SIR Alex Ferguson will have an urgent roll call at Manchester United today to discover the make up of his back four to face Bolton tomorrow at the Reebok.
But the Reds' boss admits that he is facing selection difficulties in his back division in particular.
The international week has cost United dearly with defenders John O'Shea (thigh muscle tear) and Gary Neville (knee) suffering for the Republic of Ireland and England respectively.
Up front the Reds have been robbed of Louis Saha for the derby at Bolton after he was injured playing for France against the Faroe Islands.
And Ferguson is not expecting any cavalry to show up from the ranks of casualties already sidelined this season.
"John O'Shea is definitely out for Bolton and so is Louis Saha," Sir Alex told M.E.N. Sport.
"Louis slipped early in the match and hurt his knee again. It is the same knee that he was sidelined with earlier this season and sometimes it can linger. He will be a doubt for Lyons next week in the Champions League.
"The back four is the worry though. Gary Neville took a painful knock on the knee but it was a bit easier when he turned up yesterday and we'll have to see how it progresses.
"Quinton Fortune is not yet ready for a return and Wes Brown has had no football all season. He is doing well in training but it is early for him."
Gabriel Heinze could be thrust into a debut just days after finally linking up with the Reds and may provide the Reds' boss with a solution either in the centre of defence or at left back.
Up front Alan Smith will have to be a lone raider against Sam Allardyce's side with his three Old Trafford striker colleagues all currently out of action.
New '29m import from Everton Wayne Rooney is still sidelined with the broken foot he suffered in Euro 2004 with England.
"Wayne had another scan last week and it was normal but it is still a few weeks to go yet. It will be another two or three weeks," Fergie reported.
"Ruud van Nistelrooy (hernia operation) is getting better every day."
Cristiano Ronaldo was reporting back to Carrington today after two starring performances for Portugal in their World up qualifiers.
He joined his international squad with a question mark over a groin problem and will need to be assessed closely on his return.
But while Ferguson awaits the numbers in his first team squad to swell the Reds have seven points to make up already on early Premiership title pacesetters Arsenal and Chelsea.
Tomorrow's opponents Bolton are also four points ahead of United in third place.
"Once we get our full squad back we will be okay but we do have ground to make up," says the United manager.
"But that has applied at the start of quite a few seasons with us and I know we have the ability to do it."
Key opponent: Jay-Jay Okocha. The Nigerian star has been on sparkling form so far this season and could prove a danger against United's makeshift defence
Last season: Bolton Wanderers 1 Manchester United 2
Prediction: Bolton Wanderers 1 Manchester United 2
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Please can anybody explain to me what is wrong with Wesley Brown as he seems like he will never be fit or match fit.When exactly can we expect to have Rooney and Brown fit and ready to play for the first team.Brown could have played the reserve game yesterday if he is not match fit so too Ruud.At the end i could say that we ll have all our players in January with 20 points behind the league leader.What a shame!!!Start playing Mc Shane at the back with Sylvestre,Heinze and Spector left and right back respectively and leave Keane in miedfield with Kleberson,Ronaldo and Giggs.Smith and Sholes up front.
Is it just me or is anyone else nervous about this game!
This match has banana skin written all over it. Bolton always seem to raise their game against us since Big Sam took over.
No, it's not just you Big Bird. We'll be ok providing Scholes and Giggs start performing as they can.
Everbody can raise their game against United, or in some cases lower it,United are like England even when they are winning, they throw away the game with their negative tatics.
Fergie the 70min man.
Arsenal will beat Fulham, you know it. Will we beat Bolton? I hope so because 10 pts is too much even at this stage. No matter if Rooney, Ruud, Saha whoever are due back. Come on make shift team, let's get the season going with a good away win.
with the team SAF has at his disposal i would feel nervous aswell, so much for being the richest club in the world!!
Mel hope you`re right and celtic mad for once you`ve actually got a point. Sometimes we do fall into the trap of negativity to hold onto a lead. (Did I really agree with celtic mad, whats the world coming to).
