Injury worries for United

Manutd's emphatic win against Derby County (4-2) in the Carling Cup semi-final yesterday came at an expensive price. Injuries to Anderson ( who was stretchered off at the final whistle), Rafael (torn hamstring), and Evans (ankle) has increased the casualty list in the already stretched United squad.
Nani, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs also failed to complete the 90 minutes but are not thought to have picked up any serious problems.

Praise needs to be extended to the young maestros in the squad, specially Anderson, Rafael and Evans who performed brilliantly yesterday. Neat one-twos, crisp passing and good attacking foray dominated United's game.
United opened the scoring when Nani thumped an unstoppable brilliant 25-yard angled drive past Carroll. The ex-Manutd flop made some good saves and helped Derby from further embarrassment. Manutd dominated the first half with 3 goals on the score sheet. Derby came back fighting in the 2nd half and put up a resilient stance and managed to score 2 goals. United won a penalty at the 87th minute and Ronaldo made no mistake in converting it. The game ended at 4-2 and United move on to the finals where they face either Spurs or Burnley at Wembley. Zoran Tosic who was tipped by Phelan to start, did not make an appearance.

The only (growing) problem for United at the moment seems to be injuries. Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Wes Brown, Wayne Rooney, Anderson, Rafael, Owen Hargreaves & Evans have all long term injuries. The defence department seems to be hit the most. Fergie will have a tough time choosing his back four. Fletcher could be the make-shift right back and Fabio could make his debut at left back, with O'Shea and Vidic at the centre. Gary Neville is a doubt.