Ferguson puts faith in youth

Sir Alex Ferguson
12 April 2012

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has shrugged off potential concerns over the youthful back line that will spring up against Tottenham at Old Trafford on Monday.

Left-back Patrice Evra returns after missing last Sunday's season-opening win at West Brom, and will be the guiding hand alongside Phil Jones (19), Jonny Evans (23) and Chris Smalling (21), as well as a new goalkeeper in 20-year-old David de Gea.

Ferguson, though, has every confidence in his young guns as he said: "I don't see it so much as a challenge they are facing, more this responsibility because they're in important positions."

He continued: "Of course they don't have the experience that (Rio) Ferdinand, (Nemanja) Vidic and Edwin van der Sar have. You can't beat experience. Top-level players with experience are vital, there's no question about that.

"But we don't have them, yet we're confident in the players who are replacing them.

"They have the potential, temperament and courage to play, there's no doubt about that.

"So I don't see it as a worry for me at all. I'm more looking forward to Monday rather than worrying about it. I think they'll do very well."

Ferguson has even suggested that if new-boy Jones, a £16.5million buy from Blackburn in the summer, Evans and Smalling perform to the level he expects, he will face a selection dilemma when Vidic and Ferdinand return from injury.

Ferdinand, who limped off with a hamstring injury at West Brom, is due to return against Arsenal next Sunday. As for Vidic, he is not due back until the middle of next month at the earliest after he too made an early exit at The Hawthorns.

Ferguson added: "When they're both fit, or one of them is fit, then I've a decision to make, and I know they're both aware of the abilities of the other players, no question of that."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in