Stoke City boss Tony Pulis believes he will pit wits today against the greatest manager ever in the game. Ahead of facing Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, Pulis said: "They talk about foreign managers, but he's a top, top man. To win the Premier League title, the Champions League and now the World Club Championship is a remarkable achievement and brilliant for this country.

"The pressure at a club as big as United is enormous, but he deals with great players and he always gets the best out of them. Complacency very, very rarely becomes an issue.

"I expect they might have to carry him out of there, but when he does leave I believe he will go down as the greatest ever."