Sir Alex Ferguson discusses the centre-half situation at United. Daniel Sturridge and Daniel Agger are both back for Liverpool’s home game with Swansea. Rafa Benitez has an almost fully-fit squad for Chelsea’s FA Cup replay with Brentford. Carlos Tevez and Matija Nastasic are back for City, while Harry Redknapp is still uncertain over Loic Remy’s availability for next week’s home match with United.
Sir Alex Ferguson has again discussed the centre-half situation at United, after he chose to rest Nemanja Vidic for the trip to Madrid on Wednesday evening. The Red Devils boss also explained his thoughts on Rio Ferdinand’s situation, which seems to further indicate that Jonny Evans is now established as the number one choice in the heart of the back-four:
“He (Vidic) was fantastic against Everton and I had my doubts over whether I was doing the right thing or not. But, in my mind, three days’ recovery was a risk, so I stuck by what we’ve been doing with him. We’ve managed it for a while now. When Nemanja came back from his latest injury he’d only played about eight games in 18 months. That’s a long time out and not a lot of games. It would have been the same with Rio. If he’d played on Sunday I would have had my doubts playing him on Wednesday….Jonny is only 25 but he’s emerged in the last year as a real top defender. His form has been fantastic. If you can get consistency off young players you are on the right track and Jonny has shown great consistency in the last year. Last season it wasn’t until Ferdinand and Evans played regularly that we got a run going.”
Coming in at 5.6 in FPL, Evans looks a real option ahead of a strong run of fixtures for the league leaders. With game time seemingly guaranteed, the Northern Ireland international could offer an alternative route into United’s backline over Patrice Evra – while the Frenchman has accumulated more points so far, Evans has equalled his average of 4.8 points per game and with three goals, a pair of assists and nine bonus points already accrued, has offered much more than just defensive returns so far.
Having ruled Paul Scholes out for a fortnight with a knee problem, Ferguson went on to reveal his plans for squad rotation over the next few matches. With United battling for silverware on three fronts, including Monday’s FA Cup Fifth Round clash with Reading, changes can be expected:
“It’s not easy to rotate but it has to be done. The biggest responsibility lies with me to pick the right team. In the final part of this season we have a lot of important games. After Monday we have a league game against QPR, then Norwich before Madrid again. Then we’ll use the full squad.”
Brendan Rodgers also handed Fantasy managers a handy injury update as Liverpool prepare for the second match of their double Gameweek 26. As we reported in yesterday’s Team News article, Daniel Sturridge is fit and available to lead the line, while Rodgers is considering a start for his other January signing, Philippe Coutinho. The Reds boss also explained the reason behind Daniel Agger’s omission from Thursday’s Europa League match away to Zenit:
“We’ve had to manage Daniel all the way through the season. It was another example of him not coming out to make sure he was okay for the weekend game. He stayed at home and trained – he’ll be fine for the weekend. He’s been outstanding this season, he has got that real warrior spirit”
With the second-leg of the Zenit game taking place in midweek, Rodgers was highly critical of the decision to reschedule the league match for this weekend, however, and hinted at making changes for Sunday’s match with Swansea as a result:
“I was very disappointed with the Premier League, to be honest. The game wasn’t scheduled until the 24th and there were a number of weeks after that when we could have played the game. So to actually put it in during a week when we’ve played on a Monday, on the Thursday with an away trip to Russia and then between another important European second leg game – it was another example of where the Premier League don’t help teams. For us to have it thrown in there when there were other free weeks, was bemusing to say the least. I may need to freshen the team up a wee bit. Thankfully we don’t have to travel away and the players will really be up for the game at the weekend and looking to get a good result.”
Harry Redknapp rolled out an injury update yesterday in his usual Friday morning press conference. With QPR already out of the FA Cup, their next game against United is still a week away but Redknapp has revealed Junior Hoilett is back in full training after being sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Julio Cesar “should be fine†after picking up a knock. The R’s boss was somewhat cautious in the case of record signing Loic Remy, going on to say:
“Loic’s not training with the main group yet, but we’ll see how he is when we get back to Harlington on Monday. He’s not too far away, but we don’t want to take any risks and rush him back too early.”
Over the road at City, Roberto Mancini has admitted he is unlikely to risk Vincent Kompany in Sunday’s FA Cup clash with Leeds. The Belgian has missed the last three Gameweeks due to a calf problem but with a home showdown against Chelsea next up on their league agenda, he looks set to remain on the sidelines, with Mancini clearly taking no chances with his fitness. City welcome back Matija Nastasic – the teenager missed last weekend’s disappointing loss at Southampton due to fatigue, while Carlos Tevez makes a return from a “personal issueâ€, to once again increase the likelihood of rotation up top. Gareth Barry is set to miss out due to an unspecified injury, though; Javi Garcia should move back to midfield, having covered for Nastasic at centre-half at St Mary’s.
Rafa Benitez has hinted at squad rotation once again ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup Fourth Round replay with Brentford on Sunday:
“Apart from Oriol Romeu everyone is fine and available. I am really pleased because we have John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses coming back from South Africa, and they are happy and training well. We have another session so that won’t be a problem and they will be available for Brentford. Obviously Demba Ba and David Luiz were not available for the Europa League, but they are fine and it’s good news. We will choose a strong team because we want to progress. Now players can compete for positions and it’s good for us. To improve the competition between good players is good for the team.”
The news suggests John Terry could be set for a return, then, after the Blues skipper was an unused sub in Thursday’s Europa League win over Sparta Prague. Benitez had spoken of the defender’s ongoing injury situation earlier in the week, describing Terry’s lack of fitness as “a vicious circle†after his long-term knee injury played up again and forced him out of the Gameweek 26 win over Wigan. With just one league start since sustaining the injury in Gameweek 11, Terry’s absence has made the Chelsea defence a little easier to navigate for Fantasy managers – with a strong set of fixtures to follow (mcy, WBA, ful, WHM, sou, SUN), their backline looks set for investment once the trip to City is out of the way; Terry’s availability merely muddies the waters, however, given Benitez’s propensity for rest and rotation.
Alan Pardew has spoken out about the dilemma now facing him ahead of Newcastle’s second leg Europa League tie with Metalist Kharkiv. Having played out a frustrating 0-0 draw on Thursday, the Magpies now face a testing second leg in Ukraine, just tree days before a crucial league trip to Southampton. The Newcastle boss has revealed that, despite the tie being in the balance, he will still be forced to make changes to his lineup, perhaps offering reassurance that, come Sunday’s Gameweek 27 trip to St Mary’s, we’ll see the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Papiss Cisse on the Newcastle teamsheet.
“It (making changes) was going to be in my thinking whatever the result was last night. There’s no way we were going to win that game 3-0, no way. I knew the opposition were good enough for that not to happen, so we were always going to take a slender lead or, as in this case, no goals scored.”
