Sir Alex Ferguson’s troubles do little to inspire faith in Mick McCarthy
From The Times
December 15, 2009
James Ducker
Sir Alex Ferguson’s troubles do little to inspire faith in Mick McCarthy | Premier League - Times Online
Mick McCarthy, the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, was almost defeatist in tone when asked to assess his team’s chances of causing an upset at Old Trafford this evening, but Manchester United’s continuing injury woes should at least give him some cause for optimism.
Sir Alex Ferguson will hope to see United return to winning ways after their 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, but the manager’s defensive troubles have been compounded with Gary Neville ruled out for at least another fortnight with a groin problem.
The defender suffered the injury during the 4-0 win over West Ham United at Upton Park ten days ago and may be missing for most of the festive programme, along with Rio Ferdinand (back and calf), John O’Shea (thigh) and Jonny Evans (calf), who are not expected to return until the start of next month, Fabio da Silva (groin) and Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, who has a knee problem.
With Rafael da Silva short of match fitness after returning to training only on Thursday after three weeks out, Darren Fletcher is expected to continue at right back against Wolves.
Owen Hargreaves, the midfield player, is still not ready to make his comeback, Federico Macheda is injured, and Ryan Giggs, fresh from being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year, may sit the game out because of a slight hamstring strain he suffered against Villa. Paul Scholes is available again, however, after a one-match suspension.
Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic returned from injury and illness respectively to play in central defensive against Villa, but both looked out of sorts. Neville, meanwhile, faces a race to be fit for the game away to Hull City on December 27.
“I think I’ll probably be out for two to three weeks,” Neville said. “I’m hoping to be back for the Christmas games. We have lots of defenders injured at the moment and I’ve never known anything like it in terms of so many injuries in the same position. We have a huge squad, with eight players in defence who can all play in different positions. So if we had a few injuries in defence we wouldn’t be struggling but to have seven injured defenders is incredible, unprecedented and extremely unlucky.”
McCarthy has injury concerns of his own, with David Edwards out for up to ten weeks after the midfield player damaged ankle ligaments in the 1-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. Although the victory moved Wolves out of the relegation zone, McCarthy played down his team’s chances of consigning United to their first back-to-back league defeats at Old Trafford for 7½ years.
“People ask is this a good time to catch United on the back of their defeat by Villa,” he said. “Let me ask: when was the last time United lost two league games at home on the bounce — I’d guess it was about 1760. We won’t be giving up on the game, but United will be rubbing their hands in anticipation of us going there.”