ALEX FERGUSON is to persevere with Ben Foster in goal for Manchester United despite his erratic form while deputising for the injured Edwin van der Sar. Foster has made a number of mistakes and was at fault for two of Manchester City’s goals on Sunday, but Ferguson still believes he represents a safer pair of hands than Tomasz Kuszczak.
“There’s no need to change,” Ferguson said. “He (Foster) is showing great qualities. We are not worrying about the odd mistake – young players make them all the time – and, as I have said before, he has not had a great deal of game experience. But he will be okay. I’ve not got a problem.”
With Van der Sar still three weeks away from returning to action following surgery on a broken finger, Kuszczak came into the team for Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers and made some impressive saves in a 1-0 victory.
Foster’s confidence seems to have been badly affected going into a potentially tricky match at Stoke City today. But when it was put to Ferguson that the goalkeeper’s communication with the back four had been poor against City, he dismissed the issue.
“I’m not getting into the City game, I’m not talking about that at all. I’ve answered the question, he’s playing. I’m not worried about it. We thought it was a good opportunity for Tomasz to play on Wednesday, as we did with a lot of the players. But Ben will play (at Stoke).”
Nonetheless, Foster’s inability thus far to live up to expectations has highlighted Van der Sar’s importance to the team and Ferguson expects to know around Christmas whether the Dutchman feels capable of putting off retirement for another year.
“He has always made that decision around the end of December and it will be the same this season. The fact is he’s out injured at the moment, we have more of a concern about him getting back rather than what will happen the following year. But he’s 39. There’s going to be a time when Edwin decides it’s time for him.”
Another of United’s older generation, Ryan Giggs, goes into today’s match needing one more goal to reach 100 in the league and 150 in total. “I don’t know what else there is to say about Ryan,” Ferguson said. “It’s not a matter of defying his age, it’s the fact there’s no discernible deterioration in his game. It is remarkable.”
Martin O’Neill last night claimed he has no concerns about his status among the Aston Villa players as he prepared to reintroduce Nigel Reo-Coker to the fold for the first time since their training ground spat nine days ago. Reo-Coker was jettisoned from the squad for the Portsmouth match last Saturday and failed to make it on to the substitutes’ bench for the midweek League Cup victory over Cardiff City despite O’Neill making five changes to his starting XI.
However, with Steve Sidwell ruled out with a thigh injury, O’Neill yesterday confirmed that he had recalled Reo-Coker to the squad for the trip to Blackburn Rovers, where he is set to be named among the substitutes.
“Nigel is in the squad. There is nothing else to say,” said O’Neill.
“I don’t concern myself about not being fantastically popular,” said O’Neill, who hopes Villa can record a fifth successive Premier League win at Ewood Park. - Guardian Service
