Manutd4Life

Sir Alex Ferguson will give his injured players as long as possible to prove their fitness before deciding on his team to face Liverpool in the FA Cup.

United currently have a total of 11 players sidelined with short or long-term injuries, though Sir Alex is hopeful a few of them will come through training on Friday.

Rio Ferdinand missed last weekend’s win over Arsenal with a recurrence of his back problem, while Phil Jones suffered with an ankle injury and Nani hobbled off late on. Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick also picked up knocks.

The champions were already missing Anderson, Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young, Michael Owen and long-term absentees Darren Fletcher and Nemanja Vidic.

“I can’t give you much of an update on injuries,” Sir Alex said at his Carrington press conference on Friday.

“Hopefully we’ll have two or three training this morning and we’ll be better by tomorrow. It is not the best situation for us.”

You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

An old saying, perhaps, but one that resonated strongly with Paul Scholes after he swapped his playing boots for a coaching role at Carrington last summer.

The veteran midfielder announced his retirement in May 2011, convinced he had made the right decision, after a glittering 17-season spell at Old Trafford. But when Sir Alex’s men returned for pre-season training and embarked on the quest to win yet another Premier League title, lingering doubts emerged and eventually grew so strong Scholes approached Sir Alex Ferguson and asked to return.

“I missed it more than I thought,” the 37-year-old.”At the end of last season, I thought it was the right time to finish.

“But after coming in to Carrington for the last three or four months and still seeing people and still doing a bit of training with the Reserves, I was missing it more than I thought I would.

The big games just keep on coming for Manchester United and Wayne Rooney insists that’s exactly the way the players like it.

Hot on the heels of the Reds’ visit to the Emirates last Sunday is an FA Cup clash at Anfield followed by a trio of vital league games with Stoke (home), Chelsea (away) and Liverpool (home). Rooney believes the next month could turn out to be a significant period in the title race and insists United are more than up to the task.

“They are all difficult games but as a footballer, these are the games you want to play in, ”We understand and know what we have to do. We need to do well in those games.

“As far as the players are concerned we have to take each game as it comes, prepare ourselves the best way we can and hopefully we can get the results we need.”

Cool it 
Sir Alex Ferguson has written to Manchester United fans pleading for calm ahead of this weekend’s explosive FA Cup showdown with Liverpool. Manchester United travel to Anfield on Saturday to face their bitter rivals for the first time since the Luis Suarez race row erupted in October. The atmosphere at Anfield promises to be more hostile than ever and now Fergie has sent a letter to more than 5,300 fans travelling to Merseyside to be on their best behaviour. “I wrote to fans attending the away match in October urging them to co-operate with stewards and officials at Liverpool so we can make a strong case for restoring our allocation for future United games at Anfield. The fans did almost everything asked of them that day and, as a result, we have a much-improved allocation for this important FA Cup tie. Please do everything you can to continue that good work and protecting next season’s allocation by going to the seat that you’ve bought, not blocking aisles and gangways, respecting the stewards and following the ground regulations.”

The Sun report that Championship side Brighton are preparing to launch an audacious bid for Michael Owen. Although Owen has always maintained he would not be prepared to play outside the top flight, the paper claims the chance of regular football with Gus Poyet’s ambitious side might appeal.

Host broadcaster ESPN may have handed Patrice Evra the man-of-the-match champagne at the Emirates on Sunday, but it’s Antonio Valencia who’s drawn the highest praise from United fans after his starring role in the Reds’ 2-1 win at Arsenal.

The Ecuadorian winger netted United’s opener on the stroke of half-time with a brave header at the far post before teeing up Danny Welbeck for the Reds’ late winner.

He was more than just a goal threat, though. Valencia misplaced just one pass all match and won every tackle he attempted, masterfully helping United either keep or win back possession in Arsenal’s backyard.

Consequently, a staggering 81 per cent of voters named Valencia their star man in ManUtd.com’s post-match poll, with Evra in second place on 7 per cent.

Ryan Giggs and Nani could barely be separated in third and fourth place (4 per cent each), while Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick also earned a sprinkling of votes 

(2 per cent each) for their contributions to United’s 2-1 win.

Despite starting and scoring in yet another major game, Danny Welbeck was keen to salute United’s collective endeavour in overcoming Arsenal.

The Longsight-born striker hit an 81st-minute winner at the Emirates Stadium and admitted that he is keen to extend his run of involvement and burgeoning strike partnership with Wayne Rooney.

“I’m over the moon, but the team worked tirelessly all the way through the game,” Welbeck told MUTV. “It was a great team effort and I think we’re all just delighted to get the three points.

“We worked really hard. A few people were cramping up towards the end – I was one of the victims – but we worked really hard and it was a great team performance overall.

“We had a few chances. We played the ball accurately and made lots of precise passes to get in behind their defence and I think we did really well.

“My aim to come and play for United’s first team and luckily I’m doing that at the moment. To get a starting berth up top with Wazza in behind me, we’re forming a great partnership and I’m just looking forward to carrying that on.”

The 20-year-old revealed that the squad had watched Manchester City’s dramatic victory over Tottenham in the Emirates dressing rooms, but conceded that the champions couldn’t lose focus on the task in hand.

Patrice Evra saluted United’s tactical triumph over Arsenal after executing another counter-attacking victory at the Emirates Stadium.

Goals from Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck gave the Reds three vital points, with both goals owing much to impressive wingplay as Arsenal’s makeshift full-backs struggled to cope with being targeted.

“I think (our gameplan) was to go straight forward, it makes a lot of pressure on the left-back and the right-back and that’s what we did,” Evra told Sky Sports. “We made a plan to have a good shape and go forward on the counter-attack. We have done this many times when we play against Arsenal and that was the plan.

“We had a good shape in the first half and I think we played very well. But the second half was not the best [we've seen] of United.

“It was a good performance from the team, it’s just that we want everything perfect. I think in the second half there were 15 minutes where Arsenal played very 

While Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted to leave North London with maximum points on Sunday, it came at a cost as yet more players were added to the United injury list.

The Reds travelled to the Emirates without Rio Ferdinand whose back problem had flared up last week with United already missing Anderson, Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young, Michael Owen and long-term absentees Darren Fletcher and Nemanja Vidic.

Phil Jones, who missed last Saturday’s win over Bolton with a knock, now looks set out to be out for “a few weeks”, according to Sir Alex, after he was stretched off after 17 minutes against Arsenal. Nani hobbled off late on, while Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick were also in the wars.

“It’s not good news for us,I think Jones will be out for a few weeks – it’s ankle ligaments. Carrick was feeling his hamstring in the second half and he just had to sit in the middle of the pitch.”

The boss also explained his decision to substitute Rafael 14 minutes from time after the Brazilian had earlier replaced Jones.