GIGGS SHOCK

"Maybe I was trying to do too much in the past. I would play well one game but not the next. But I don't know what the reason is - maybe the added responsibility of being captain and the younger lads looking up to me as a senior player.”

On United:

"We are a few games into the season so I'm not too worried. I've started three games out of nine or 10. I was ill [with a chest infection] for two or three of those so there's no panic.

"I don't see it that I am not first choice. I still maintain that if I am playing well I will be in the Manchester United team, I have certainly not been told anything different.

"I am lucky to have won so much, and the one thing missing in my career is playing in a major championships. I have maybe got two more shots at that.

"And consistency-wise this is the best I have played for Wales, I still see the 2010 World Cup as a realistic target, hopefully fit and playing well.

"I have always had that hunger, and towards the end of your career it gets stronger.

"You tell yourself it's maybe the last time for the FA Cup, League, or Europe. It makes it more intense, not less.

"The hunger for me is still there, and there is an extra sense of that. With Chelsea getting off to a great start there is added pressure. But Manchester United are always expected to win the league and do well in Europe.

"There have been years we haven't won it, this has been the first time for a long while it has happened for two years - but the hunger is always there to win it or defend it. That will never change."