Keane adds to United's woes

One major reason for the rather lethargic nature of Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Bordeaux in the Champions League on Wednesday night was revealed yesterday when it emerged that Roy Keane injured a hamstring in the first half but insisted that he play on regardless.

Keane's notoriously fierce competitive spirit meant that even with the damage to his right hamstring he was still sprinting towards the Bordeaux goal shortly before being substituted with just four minutes to go.

At the time it seemed as though Alex Ferguson was protecting his captain prior to tomorrow's clash at Old Trafford with Liverpool but maybe Ferguson was protecting Keane from himself. Keane spent yesterday morning receiving treatment on the injury and is now a major doubt for the Liverpool game. Normally an injured hamstring requires weeks rather than days of rest.

That is a concern for Ferguson on its own but taken together with the news that both Dwight Yorke and Paul Scholes are "touch and go" for tomorrow, it means Ferguson has a serious injury situation for one of the biggest domestic fixtures of the season. With United facing another seven matches in March it could not come at a worse time.

What little gloss there was from Wednesday night was removed quickly therefore, and Ferguson has the other problem, which he has had from the start of the season, of how to replace Peter Schmeichel. In their time the departures of great United stalwarts such as Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona and Andrei Kanchelskis have been overcome with Keane, Jaap Stam, Yorke and David Beckham, but in Schmeichel's case Ferguson has clearly a difficulty.

Mark Bosnich, who returned to the club he first joined as a teenager last summer, unfortunately came back overweight and out of shape. Ferguson's legendary work ethic could not cope with such perceived indifference and Bosnich was dropped after just three games. Raimond van der Gouw came in, as he did again on Wednesday after Bosnich's latest demotion, but lasted only three matches himself before Massimo Taibi was recruited from Venezia for £4 million.

Taibi's erratic form meant that he started only four times before returning to Italy on loan and Bosnich then appeared to have upped his form and secured the position. However, Ferguson was unhappy about Bosnich's sharpness at Wimbledon last Saturday and it was no surprise to see him on the bench against Bordeaux.

Ferguson now has a dilemma over who to select in goal tomorrow. Whoever it is, he could be busy.