Fergie: Rooney almost ready

September 15, 2007

VICTORY: Sir Alex Ferguson reacts to the full-time whistle at Goodison Park

SIR Alex Ferguson believes Wayne Rooney will be ready to play in Manchester United's Champions League tie away to Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.

The England forward was not risked against his former club when United beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park with a late goal from Nemanja Vidic.

Rooney was not even on the bench after his recovery from a broken foot.

But Ferguson said: "He will be fit for Wednesday, we have taken medical advice and he only started training on Monday.

"And after only five days he is a bit short of fitness, he trained today and will train again tomorrow and through until Wednesday."

And on the last-ditch win, Fergie said: "It was a great result, there was some quality showing through. We all know we have not got our strongest side out at the moment due to injuries, but there is a good togetherness in the squad and it was a strong team effort.

"We defended right, they had one chance at 1-0. Edwin van der Sar made a terrific save, and Rio Ferdinand made a fantastic block from the rebound.

"When we get our forward players back from injury we will be all right."

The United chief was furious with referee Alan Wiley for the yellow card on Paul Scholes and the caution for Cristiano Ronaldo for diving.

Ferguson said: "The crowd got Scholes that yellow card, the referee's view was blocked but he heard the crowd and showed him a card.

"And on the Ronaldo incident, Carlos Queiroz (assistant manager) has watched the video, and it was outside the box but he was definitely caught by the Everton player.

"To get a yellow card for that was ridiculous. The referee thought he might have to give a penalty kick, so he booked Ronaldo instead, it was a bad decision."

Ferguson confirmed that defender Mikael Silvestre has been taken to hospital for a scan on the knee injury that forced him to be carried off in the second-half.

What do you think? Have your say.

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ronaldo, manchester (15/09/2007 at 18:18)

superb win under the circumstances,,well done

Fred Knott, tameside (15/09/2007 at 19:56)

We havent been able to field full strength team ,yet and still we are winning.It must make the bitters bluer than ever!

blood red, Sydney (16/09/2007 at 01:05)

Hard ground out result,I had a feeling Vidic would get that goal as he was shouting that he wanted it.That`s another important goal he has scored for us and he`s a real united man now.Most other results went our way also so our bad start dosn`t seem so bad now.There were some good play and Tevez is looking better.United to play the best football this season.

pok, singapore (16/09/2007 at 02:18)

2 players not deserved their place were selected by SAF- Giggs and Brown. Utd suffered because of this

Dieter Sprockets, Munich. (16/09/2007 at 08:59)

Lucky win in the circumstance. Where is the style and panache of last year? United have become more like Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers and boring Liverpool. Ferguson seems content with grinding out 1-0 wins, and against poor opposition. Maybe the punch to the groin as completely destroyed his fighting spirit.

bobbydazzler (16/09/2007 at 10:14)

corrct ronaldo especially since fergie adopted the cagey approach again, playing giggs upfront which failed miserably again. evra on the wing . dropped nani who has been one of our better players this season. and boy do we need the boy rooney back.

RedRainmaker (16/09/2007 at 13:12)

Dieter and the rest are right! We are grinding out results without style or substance. It really struck me yesterday that Utd looked like the Chelsea of the last couple of seasons - a Chelsea that I and many other have criticised. What I don't understand is how a team playing with Utd flow of last season can be playing so badly now when we have stronger squad. Funny thing is that every time Fergie has tried to go for a cagey approach we have done badly. Weird!! Still we will improve, and being third when being this bad is some sort of reflection of EPL and bully for us.

Red Max (16/09/2007 at 13:34)

Great result. United get slated when they play well but dont get 3 points, and now seem to get slaughtered even when they take all 3!

Pathetic attitude of some fans.

Welcome back Wayne.

