Carrick Going To Wembley

Finally ...

Some good news on the injury front. Then again, with 9 injuries
amongst the squad they can hardly get worse can they ? Appar-
ently Micheal Carrick has recovered sufficiently from the virus
he and Rooney caught to take part on Sunday if needed in the
Charity Shield or Community Shield or whatever name they now
give it. We need a good team out there because we do, after all,
owe Portsmouth a really good whooping !! They seem to think
they can knock us out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford whenever
they like. Joking aside, it was a great result for them and I'm
happy Harry won the Cup.

Fergie spoke to www.manutd.com today regarding Carrick and
said:

"Carrick trained yesterday for the first time and I'm taking him
to Wembley,"

"Hopefully I'll give him some minutes on the pitch. If he is feeling
good then we have to get some minutes on the clock for him ahead
of next week against Newcastle."

Wayne Rooney is now also clear of the virus but he returned to
training only today (Friday) after missing every session since the
Reds returned from Africa on 28 July.

"We have a big job to get him ready for Newcastle," said Sir Alex,
"but with seven or eight days training, we may just make it now.
He's much better and the medical reports are good.

"Gary Neville and Nani are fit and they will travel. Nani will prob-
ably start on Sunday because he is suspended for the first two
league games of the season.

"Owen Hargreaves is not ready. He should be OK for Portsmouth
away (on Monday 25 August), that's the time frame we've put on it.

"Ben Foster had a bit of swelling in his knee which you can some-
times get after a cruciate knee injury. We're trying to manage that
but he's not ready yet to play in games. It's unfortunate for the lad
because he was looking forward to an uninterrupted run."

All in all ... it doesn't look too bad, fingers crossed.