Manchester Utd 2 Blackburn 1: Injury to Evans puts Fergie on the defensive

23 February 2009 10:48
Sir Alex Ferguson flies to Milan today for Manchester United's biggest game of the season, facing the horrendous prospect of playing a central midfielder in the heart of his defence at the San Siro tomorrow night. Either Darren Fletcher or Michael Carrick could play alongside Rio Ferdinand after Jonny Evans was injured against Blackburn on Saturday. Ferguson faces his old foe Jose Mourinho in the first leg of a last 16 Champions League tie with Inter, desperately hoping to improve a record of just one win against the former Chelsea and Porto manager. But Ferguson admitted last night that he faces a 'nightmare' in defence, with Nemanja Vidic suspended and Evans joining Gary Neville, Wes Brown and John O'Shea on the injury list. [LNB] Roo beauty: Wayne Rooney celebrates after putting United in front against Blackburn[LNB] If O'Shea or Evans do not win their fitness battles, Ferguson may have to call on someone to play out of position alongside Ferdinand as United try to keep Serie A player of the year Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet. Ferguson said: 'I just hope we can get two centre backs out for Tuesday because at this moment it's very doubtful. Jonny Evans is unlikely to play.  Italy favouring Spaniard to take charge charge of United's San Siro trip [LNB]I'm better than Rooney! Inter's Ibrahimovich oozes confidence (or arrogance) ahead of United clash [LNB]Solskjaer turns down job offer from native Norway to stick with United reserves [LNB]Raging Ronaldo: Why was I booked for diving when Pederson escaped? [LNB]MANCHESTER UNITED FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB] 'I just hope we get John O'Shea available because we don't have Vidic, we don't have Neville and we don't have Brown. We're having a nightmare with defenders in terms of injuries and suspensions. 'Evans has injured his ankle. Hopefully, we can patch up a defence for Tuesday because it does leave us very, very short.' [LNB] Agree to differ: Sir Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce confront each other on the touchline at Old Trafford[LNB]Evans suffered a recurrence of an old injury in this hard-earned win over Blackburn while O'Shea missed the game with a heel problem. Yet both have a better chance of playing than Ferguson suggested and they will have fitness tests tonight. Evans said: 'It's just a recurrence of the injury I've had before. I got it when I kicked the ground when I was trying to make a long ball. It's still tender so I'll see how it goes. I don't really know about Tuesday.'   To call this is a crisis is not to overstate it. Knowing Vidic was suspended for the Inter Milan game, Ferguson started out with the Ferdinand-Evans pairing against Rovers. It could be a decision that costs United a place in the one competition they value above all others and how ironic if this comes about because of their involvement in another that nobody really cares a jot about. Ferguson has suggested the World Club Championship — won by United in Tokyo — was important. But nobody really believed him and the fact that Vidic's sending-off in the final might cost them in Italy tomorrow will be hard to take. [LNB] One booking: Ronaldo was booked for diving but escaped punishment for kicking out at David Dunne and later scored United's winner[LNB]Until now, Ferguson has managed the rigours of United's season expertly, coaxing them gently through the difficult, crowded early winter weeks and then giving his team its head as the field began to thin out a little through the new year. But trying to win an unprecedented five competitions was always likely to bring problems. The Evans injury came midway through the second half of one of the more absorbing domestic contests at Old Trafford this season. Innocuous it was, too, as the Irishman tried to clear. The 21-year-old manfully tried to run it off but he had to succumb and watched the rest of the game with his foot in an ice compression. He should have known it wasn't to be his day when Howard Webb disallowed a perfectly good headed goal before half-time. With the game then locked at 1-1, it could have been a decisive moment. As it was, referee Webb was to go on to have a profound influence on the second half. With Roque Santa Cruz scoring the first league goal against United since November to cancel out Wayne Rooney's early effort, this was a much closer contest than perhaps Ferguson anticipated when he left out first-choice goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. [LNB] Finally breached: Manchester United's goal [LNB]As the match entered its key stages, Webb managed to get key decisions wrong. To summarise, he was right to book Cristiano Ronaldo for a dive but wrong to disallow Evans' goal, wrong to ignore Blackburn appeals for a penalty and a sending off as Rafael da Silva hauled down Morten Gamst Pedersen and wrong to ignore the foot Ronaldo waved at David Dunn in retaliation. Blackburn suffered the most. Had Ronaldo been sent off, he would not have been on the field to score a thumping 60th minute free-kick only seconds after Blackburn's man-of-the-match Ryan Nelsen had struck a post. Rovers boss Sam Allardyce was unimpressed. 'You will have to ask Howard Webb about Ronaldo,' he said. 'But those things come and go when you are playing at Old Trafford, don't they? 'It should've been a penalty as well but it's very difficult to get those spot-kicks here. Sir Alex didn't think it was a penalty but I thought it was. But it has to be pretty blatant for a visiting team to get a penalty at United — we all know that.' Ferguson, however, has other things to worry about.[LNB]  Italy favouring Spaniard to take charge charge of United's San Siro trip [LNB]I'm better than Rooney! Inter's Ibrahimovich oozes confidence (or arrogance) ahead of United clash [LNB]Solskjaer turns down job offer from native Norway to stick with United reserves [LNB]Raging Ronaldo: Why was I booked for diving when Pederson escaped? [LNB]MANCHESTER UNITED FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET[LNB][LNB] [LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail