Just wondering, with our defensive injury woes recently, and Rios constant troubles, would we be best suited nabbing a decent young defender to cover? We3 have Chester and Cathcart, both pretty dire, but not much else...
Ritchie De Laet can play anywhere along the back 4, plus he's over 6ft. I know he's young but I want him to start getting some chances, I thought he should have come on today for Neville
Richie De Laet will probably play in midweek, providing he has a squad number, I'll also expect to see one of the twins.
United's Champions League squad numbers in full are: 1.Van der Sar, 2.Neville, 3.Evra, 4.Hargreaves, 5.Ferdinand, 6.Brown, 7.Owen, 9.Berbatov, 10.Rooney, 11.Giggs, 12.Foster, 13.Park, 15.Vidic, 16.Carrick, 17.Nani, 18.Scholes, 20.Fabio, 21.Rafael, 22.O'Shea, 24.Fletcher, 25.Valencia, 26.Obertan, 27.Macheda, 28.Gibson, 29.Kuszczak. Additional players registered*: 8.Anderson, 19.Welbeck, 23.J.Evans, 31.C.Evans, 33.Hewson, 36.Gray, 37.Cathcart, 38.Zieler, 39.Chester, 40.Amos. Reds register Euro squad - Manchester United Official Web Site
I think the rule is a maximum of 10 under 21 - for extra places that is - something to do with how long they've played in the academy but not totally sure on the rules
Players 21 or under who have played for United for two years (Anderson, Welbeck, Evans, et c.) don't have to be registered.
Yeah, still, think we need a backup more assured than Ritchie, he obviously wasn't preffered to Carrick today
If anyone has watched the reserves, they would have noticed that De Laet is a calamitie at centre half. A good full back, mind. Also we're about to snap up a young Noggie called Hovland. Centre Half also.
Fergie told Carrick he was back up for the defence today, had we been 1 or 2 up at that stage I think he would have been brought on. As it was we were playing badly and hadn't had any chances by that stage, so Carrick being the senior player was the obvious choice.
Definitely, though one or two games is all ive seen him there, rest of time on the flanks, cant judge too well off that, doesn't seem stocky enough for centre back... Not heard about this Hovland lad though, link?
It was only a few days ago that I recommended the signing of a new centre half. As you know everyone said that we were covered, well we're not! Rio and Neville are ticking time bombs, poor owl Wes can't get a break either. Unfortunately James Chester can't provide cover either as he is currently injured. We could possibly recall Cathcart from Watford or buy a young centre half in January who will provide cover and won't mind sitting on the bench when the likes of Rio and Evans return. Another idea would be loaning an experienced player with class, similar to the Henrik Larsson deal. Maybe Gill deserves a chance, he has been very consistent all season.
What do you mean Wes can't get a break, he's really coming back into form, had another good showing today. We have a very rare situation where nearly all of our defence is wiped out for one reason or another. Vida just has the Flu, so will be back soon. None of the injuries are really bad, bar maybe Rio who is concerning me more and more, but once we get them all back to fitness then where will any signings fit into the squad? I don't think we should sign anyone for defense right now. If we do offload Rio in the summer, then yes of course, but I'm happy with what we have
Wes went off injured again , that's what I meant by not getting a break. For the last 3 seasons our defence has been very injury prone, it cost a place in The Champions League in 06/07. One more player would add competition for places. It doesn't have to be a pricey defender, maybe Fergie has another Vidic up his sleeve.
Yeah but Wes went off right at the end and it seemed more precautionary than anything, he probably pulled a muscle or had a bit of cramp. I don't see him being out for Tuesday, prob just needs a bit of a massage or something. He's not long back so cramps and muscle spasms can be quite common. I wouldn't worry about it he seemed fine
