United face Berbatov surgery dilemma
Graham Chase
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will on Monday make a
decision on whether Dimitar Berbatov, a scorer in the 3-0 win over
Burnley, requires knee surgery.
The Bulgarian striker has been struggling for a number of weeks with
the injury and United had hoped he would be able to play through the
discomfort, but he was bothered by his knee once again despite going on
to score in United’s victory at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Ferguson took him off in the closing stages and will now consider
whether he needs an operation.
He said: “Dimitar was feeling his knee again. We’ll look at it on
Monday and we’ll see (about surgery). He could have come off at
half-time but he wanted to stay on again and that’s good.
“Let’s hope the goal does Dimitar some good. I thought he was the one
that looked like scoring and it was one of those days when he kept
knocking it past the post or over the bar.
“He had so many attempts, he must have had about 10 attempts and
he’ll be relieved to get his goal.”
Ferguson feels that the return of Edwin van der Sar could be a key
point in United’s season. he Dutch goalkeeper has been missing since
early November due to injury and was then given compassionate leave
after his wife Annmarie suffered a brain haemorrhage.
But he kept a clean sheet on his return to the team and Ferguson
expects him to make a significant difference. He added: “He was
magnificent against Burnley, unbelievable. What a performance - steady,
decision-making, use of the ball.
“Tomasz (Kuszczak) has done fantastically well and it’s no slight on
him but Edwin made a difference simply because he’s 39 years of age,
he’s got 130 caps, he’s got that experience, he’s won two European
medals.
“He’s had a fantastic career and it showed again.” Ferguson has also
been impressed by the contribution of Senegalese striker Mame Biram
Diouf, who joined the club from Norwegian club FC Molde. After Berbatov
and Wayne Rooney gave United a two-goal lead, the new signing scored his
first goal in English football in the closing stages against Burnley.
And Ferguson feels that Diouf is a real prospect. He said: “He’s got
great spring the boy, he’s quick and he looks to run behind them (the
defenders) all the time and he’s very good in the air. “He’s got a lot
of good attributes we can use. We’re excited about the boy.”
Ferguson has also confirmed that he intends to make a string of
changes for Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final first leg at Manchester
City.
He added: “We’ll have a look at it on Sunday and look at the best way
to go about the game and some of the younger players will come in.
Darron Gibson will play a part and young Rafael and Fabio are players
who deserve a chance.”
New Burnley manager Brian Laws confirmed he hopes to keep on-loan
Portsmouth striker David Nugent at Turf Moor. Laws, who took over from
Owen Coyle last week, also revealed that Steven Fletcher, who limped off
with an ankle problem, was taken to hospital for x-rays. He said: “He
had a kick on the ankle and has gone to hospital for an x-ray.
“Nugent was excellent and we will try ever so hard to secure his
services. Negotiations with Portsmouth are underway. We know he can’t go
anywhere else on loan. He can stay with us or they sell him; that is the
simple equation.”
Laws added: “My ambition is to stay in the Premier League. We knew
coming to Old Trafford wouldn’t do that, this is not the game that makes
the difference.
“The games that matter are playing the teams around us. If we don’t
take points off them, those teams will overtake you.
“We have identified the games to take points from and win. Man United
was a bonus if we had got anything out of it. The bonus is that in my
first game in charge there were more plusses than minuses.”
MANCHESTER, Sunday, AFP |