THE ENGLISH Football Association will not take disciplinary action against Nemanja Vidic for his clash with the Wigan striker Hugo Rodallega after the referee, Howard Webb, decided the Manchester United player should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Vidic appeared to strike Rodallega in the face during United’s 5-0 win at the DW Stadium on Saturday and the FA’s disciplinary department asked Webb to review the television footage. Webb reported back that he had not noticed the two players come together but he also felt the pictures were inconclusive.
Vidic, meanwhile, has revealed that he has admonished his agent, Paolo Fabbri, for his recent remarks about the player’s apparent “dream” to move to Barcelona.
“I have spoken to him about it,” said Vidic. “I have never spoken about my future and I am not happy about this because this is not a good time for the club to have to hear these reports. I will show the Manchester United fans how committed I am with my performances.”
Vidic’s manager Alex Ferguson has claimed he was never worried about United’s progress in the wake of last week’s shock defeat at Burnley. United responded in the perfect manner at the weekend, blitzing Wigan with that five-goal second-half performance.
It puts them in good heart for a key confrontation with Arsenal on Saturday, and with Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen both among the goalscorers, most of the pressure that had been building up at Old Trafford has now been relieved.
“We can’t worry about these things,” said Ferguson. “We are not going to kill ourselves because of it, but we’re going to take reminders of it, lessons and experience.
“We all know we’ve got players with great experience at our club who are used to winning trophies over the years. We still weren’t prepared for the kind of setback we got on Wednesday. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did.”
With the exception of Rio Ferdinand, Edwin van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva and long-term absentee Owen Hargreaves, Ferguson is likely to be picking from strength.
The Scot must be particularly pleased with the performances of Ben Foster, who has put his disappointing showing during the Community Shield defeat to Chelsea earlier this month to one side with some eye-catching contributions.
Foster had little chance of keeping out the one goal he has conceded, Robbie Blake’s superb winner for Burnley at Turf Moor, and against both Birmingham and Wigan produced top-quality saves at crucial times.
While Ferdinand will miss an England double-header that starts with a friendly against Slovenia on September 5th and concludes with a World Cup clash with Croatia four days later, Foster could well have a starting berth given David James could be ruled out by a knee injury. - Guardian Service
