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Are Our Defensive Troubles Over?

1K views 20 replies 14 participants last post by  Carlo 
Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | News | Double injury blow for United

Manchester United defenders Gary Neville and John O'Shea face several weeks on the sidelines after suffering injuries in the 2-0 win over Portsmouth.

Neville was hurt moments after Wayne Rooney had opened the scoring at Old Trafford, with the United skipper replaced by O'Shea.

However, Republic of Ireland international O'Shea picked up an injury early in the second half, which prompted Rafael da Silva's introduction as a substitute.

The experienced duo are now set to miss a few key games for United after Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the severity of the injuries.
Bad tackles

"There were two bad tackles on them, but no action was taken and they will be out for weeks now, unfortunately," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"Gary Neville has had to go for an X-ray and John O'Shea will have a scan tomorrow.

"They will both be out for a few weeks now and that's the disappointment about that."

Right-back has been a troublesome area for United this season, but Wes Brown is on the brink of a return to first-team action.

Brown will feature for the reserves on Thursday night and could be in contention to face Tottenham on Saturday, having not played since the end of January.

Regarding United's problems at right-back, Ferguson joked: "I don't think anyone else should play there!"

He added: "Fortunately, we've got Wes Brown back and he plays for the reserves tomorrow again. That's his second game.

"We'll give him one half because he could be involved on Saturday."
 
Hope Wes can come back strong and not get injured quickly, Rafael played very well tonight and I think we always have the option of Fletch in that position, but lets not get ahead of ourselves about the defence, I want to see what happens in the next few games. I think a clean sheet against Arsenal at OT would be a massive confidence boost and then maybe we can say that our troubles are over.
 
I'm confident about our chances, but the defence worries me a lot, not about their capabilities, but fitness and injury levels. We need Rio back strong but his back could be a big problem for him, with Nevler and Johno now out for a few weeks, Brown and Rafael risky (injury-wise). It only takes another red for Vida and we are in hot water big time, hopefully I am completely wrong here and they all come back fit and strong over the next week and we can have the perfect end to this season..
 
I blame the midfield today, not the fullbacks, yes they were caught out but where was their support. Nani and Fletch were useless today, giving away loads of balls and leaving the fullbacks on their own, Ronny staying up front and no-one tracking back to help, we need to get back to 442 with the wingers coming back to help. They caught us out many times on the counter, and I know Evra and Raf weren't great today but there was a lot of focus on them and I thought they were left to pick up too much on there own, Just my opinon
 
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