Wolves 0 Manchester U 1:ALARMING NEWS from Old Trafford. Asked about Wayne Rooney's fitness for the Champions League tie at home to Milan on Wednesday, Alex Ferguson said: "The Wembley pitch has killed him," conjuring visions of the not-so-hallowed turf's triffids doing away with England's World Cup hero designate.
Fortunately, reports of Rooney’s demise, like Mark Twain’s, proved premature, and the knee injury he aggravated against Egypt may yet improve sufficiently for him to return in midweek.
Ferguson’s exaggerated reaction to his best player’s unavailability was understandable. United are much diminished by his absence, and they struggled to subdue their relegation-threatened opponents. Wolves were the more dangerous team in the first half and created enough chances to have deserved a point. Instead, United stirred themselves after the interval and regained pole position in the title race courtesy of Paul Scholes’s 100th goal in the Premier League.
If all the talk is of Rooney these days, the trojan service Scholes has given his home-town club should not be overlooked. It is getting on for 16 years since he made his debut, and he has racked up more than 500 first-team appearances in all competitions, scoring 148 goals. Saturday’s winner was a typical finish, tucking the ball expertly beyond Marcus Hahnemann, right to left, from nine yards after Jody Craddock had mis-hit a clearance straight to him.
Scholes said afterwards: “I’ve been on 99 for a while now, so it was nice to get it done. ” He added: “I don’t think they were too interested in playing football, they just wanted to try to stop us.”
That was guaranteed to raise Mick McCarthy’s hackles. The Wolves manager felt they merited a draw at least, and mused: “Could we have played any better, could we have created more chances against Manchester United? Probably not. The simple difference is when they get the chances, they put the ball in the net.”
McCarthy did not identify culprits, but his players spurned some excellent opportunities, notably when Stephen Ward headed straight at Edwin van der Sar from six yards and Sam Vokes scooped horribly over from a similar distance at the death.
United had Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in harness for only the second time all season, but they were still vulnerable to Kevin Doyle’s pacy incursions. Fit after missing what would have been his first match as England’s new captain, Ferdinand admitted he had been a little rusty. After such a lengthy absence, and a temporary setback in his recovery, had he worried about missing the World Cup? “Not really,” he said. “I don’t think about that. I’m focused only on Manchester United. Everything else will click into place if I’m playing well here.”
Ferguson said he would be content to rely on Dimitar Berbatov against Milan if Rooney is not fit.
Champions Leage Watch
MILAN, trailing United 3-2 ahead of Wednesday’s second leg, are likely to start with the front pair of Marco Boriello and Dutchman Klaas-Jan Huntelaar as Brazilian striker Pato has not trained for a week now because of a thigh muscle problem.
David Beckham came on as a substitute in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Roma but is expected to start on Wednesday against his former team.
