Claude Makelele has issued a bitter attack in the direction of Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.


The normally reserved Frenchman is not noted for his outbursts in the press, but Makelele is clearly not an admirer of the Old Trafford taskmaster.
With Chelsea looking all set to wrap up a second successive Premiership title, the influential midfielder has taken the opportunity to unleash a verbal riposte at Ferguson.


Makelele has not been impressed with Ferguson's attempts to unnerve Chelsea this season and concluded that the Scottish tactician's words have merely been laughed off by those at Stamford Bridge.


''I saw what Ferguson was saying before we won at Bolton and I was laughing,'' he told the News of the World.


''I thought the guy was really funny. Maybe even ridiculous.


''I didn't bother watching the Sunderland game, though I had a right laugh when I heard that United had flopped again.


''It must have been the ref again or did Ferguson not whinge this time?''


Continuing his lambast at the Old Trafford outfit, Makelele claims Jose Mourinho stands head and shoulders above his older counterpart and that the West Londoners are also on a higher footing than their northern equivalents.


''It took Ferguson seven years to win the league, it took Mourinho eight months,'' he concluded.


''It must have given Ferguson a complex. But they should get used to second.


''We will win the league because we have the better players, the better manager and the better team.


''Chelsea are not arrogant. Arrogance is to go public and say another team will lose and then lose yourself.


''Only losers do that. In that sense you could say Ferguson is a loser.''