Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson believes the agony of
losing last season's Champions League final can be used as a major
motivational tool ahead of Sunday's Community Shield showdown with
Chelsea at Wembley.
United claimed their third consecutive Premier League crown, but
were dashed in their bid to win back-to-back European Cups by
Barcelona in Rome and Ferguson is determined to ensure his men use
the experience in a positive manner.
"Adversity is always an important factor in developing and
improving,'' he said. "I have always reacted well to adversity over
the years and whenever we lose a match I tell my players that the
next game is the important one - the match we have to focus on.
"That has always been the case here at the club. When you lose
the last game of the season you have two or three months to reflect
on the disappointment.''
"We have not enjoyed that. But we will cope - and we will bounce
back.''
Ferguson has a defensive headache to deal with this weekend.
Nemanja Vidic, Wes Brown, Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva all
missed Wednesday's defeat of Valencia and have already been ruled
out of the Chelsea encounter.
Ferguson also faces a selection dilemma between the goalposts
after the club's regular goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar broke a
finger in pre-season and was sidelined for two months.
The United manager is convinced his back-up keepers Ben Foster
and Tomasz Kuszczak are both capable of filling the Dutchman's
gloves. But he would not be drawn on who will start and if that
player selected would become his regular first choice for the start
of the season.
"It depends on performances really,'' Ferguson said. "If you
have watched the games Ben and Tomasz have played, Tomasz has had
more activity and therefore more saves to make. But I will speak to
both of them about the situation.
"We have a selection dilemma as to who plays in goal on Sunday.
It is not an easy one for me.''
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed there are
no plans to add to the squad before the transfer window closes as
he prepares his side for the Wembley clash.
"Now we stay with the players I've got. I don't want to take
other players because the squad is very competitive,'' said
Ancelotti.
"We don't need other players and I don't expect to make any more
signings before the window shuts.''
Ancelotti also cleared the air over the futures of both
midfielder Deco and defender Ricardo Carvalho.
Both players have been linked with a move to Inter Milan, now
coached by former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who also worked
with the pair at Porto.
Mourinho moaned that Chelsea had made it difficult for Inter to
sign the pair by increasing the size of the fee.
But Ancelotti claimed Chelsea had never considered selling the
duo and confirmed they would be key assets in his squad this
season.
"We never talked about selling Carvalho or Deco,'' added
Ancelotti.
"They are important players for Chelsea. Carvalho is a very
intelligent defender and Deco has a great quality. This team needs
the quality of Deco. They will stay at Chelsea for this
season.''
Chelsea have just two injury doubts for tomorrow's game with
Yuri Zhirkov struggling with a knee problem and Joe Cole still
recovering from his ligament injury.
