Fatigue won’t be an excuse for United, declares Neville

GARY NEVILLE does not believe tiredness will be an excuse for failure against Bayern Munich tomorrow night.

Manchester United must bounce back from their shattering loss to Chelsea at the weekend and beat the German giants at Old Trafford if they are to avoid a quarter-final elimination from the Champions League.

Not having the distraction of Europe has been cited as one of the more obvious reasons why Chelsea were the superior side on Saturday, with even Alex Ferguson admitting his troops were “leggy”.

Having performed equally poorly in Germany last Tuesday, when United surrendered an early lead and Wayne Rooney succumbed to the ankle injury that Ferguson has said will keep him out tomorrow night, it could be argued United’s arduous season, that included February’s Carling Cup triumph over Aston Villa, is having a major effect.

But Neville is having none of it.

“We are more used to playing Wednesday-Saturday than having free weeks,” said the United skipper.

“I don’t think it becomes a telling factor. Sometimes when you get a free week you can find yourself wondering what to do with yourself because you are so used to playing.

“We are happy to be playing the big games and being in Europe. We have a big squad as well, so the manager may freshen things up.

“We are fine with where we are at.”

Although Dimitar Berbatov has been criticised for his failure to snaffle a late chance on Saturday that would have given his side a draw and kept them in charge of the championship chase, unless Rooney makes an unexpected recovery, the Bulgarian will again carry United’s attacking hopes.

Clearly, the loss of Rooney affected the Red Devils at the weekend. But they performed badly with their 34-goal talisman in the team against Munich and the defeat at Everton in February proved Rooney isn’t immune from disappointing performances.

Neville will certainly not be lamenting Rooney’s absence, as he insists United have the strength in depth to cope.

“The successful teams are usually the ones that have the most money and the biggest squads, and we believe we have a big enough and talented enough squad to cope with the fixtures,” Neville said.

“If we don’t we will have to live with it.”

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, however, feels United are far weaker without Rooney.

“They’re not the same team without him,” said Ancelotti of United and Rooney.

“Rooney is a fantastic player who is difficult to replace with another player. Berbatov is good but Rooney is totally different.

“Rooney can sometimes come back to receive the ball and use it for all the team and then he can attack in any direction.

“He is an unbelievable player.”