"At United, Ferguson has an assistant who does the day-to-day work and it is much more complicated to make face-to-face contact.
"He is like a general whereas Eriksson is like a friend. Players are scared of Ferguson, no doubt about that.
"Ferguson is very serious and direct in the dressing-room. He is not an ogre but when you see that angry face in the dressing-room you know that he is unhappy.
"His habit was always to have long sessions of analysis after matches. He was very critical. Even during the season we won the League. Eriksson and Ferguson are both similar in one respect - they both hate to lose. They are perfectionists and they want their players to be, too.
"Eriksson certainly gave me more chances and more freedom to express myself and that was the perfect way to help Lazio to win the Italian title.
"In Manchester, Ferguson wanted to change my style and he quickly lost confidence in me. I could tell.
"He wanted to play a direct game without the control of the ball and, for me, that was a bad problem.
"Eriksson loves skilful, attacking midfielders like Elano and Martin Petrov. I also think the Italian striker, Rolando Bianchi, will be a success. He is physical - like a warrior - and that is good for the Premiership.
"Ferguson always preferred just to get the result. For him, the defenders and the forwards were always the stars but maybe he is changing. I was surprised that he bought Nani and Anderson. Maybe he is about to play more liberating football this season."