Tevez: Debut At Portsmouth …
M.E.N : CARLOS Tevez may be rushed into making his Manchester United debut in Wednesday’s clash at Portsmouth after Wayne Rooney broke his foot against Reading.
Rooney was taken to hospital for a scan on his left foot after being trodden on by Royals defender Michael Duberry during the disappointing goalless draw at Old Trafford.
The scan revealed a hairline fracture, and the club has refused to put a timescale on his return. But the Scouse talisman will certainly be out for at least a month, and Tevez is set to be thrown in as the Reds suffer a striker injury crisis.
Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only returned to full training late last week, and the sales of Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi have left them light in that department - John O’Shea was thrown on as a make-shift forward as United failed to break through Reading’s stern resistance.
But Sir Alex Ferguson said he was toying with the idea of including Tevez against Portsmouth in any case.
“Carlos has an extra few days’ training anyway, and he was already being considered for Wednesday’s game,” said Ferguson.
Rooney missed the start of his first United season in 2004 with a broken right foot he picked up playing for England in the European Championships and he missed the end of United’s 2005-06 season and the start of England’s World Cup campaign when he fractured his left foot.
He soldiered on for eight minutes after Duberry’s challenge but was clearly struggling and was taken off at half time to hand new boy Nani his league debut.
Ferguson said: “It was painful and there was a bit of swelling at halftime, and Wayne was in some difficulty.
“That caused a problem for us with not having a natural central striker with Saha and Solskjaer just coming back. Maybe their finishing would have got us the result we wanted.”
That left the Reds light up front, and O’Shea was given the chance to add “striker” to his long list of United positions.
Explained Ferguson: “He almost scored, from a good chance. There was no point in changing midfield because Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick were in control.
“What we needed was someone in the box to finish the chances we were making, and John is a good finisher. We could have played Cristiano in there but he is not an out-and-out striker.
It was a difficult day all round for the Reds as expected title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea both eked out wins after struggling against Fulham and Birmingham respectively.
But they failed to beat a Reading side which played a heroic 23 minutes with ten men after the dismissal of Dave Kitson for a foul on Patrice Evra, and Ferguson felt that his team were still suffering from the hangover of their Far East tour.
But the Reds boss said he had no criticisms of his team: “Reading came for a result and they got it, credit to them. We had an awful lot of possession and good chances in the second half, mainly for Scholes, O’Shea and Wes Brown, and played some decent football, but we needed that little break.
“Their keeper made good saves, something we have seen many times at Old Trafford. But we played with good passion and urgency, everything you look for in the first game of the season.
“Perhaps we still need to get our act together after coming back from the Far East, but that is not easy.”
