Scout Scribbles – Richards Nears City Return

Micah Richards edges towards a comeback for City. Alan Pardew is full of praise for Papiss Cisse’s contribution this season, Sir Alex Ferguson is looking for United to add a killer instinct to their play, while Arsene Wenger has mixed news on the injury front ahead of tonight’s match against Bayern:

Reports suggest Micah Richards is closing in on a first-team comeback after being sidelined for four months with a knee injury. The right-back returned to training earlier this month and “a source close to the player” was quoted as saying:

“We’re hopeful Micah will be back for the end of the month, though for an injury of this nature we just have to play it by ear. He’s been working very hard and it’s been tough for him being out for so long considering the form he was in, but he’s had the appropriate amount of time to recover and will be back fitter and stronger for it.”

After recovering from an ankle problem sustained in the summer Olympics, Richards played three successive matches before picking up the knee injury in Gameweek 9 at home to Swansea. With Maicon sidelined for most of the season, Pablo Zabaleta has been virtually nailed-on at right-back and has started the last 16 for Roberto Mancini’s men, though his owners may be a little disconcerted by Richards’ return – the Argentine was benched in Gameweeks 8 and 9, with Mancini favouring the England star instead.

Alan Pardew has talked up the importance of Papiss Cisse after the Senegal striker grabbed a last minute winner to see off Stoke on Sunday afternoon. Although he was somewhat critical of Cisse’s display against the Potters, Pardew was also quick to praise the player’s overall contribution this term, despite a current haul of just nine league goals:

“You can’t take somebody like him off unless the game plan changes…In some respects he’s played a lot better for us this year, his game has improved. He just hasn’t got the goals and they haven’t broken for him. That goal will do him the world of good.”

Cisse certainly seems to be a confidence player and with Pardew assuring him game time, the step up has been considerable, if somewhat unspectacular. He has played every minute of the last nine matches since Demba Ba’s decision to join Chelsea and scored four times– by comparison, only eight of his first 18 appearances lasted the full 90, with a total of three goals produced prior to Ba’s move to Stamford Bridge.

An article published on the Man United website yesterday gave a revealing insight into Sir Alex Ferguson’s attacking intentions over the remainder of the season. The piece quotes the Red Devils manager’s thoughts prior to the last league game against Norwich – a game which his side won 4-0:

“Where I think we can improve is that we don’t seem to kill teams off. We’ve beaten Wigan 4-0 on two occasions but those are the only matches we’ve won by that sort of margin. In a normal season, I’d expect a few more wins by that sort of distance. Last year, we won 5-0 against Wolves, Wigan, Bolton and Fulham, and we beat Arsenal 8-2, of course. We’re not seeing those results this season, however. We haven’t hit those heights. Hopefully, there’s more to come and we’ll discover that killer instinct that our teams in the past have had.”

Clearly, the Canaries result was an instant reflection of Ferguson’s thinking. While many expected him to be a little conservative – bearing in mind the game against Real Madrid was just around the corner – he instead fielded Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa, with the latter two notching all four goals between them. With United set to host Reading and travel to Sunderland before their Gameweek 32 trip to City, the article certainly suggests Ferguson is keen to go for the jugular; United had scored 10 times in their previous six, by comparison. Bearing in mind there are no European duties now, the Royals look set for a long 90 minutes this coming Saturday evening, judging by Ferguson’s comments.

Arsene Wenger has downplayed Jack Wilshere’s absence from the Arsenal squad for this evening’s Champions League match against Bayern. While the midfielder is also set to miss the weekend trip to Swansea and the upcoming England internationals, his manager has revealed the decision is more a precautionary measure, with Wilshere possibly set to return for the Gameweek 31 clash with Reading on March 30:

“Hopefully for the Premier League he will only miss one game.. At the moment I noticed in the last two games he had to dig deep because he played 30 games. It is more about prevention. We trust people who are specialists in this area and they told us we have to stop him for a short period.”

While Wilshere’s absence looked likely to boost Lukas Podolski’s prospects of returning to the first-team, the German international has also been ruled out of tonight’s game in the Allianz Arena with a similar complaint – if Podolski fails to make it in time for the Liberty on Saturday, Tomas Rosicky could move to the role in “the hole”, with Santi Cazorla retaining his left wing berth.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Wenger had plenty more injury news for Fantasy managers to mull over. Although Bacary Sagna remains on the sidelines due to a knee injury, Kieran Gibbs and Abou Diaby are included in the squad. Gibbs’ availability is particularly crucial to the Gunners as Nacho Monreal is ineligible, having played in the competition for Malaga earlier this season:

“He (Gibbs) is back in the squad, yes. It is great to have him back because we play Vermaelen out of position, although he can play left back. I have not decided if Kieran will start, but hopefully he will be fit to start. Diaby is back in the squad. He has a test [on Wednesday]. Again, he is a bit short but hopefully he can travel.”

Wenger also revealed Wojciech Szczesny has been left behind in north London as he reckons the keeper needs a brief rest:

“He has played many games and [been under] a lot under pressure. And recently, he had one or two games where he was performing less. With goalkeepers it’s always a difficult problem. Do you keep them in to find confidence back or do you give them a breather? I decided to give him a breather just to refresh him…It is only his second season. Sometimes you need a little refreshing period. I also used him in the FA Cup – he has played many games and mentally that is difficult to absorb with such pressure at a big club because everything you do is analysed.”