Who will survive Fergie’s tinkering?…
Flushed with an influx of quality recruits, Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that there will be no automatic starters for the season ahead.
“In the 1990s, we rotated our squad very well,” he said. “Last season we had a great opportunity in that we were involved in three tournaments. We were in the semi-final of Europe and in the FA Cup final but we just didn’t have enough bodies to stretch our squad out and save legs where we could have saved legs.
“It is going to take management but I think players understand today quite clearly that in order to challenge for everything you do need a strong squad. No one will play all the games next year and hopefully they accept that and move on to the business of trying to achieve success for us.”
As AbsolutelyUNITED reported last month, the manager will turn his back on the consistent selection policy that served him and the team so well during the last campaign.
Ferguson has good reason to believe that rotation will leave his top players fresher and less vulnerable when the important tests arrive in April and May. Yet, he risks a lessening of the team’s rhythm through constant rotation and will open himself to severe criticism if the chopping and changing fails to deliver every time.
The mantra for next season is that ‘no one is safe’ but surely Van Der Sar, Neville, Rio, Vidic, Hargreaves, Scholes, Rooney and Ronaldo will remain the bedrock of the side.
