Ferguson faces defensive headache as injuries mount

Sir Alex Ferguson admits he is struggling to field a recognisable back-four in Wednesday’s Champions League clash at Wolfsburg after Wes Brown and Gary Neville were forced out of Manchester United’s 4-0 victory at West Ham.

Goals from Paul Scholes, Darron Gibson, Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney completed a comfortable victory on Saturday for the reigning champions, who are now just two points behind Chelsea following the leaders’ defeat at Manchester City.

But the victory was achieved despite Ferguson having to make late changes to his plans when Nemanja Vidic withdrew from the trip to Upton Park after suffering from flu.

That forced Ferguson to pair Neville and Brown in central defence, with midfielder Darren Fletcher operating as a makeshift right back.

But he was forced into further changes when Neville hobbled out of the action after just 34 minutes with a groin problem that is expected to keep the former England defender out for a number of weeks.

Midfielder Michael Carrick was introduced from the substitutes bench to partner Brown and is now certain to continue in that role against Wolfsburg.

By then Ferguson hopes Vidic will have recovered in time to partner Carrick while young defender Ritchie De Laet is also likely to start.

“It’s becoming a headache to us,” Ferguson said. “Losing Vidic to flu, we put Gary Neville to centre back and he goes off after 30 mins.

“Michael Carrick did very well and then Wes Brown had to come off towards the end. I’m hoping we’re going to have a back four for Wednesday. Vidic should be okay and I’ll probably play Michael Carrick and Nemanja again.

“We put Michael as substitute in case anything happened to the back four because he has the height, the composure, the pace and experience to play there.

“There was an option to play De Laet but away from home at West Ham is difficult and I felt an experienced player was important.

“I would have liked to play him from the start but I had to err on the side of caution and I’m glad I did.”

Scholes’ goal in first half added time had set United on their way and came after the midfielder, 35, had this week hinted he may consider retiring at the end of the season.

Ferguson, though, believes Scholes is playing as well as ever and is exerting a positive influence on Gibson and United’s other young players.

He said: “Paul Scholes is an incredible player and he’s conducting play so well just now. He’s making it look good for us.

“Darron and Anderson are young boys, both 21, and are going to be great players. But they have to accept that in Paul Scholes they see the finished article, a man who has been doing it for 15 years at the highest level and it’s a great example to them and it will rub off I’m sure.”

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola conceded his side had been well beaten although their cause wasn’t helped by an illness to Rob Green that led to the keeper vomiting in his penalty area during the second half.

Zola said: “Their finishing was excellent – especially the first two goals.

“We had worked on our defending all week and we were succeeding. The second goal was just a fantastic strike and from then on we were chasing the game and we got hit on the counter-attack.

“Our approach was working quite well but it’s fair to say that we didn’t threaten them enough. Don’t forget that they are the champions and are a great team.

“Rob Green felt sick at the start of the second half and later on he vomited in the goalmouth. We decided to take him off after the fourth goal.

“We have a lot of injuries but I don’t really have too many options to strengthen the team in January. Maybe I might be forced to pull my boots on myself.”