Aston Villa v Manchester U:ALEX FERGUSON has said he is considering leaving out Wayne Rooney from his Manchester United team for the League Cup final against Aston Villa tomorrow because of his concerns the England striker could suffer from fatigue later in the season.
Rooney is in the most prolific scoring form of his career, with 27 goals in total this season and 11 in his last eight games, but Ferguson is mindful that he has barely had a break over the past few months and that the exertions of a gruelling campaign may catch up with him.
It would be a bold move on Ferguson’s part, and one that is unlikely to sit easily with Rooney, but the United manager has never made any secret that he has greater priorities than the League Cup, and he insisted it was a genuine consideration rather than an attempt to deceive United’s opponents.
“It has to be a consideration simply because we’ve got important games coming up,” Ferguson said. “The problem is that he’s desperate to play. He’s always desperate to play. But he is hard to leave out because he has got the energy all the time. He’s on a great goal-scoring burst now. His judgement in the penalty box is improving and that’s a nice sign.”
Rooney’s exhilarating form has nudged him ahead of Didier Drogba as favourite to be named footballer of the year, and Ferguson was asked whether he could even imagine him emulating Cristiano Ronaldo’s total of 42 last season.
“It’s a target but I said a couple of weeks ago if he gets over 30 I’ll be delighted and I’ll stick to that. Don’t let’s get greedy.”
This will be Ferguson’s 27th cup final, although the oldest manager in the business admitted he had lost count a long time ago. “The same number as Rooney’s goals,” he reflected. “Maybe I need to get up to 44 as well.”
United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has signed a new one-year contract. The veteran Dutchman will now remain at Old Trafford until June 2011.
Martin O’Neill has reignited his feud with Arsene Wenger by strongly disputing the Arsenal manager’s claim that winning the League Cup does not qualify as a trophy.
“I know that the Arsenal manager has been pretty scathing all the time in the League Cup,” said O’Neill. “When it suits, then it’s a great competition. And when it doesn’t suit you, then it’s not. That’s not my view. It’s an important competition.”
O’Neill appears to have a virtual clean bill of health, with Stiliyan Petrov winning his battle to overcome a virus which kept him out of the FA Cup fifth-round replay win over Crystal Palace in midweek.