Stop buying injury prone players.It is easy to say now but Defoe would have been better signing than sahaagh only because he never plays he had history at Fulham as did Miller at Celtic Kleberson too. Look at Wes Brown great player but not been fit since his second season. This is one nightmare after another. We should only buy injured players if they are top class i.e Rooney or the fake Ronaldo for example. Surley we could have found another Miller and Saha somewhere else.
Big game, very big game! 2 questions: will we turn our possession into goals, and will we have to score at least 2 goals to win?
How the mighty have fallen, worried about bolton!
What are these pages going to say when you face Arsenal?
Why do we always have so many injured players? Poor management.
Arsenal have survived the last 3 seasons with a squad a fraction the size of ours because their players hardly ever get injured. There has to be more to this than bad luck.
Wenger takes a personal interest in every single player by monitoring their conditioning levels right down to the tiniest detail.
This level of scientific expertise is way beyond Fergie.
Injuries like Ruud's and Ronaldo's (a hernia waiting to happen) are caused by too much of the wrong type of training. Apparently Brown's injury was because he wore the wrong type of boots, FFS!
Obviously Quieroz and this new Italian guy aren't much cop either. We need to get with the programme and start to get on top of this. A well-conditioned squad at peak fitness just shouldn't be getting as many injuries as we have.
What on earth is Bill talking about? Is he talking about United? Because it's actually Chelsea who are undisputedly the richest team. But if he's talking about Chelsea, then he's got the manager wrong - SAF manages United last time I looked. What IS he talking about? I'm either really confused - or he is.
Rag muncher - we'll probably say something along the lines of "Look at that bunch of ugly, cheating, arrogant, diving French wimps."
Bolton have put in some good performances and big Sam has put together a useful team on a shoestring. That's enough praise for them. We've not thrashed anyone since the first half at Goodison and it's about time we did. After extracting Roy Keanes metaphorical boot from up their collective backside our team should destroy the trotters tomorrow. Nervous? Yes, but always am and looking forward to our first away victory of the season. See you there. MUFC OK
Red Rob, Chelsea is the richest football team? u must be joking, aren't you? or are we talking about a diff stuff. maybe ur talking about some other sports team name Chelsea? Chelsea has the richest owner, but the richest football club is manchester united. Check your fact before you bark!
A little bit of luck would be nice. All Credit to Big Sam, he's done a fabulous job on a shoestring budget. I would like to see Spectre moved to centre half with P. Neville at right back and Heinz at left back. Just hope Heinz knows who the rest of the team are and that we play in Red and White.
With all the chances we now make one team soon well feel the brunt of a reborn strike force. Lets hope it happens at Bolton and our season is re-ignited.
Lipkeng: never mind my "fact" - you might want to give your arguements a bit more credibility by checking your grammar before you talk nonsense. So it's only Chelsea's *OWNER* that is the richest is it? Oh ok, my mistake. Seeing as that makes all the difference and all...
Big bird, et al. Nope, you're not the only one's nervous about this game. For that matter any game. Bolton are a well managed, hard working team, with talent, passion and commitment. Say, wait a minute, didn't we used to be like that? Sure our injuries have been bad, but that's part of the game, it just underlines our lack of depth. Keane has spoken out against the "rookies", but he also needs to get on the more experienced players too, like Sholes, Giggs and Silvestre. I don't like empty rhetoric form our players, but I tend to place more stock in Keane's words than anyone else in this team, and I'm sure the other players do also. No result at the Reebok will leave us 10 points behind the Arsenal, and maybe Chelsea, however we'll be 7 points behind Bolton too! Would we have ever thought that? It really comes down to commitment to the the task at hand. Watch and learn from Smitty and Ronaldo, and Spector for that matter. At the moment we look like a mid table side, at best, maybe even worse. Enough whingeing and complaing, the talent is there, it must be for these players to be at this level in the first place. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get stuck in.
FIRE FERGIE he has really screwed us all! He's clueless, can anyone see it!
Mmm, United 2 Bolton 1. End of story. Come on you reds.
Howard, Spector, Heinze, Silvestre, P Neville, Ronaldo, Keane, Kleberson, Giggs, Scholes, Smith