Defensive crisis deepens as Nemanja Vidic misses
Wolfsburg trip
Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out of Manchester United's
Champions League trip to Wolfsburg, leaving Sir Alex Ferguson with
a threadbare defence as his team attempt to secure top spot in
Group B.
GettyImages
Nemanja Vidic has been a stalwart for Sir Alex
Ferguson
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 Gary Neville and
England international West Brown, who both limped off at Upton
Park, plus longer-term casualties Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea and
Jonny Evans. With the Da Silva brothers, Fabio and Rafael, also
sidelined, the only orthodox defender Ferguson has in his squad is
left-back Patrice Evra.
Ferguson has already revealed his intention to play Michael
Carrick in central defence, while Darren 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.
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."