m going to do on Sunday might be different to what I do in the next game. Without question, I’ve got tremendous options.”

Rooney claims not to mind whom he plays with – providing he does play - but he knows how important tomorrow’s game could be. “It’s not going to be a title-decider, but it’s a massive game,” the forward said.

A Chelsea victory would certainly help to put the woes of the past week behind them, but Ferguson was unwilling to discuss the longer-term repercussions beyond what sounded a less-than-upbeat assessment of Grant’s prospects. “It’s a test for whoever replaces José,” he said. “At the moment, it’s Avram Grant and it’s a big test for him.”