Old Trafford eyes on Veron as Scholes faces surgery
The Old Trafford chief spent the last week being accused of wrecking England's plans for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers by playing Scholes against Middlesbrough last Tuesday, even though he claimed the 27-year-old wasn't fit enough to report for international duty.
Ferguson insisted it had been a gamble to play Scholes in the 1-0 win last week and yesterday he finally gave in to fitness concerns which have been plaguing one of Sven-Goran Eriksson's five key players since the start of last month, ruling him out of tonight's clash with Bolton, almost all the Red Devils' Champions League first phase games and England's double-header with Slovakia and Macedonia next month.
Though Scholes was forced to fly home for treatment on the knee injury caused by Christian Chivu's crude challenge from behind in the friendly with Ajax at the beginning of August, United officials thought the recovery could be completed without an operation. However, the problem has failed to clear up and Scholes was forced to accept the need for surgery, which will rule him out for between three and six weeks.
"Paul has never really recovered from the tackle in Amsterdam," admitted Ferguson. "He hasn't completed a game since last season, so we had to bite the bullet and get it done now.
"It leaves us a little bit stretched in midfield but we have some good options so we will take the poison now and hopefully the situation will ease as the months go on."
The sight of skipper Roy Keane hobbling round United's Carrington training complex offered little comfort. Keane is also facing at least another five weeks on the sidelines after his recent hip operation, with Ferguson admitting he will not rush the Irishman back into action. "There is no hurry in that respect," he said.
"Roy needs the break from the operation. He has been in for the last two days but he is just doing upper body work."
With Keane and Scholes absent, the spotlight will shine brightly on Juan Veron as United demand a return on their £28.1million investment.
Since his arrival at Old Trafford last summer, the Argentine skipper has been the subject of almost constant criticism and not always for his performances.
Veron's presence, it has been argued, upsets the delicate balance of a United side which had claimed three successive titles before his arrival, yet finished empty-handed when he was added to the team.
Now Veron must reproduce the form which made him one of the world's best players during his time with Lazio. It was Veron who grabbed the sole home strike in last season's shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sam Allardyce's men last term and, after tense single goal victories against West Brom and Middlesbrough already this season, Ferguson is predicting more of the same.
"Bolton are a strong, determined team with a lot of experience in their side and we know from last season it is not going to be easy," he said.
"Last week Middlesbrough defended the for the whole night until the final 15 minutes when they started to have a few attacks.
"Bolton may be different to Middlesbrough and West Brom but the common denominator is that they will come and defend very stoutly. It is difficult to break down that kind of defensive blanket but that is our job.
"We have enough quality, movement and speed in the team to make sure we get the chances and if we get the chances we have the players to finish them off. We just have to be patient.''
Ferguson has yet to decide whether to hand £1.5million keeper Ricardo Lopez his debut.
The Spanish international was given a reserve team outing against Everton last Thursday but Fabien Barthez continues to recover from his own hip
injury and may keep his place.
Wes Brown and Quinton Fortune remain sidelined, while Michael Stewart and Luke Chadwick are added to the squad, as is Gary Neville, who Ferguson admitted will not start tonight but is now almost completely over the broken foot sustained against Bayer Leverkusen which ended his hopes of a World Cup appearance.
''Gary won't play but at least he is back in the frame and that deserves to be recognised. He will have another reserve game a week on Thursday, which will bring him on again. He tired in the last 20 minutes against Everton but it's good news he is back."
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