This charming Manc (16/09/2007 at 13:37)

Content to grind out results!
Well we have Foster,Neville,Park,Ronaldo,Rooney,Anderson and Hargreaves out over the past couple of weeks, and you can add silvestre to that list of names. We have'nt put out our first choice team so far.I cant wait till December when we will have our first choice 11 out. Then all this talk of being boring and grinding out results will stop. It wont be to long before we see a midfield four of Nani,Scholes,Hargreaves,Ronaldo with Rooney and Saha Upfront. That means we can bring on Giggs,Carrick and Tevez from the bench. Premiership number 10 me thinks!!!

amiaq_ferguson, MALAYSIA (17/09/2007 at 05:52)

i really dont understand why we play Evra as a winger. By doing so we are loosing cutting edge in offence since Evra is a very good attacking leftback. If we decide to rest Nani, then Giggs must replace him. And partner Tevez with Saha. It's Ok to partner Giggs and Tevez in offence but not Evra as left winger. Btw, we have seen very often that Tevez play on the left side attack for Argentina. Maybe we should do that as well.
My preferable lineup.

Tevez Saha/Rooney

Nani Schols Hrgreavs Ronaldo

Evra Vidic Rio Brown

VDS

Wunderkid (17/09/2007 at 08:20)

I wouldn't call their attitude "PATHETIC" Red Max!

You are allowed to say what you like, and the fact is that United have not been anywhere near as good so far this season as they have been, and this is because of a lack of target-strikers and Ronnie, Rooney and Saha all being out for the time that they have been.

My concern is that Rooney and Saha may be oft-injured in the future and I really don't think that Rooney should start against Lisbon.

Here's my team for Lisbon:

Van der Sar
O'Shea Ferdinand Vidic Evra

Ronaldo Carrick Scholes Nani
Anderson (About time he was given a go!)
Saha

Subs: Kusckak, Tevez, Giggs,Brown,Fletcher,Eagles
Rooney?, Gazza?, Hargreaves? ( If not then Dong, Evans & Campbell)

Hans Peterson, Pip pip, Set to (17/09/2007 at 09:24)

Red Max, I agree with you about fans being fickle, weak and a bunch of glory hunters. It makes me sick what this club has to put up with. Afraid its us against them, but don't worry it will all change come Mick's revo. Keep the faith don't let these debt get to us fans, Im sure it will work its self out.

Hans Peterson, Pip pip, Set to (17/09/2007 at 09:39)

Yerr Redrainmaker your right, I to only watched on the telly ( teletext updates are so annoying and slow) and we've lost our Mojo. We could call ourselves Mojo Utd. If we find our mojo that is. I can't take the full applause for this witty remark as it originally came from Alan Brasil, who I happened to bump into last night. very knowledgable man and a manU fan to boot, he hates the bitters so much that he would only drink lager...another Joke!! who said us reds are humourless? my eye are watering now.

Demo, Glossop (17/09/2007 at 10:25)

a welcome return for wazza! as much as i would have liked him to play against everton im glad he was not risked! we need him for the up coming games more! Same for saha! No point ruining 2 players to get 3 points then having them miss the following 10 games!

believe we will come good

ted knott, droylsden (17/09/2007 at 16:27)

Fred Knott? if you are who I think you are (my cousin) where have been for the last 30 years or more? do you still go to Old Trafford? uncle Fred was always trying to convert me to a 'RAG' as a child,he never succeeded but can remember you all stood on the corner terracing between the old Edward- Wood stand and the open scoreboard end.great team utd had in those days but I was City through and through always have been and always will.I appriciate you are the same with United but I can recall the days when you were absolutely bitter 69' - 74' you know when City won FOUR major trophies and the 'RAGS' were relegated,Fred it happens to us all and as long as rival fans can take the banter I see no problem.Never seen you on the site before have you just got a PC after all these years ? you once lived in Elgar st in longsight before moving to Hattersley around 63' if I'm not mistaken,catch you later!

chris, oxford (17/09/2007 at 16:50)

I seem to have stumbled across "Friends Reunited"!

Balders, Tier 2 Stretford (19/09/2007 at 13:42)

how great, even that bitter clown tied Knott has been avoided by his uncle for 30 years !!!! says it all !!

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