Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has
received yet another defensive blow with the news that both John O'Shea and Jonny
Evans will be out until the New Year.
Sir Alex had already been left to rue injuries to Wes Brown and Gary Neville in the
weekend victory over West Ham United, while
Nemanja Vidic did not travel with the rest of the squad
for the Champions League clash with Vfl Wolfsburg.
Evans has a calf injury which O'Shea's problem was not
revealed.
Injuries forced Sir Alex to finish the 4-0 win at Upton Park
with midfielder Michael Carrick and
lef-back
Patrice Evra as the centre-back pairing. Ryan Giggs had to fill in
on the left of defence with Darren Fletcher on the
opposite flank.
United had hoped Vidic would have recovered from the flu bug
that kept him out of Saturday's win at West Ham. However, the
Serbian was absent as the Red Devils checked in for the short
flight to Germany, giving their manager a major headache.
His list of injured defenders includes skipper Neville and
England international Brown, plus longer-term casualties Rio Ferdinand, O'Shea and
Evans. With the Da Silva brothers, Fabio and Rafael, also
sidelined, the only orthodox defender Ferguson has in his squad is
Evra.
Ferguson has already revealed his intention to play Michael Carrick in central
defence again, while Fletcher seems certain to occupy a defensive
berth, too, although which one is open to debate.
Among the less familiar faces in the United party are Oliver
Gill, son of chief executive David, Magnus Eikrem, Cameron Stewart,
Matte James and Oliver Norwood.
Normally, Ferguson would only class outings such as this as
useful staging posts in a young player's development. However, on
this occasion, there is the very real possibility they could play a
prominent part.
Ferguson has vowed not to give preferential treatment to Gill.
"It doesn't concern me. If he is good enough, he plays,'' said
Ferguson. "That is the name of the game at Manchester United. I had
my own son in the squad for four or five years and he was treated
exactly the same as any other member of the squad. It will be the
same for Oliver.''
Of the crisis which leaves the United boss with just one
experienced defender, Sir Alex said: "One defender. It is worth
trying. It would be easy to organise anyway.
"Wolfsburg will be delighted we have so many injuries. I know we
might come second in the group but I am not sure whether it really
makes much difference. AC Milan and Real Madrid are in one group,
Bordeaux, Bayern Munich and Juventus are in another, Barcelona,
Rubin Kazan and Inter Milan in a third, so if you get one of those
it doesn't matter whether you have finished first or second.
"The one issue is that if you finish second you have to play the
first leg of your knock-out round at home but that is all.''
In addition to the defensive problems - first-choice keeper
Edwin Van der Sar is also missing - Ferguson has taken the option
of leaving
Wayne Rooney and
Dimitar Berbatov at home, meaning
Michael Owen and
Danny Welbeck are the only strikers in his 19-man
squad.
Given Wolfsburg are unbeaten at home in this season's
competition, it would appear United's best hope of finishing top
would be for CSKA Moscow to beat Besiktas in Istanbul, which would
leave the Red Devils at the head of affairs no matter what their
result.
At least it should mean Paul Scholes should retain
his place for a game the former England star feels will round off
what has been a harder group than seemed likely when the draw was
made.
"This was one of the toughest groups,'' he said. "We had to go
to Moscow, which is always difficult, especially on a plastic
pitch, and it is the same in Turkey, yet we managed to win both
games.
"CSKA and Besiktas went on to prove at Old Trafford that they
are very capable teams and, when you take into account Wolfsburg
are the German champions, we did well to qualify as early as we
did.''
He continued: "We want to win the game and finish top of the
group. How much difference that makes to who we get in the next
round, I am not too sure. There are lots of good teams at that
stage of the tournament."