Sir Alex To Rotate In Key Week

Sir Alex Ferguson has indicated he will make full use of his squad in the next two games, which mark an important week in United’s season.

The Barclays Premier League leaders host high-flying Everton on Sunday before travelling to Real Madrid for the first leg of a mouth-watering Champions League tie three days later.

The Reds will be aiming to come out the other side with a nine-point league lead still intact, and with a positive result at the Bernabeu to take back to Old Trafford.

And Sir Alex revealed he will continue his policy of rotating his players to give his side the best possible chance of success in both encounters.

“It will be different teams,” he said at his Friday press conference. “The team on Sunday will not be the same as the team that plays on Wednesday.

“I trust the squad of players I have. They are all internationals, they are all good players and there is no reason why I can’t play them.

“They’re all contributing in their own way and that gives us a better chance of dealing with the various competitions we’re in.”

Sir Alex will be relieved that the clutch of players who were away on international duty this week appear to have returned unscathed.

While asserting that “there is not a domestic manager who can agree to friendly internationals at this time of year”, the Reds boss admitted England’s win over Brazil on Wednesday may actually have benefitted two of his players.

“I was happy for Wayne Rooney and Chris Smalling to play full games at Wembley because they have not had a lot of football anyway,” he said.

“In fairness, [England manager] Roy Hodgson was quite fair with us in terms of who played a full game and who played parts. He did that with us all, particularly the teams playing in Europe.”

One player who looks set to miss both the Everton and Real clashes is Paul Scholes, who has not featured since last month’s FA Cup win over Fulham.

“Paul has a little bit of a knee injury,” Sir Alex revealed. “He has missed the last couple of games. He started training on Thursday and should be okay next week.”

Sir Alex also confirmed he has not yet talked to Scholes about whether he will play on next season, insisting there is “plenty of time”.