ALEX FERGUSON has admitted he will be “slaughtered” if his severely weakened Manchester United side fail to beat Hull City tomorrow in a match that could have dire consequences for the three north-east clubs fighting relegation.
Ferguson is planning to make extensive changes to his starting line-up but insisted his conscience was clear and argued that the Premier League were partly to blame for scheduling the match three days before the Champions League final.
“Barcelona play on Saturday night and we have got our programme on Sunday,” he pointed out. “England have had a team in the Champions League final for the last five years and it is not as if the Premier League are short of knowledge. They could easily have put the programme on Saturday. I still wouldn’t have played my strongest team, but one or two more maybe would have played.”
Although the absence of most of United’s leading names would appear to work in Hull’s favour, Phil Brown suggested it was the worst possible scenario. The manager would rather know who his players will be facing.
“I’ve had a stab (at predicting the United side), but it’s needle in the haystack stuff,” Brown said. “To know who the team is this season has been a strong point of ours. We’ve more or less second-guessed managers on a number of occasions. To not know who the team is could be a massive advantage to Manchester United.”
Ferguson will field an experimental line-up including two teenagers, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck, in attack and possibly a third, Ben Amos, in goal. The fit-again Wes Brown and Gary Neville are available to provide some experience in defence, while Rio Ferdinand, recovering from a calf injury, may be risked, but Ferguson said he was entitled to rest the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo despite the potential implications for Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
“Our responsibility is to win the European Cup and everyone is aware of that. That’s why we are talking about changes. But it is not a weak team. It is a strong team – a good team, a team with fantastic potential in some cases. I know that if we don’t win on Sunday we will be slaughtered and it will be the ‘worst thing that has happened in the British game’ and people will talk about the integrity of the league. But it is a natural thing for us to use our squad.”
The alternative, he argued, was that a player could be injured and United’s strategy for taking on Barcelona in Rome on Wednesday would be ruined.
GuardianService
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