Source: SKY_Sports
Fergie faces midfield headache
Sir Alex Ferguson admits his midfielders are giving him selection headaches due to their impressive performances of late.
The Manchester United manager tends to rotate his midfield pairing on a regular basis with the likes of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Darren Fletcher and Darron Gibson battling it out for two spots.
Ferguson was delighted with Anderson and Carrick's performances in the midweek 2-1 UEFA Champions League win over Wolfsburg with Carrick grabbing the winner with his first goal of the season.
However, such is the competition for places in the middle of the park that both players are not guaranteed to start on Saturday against Sunderland with the Scot also purring over the showings of Scholes and Fletcher against Stoke last weekend.
"I thought our two central midfielders were fantastic on Wednesday as I thought Fletcher and Scholesy were fantastic against Stoke," he said.
"So it is going to be a real headache but it is a good one. Someone like Darron Gibson, who I think is an exceptional young player, is having to bide his time but he will get opportunities I am sure of that as the season goes on.
"The form of the team is good and my only concern is picking the right team."
Having started just two Premier League games this term many would forgive Carrick for growing slightly frustrated with life at Old Trafford.
But Ferguson was happy with the England international's response and believes he benefited from the rain giving the pitch an extra zip against Wolfsburg.
Slow starter"Michael is always a slow starter but there was some juice on the ground on Wednesday and he seemed to revel in that so we are pleased that his form is coming right," he added.
"He knows himself he is not a quick starter and I thought he was fantastic on Wednesday, I am really pleased for him."
However with Anderson and Scholes picking up form, and Fletcher seemingly improving all the time, Ferguson admits no-one is guaranteed games.
"Anderson's form in the last two weeks has become really top, really, really good," he added.
"Scholes I thought on Saturday at Stoke, he had an absolute master performance an incredible performance.
"He had 78 passes in the match and four off target. Four balls given away out of 78 it's a phenomenal strike-rate that in terms of passing.
"As Tony Pulis said after the game (he) can't think of a better United player that (he) has seen and you can understand that because when you see that kind of performance it's wonderful."
Ferguson also highlighted that he would soon face selection headaches when it came to naming a defence with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar (hand) and Rafael (shoulder) closing in on returns.
"Van der Sar is not far away, young Da Silva is training well now so touch wood we have a strong squad available," he highlighted.
"Now the problem you get with everyone being fit is picking the right team."
