Changing landscape inspires Fergie

marcteng SG

Sir Alex Ferguson is certain last season's Champions League final defeat will drive Manchester United on to more success this term.

Despite landing three major honours, United have spent the summer looking back on a horrible night in Rome, where they were badly outplayed by Barcelona.

Ferguson has tended to skirt around the issue in his assessment of the campaign that lies ahead.

However, in the build-up to Sunday's Community Shield showdown with Chelsea at Wembley, the Red Devils chief revealed his belief that, just as triumphs bring greater determination, so the agony of losing such an important game can be used as a major motivational tool.

"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.

John O'Shea is pencilled in for an appearance in United's back four alongside Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans this weekend.

But Belgium international Ritchie De Laet made an eye-catching contribution to the Valencia victory at right-back, while Northern Ireland Under-21 star Craig Cathcart would also have been picked had he not suffered a minor groin strain in training on Tuesday.

In addition to that dilemma, Ferguson also faces a major decision about who to play in goal now that Edwin van der Sar has been ruled out for a couple of months with broken fingers.

Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak are pushing to replace the Dutchman and both men figured for 45 minutes in midweek.

In front of England coach Fabio Capello, Foster did not have much to do in the opening period, while Kuszczak made two excellent saves to keep Valencia at bay after the interval.

Now Ferguson must decide who to trust with the role as the Red Devils look to land their first piece of silverware at Carlo Ancelotti's expense.

"I do have a decision to make over the goalkeeper for Sunday," reflected Ferguson.

"Both Ben and Tomasz have outstanding qualities. Tomasz made two great saves last night, as he did against Boca Juniors, so we will see."

iceFatboy SG

well, and sell two of our best players... hmmm... so if we fail again, Rooney and Vidic??

marcteng SG

Sir Alex Ferguson believes top foreign coaches are becoming increasingly tempted by the prospect of working in the Premier League.

The Manchester United manager is looking forward to going head-to-head with Chelsea counterpart Carlo Ancelotti on Sunday in the Community Shield at Wembley.

Ferguson has immense respect for the former AC Milan boss, who stepped into the breach at Stamford Bridge following the departure of temporary boss Guus Hiddink.

The Italian is just another of the many coaches now following in the footsteps of Arsenal's Arsene Wenger.

Ferguson has seen this shift in the landscape at first hand. He said: "When Arsene Wenger arrived, it wasn't a natural thing and Gerald Houllier came in (at Liverpool) after him.

"When they got success, I think it made it easier for European coaches to come, knowing they could be successful. It was one of these things.

"Carlo has the know-how as he won two Champions League titles and lost one as a manager.

"Things have changed with players as well. When I was thinking about (Peter) Schmeichel, I said to our goalkeeping coach, 'Are you sure a European goalkeeper can play in our league'.

"He went to see him six times and came back and said, 'This guy will kill the league. He is that good.'

"The quality of player coming here has increased. More top European players are coming into the league. European coaches coming in are working with players they are comfortable with."

Ferguson is set to give Michael Owen another run-out and believes a lack of top strikers gives him a chance of an England recall.

"The only consistent one over the last few years has been (Wayne) Rooney," said the Old Trafford boss. "They've tried (Emile) Heskey, (Peter) Crouch, even (Theo) Walcott.

"But there is a dearth of really top strikers in the country, so that gives Michael Owen a chance.

"He has shown some really clever stuff and I have been really pleased with him. That is all (England boss) Fabio (Capello) can look at. His reputation and name will not get him into the World Cup squad.

"It is what he does in the next season with us which will hopefully get him into the World Cup squad.

"Fabio has got to pick the best players and he is not going to name someone on his reputation of eight years ago."

United, beaten Champions League finalists, are aiming for their fourth straight Premier League title after ending Chelsea's two-year dominance.

Ferguson admits they had to readjust their focus to address the rise of the Londoners.

He said: "I hope it is us who have raised the bar as we had to. When they won two titles and started the season as quick as they did, we had to think about our pre-season.

"We have kept a good consistency since then. They made us all think, there is no question of that. Winning the title again would be great achievement. We know how difficult a league it is.

"We accepted a good challenge last season, having to go to Japan (for the Club World Cup) and play catch-up. So it was a great achievement to win it.

"We do not have that problem this year, I wish we had. The championship is in Abu Dhabi, which would have been lovely. But it means we don't have to play catch-up again, which is good as it is such a hard league."