Wayne Rooney should be fit for Valencia while Giggs is out for 2 weeks
Mike Phelan, the assistant manager at Manchester United has said that Wayne Rooney would be fit in time to face Valencia in the Champions league tie midweek.
Rooney was forced out of the game with almost 30 minutes left against Bolton. Manchester United ended the match 2-2 after a disappointing outing at the Reebok. The England striker after being substituted could be seen in the team
box sitting with ice on his left ankle. The team’s assistant manager after the match confirmed that yes there is a problem, but it is not serious by any means and Rooney should be fit in time to face Valencia on Wednesday. Phelan said that it was a reoccurring
angle injury but with due rest and exercises he should be fine.
The injury may be the only explanation of Rooney looking simply not himself in the match. The man who scored 34 goals for United last season just did not seem to have his touch against Bolton. Scoring goals was far away, he could
barely control the ball and make good enough passes.
Phelan said “Wayne Rooney had a bit of a knock,"
"He has a little issue with his ankle. We don't know how serious.
"We will have a look in the morning but we think he will be OK for Wednesday.
"He has been playing with it for a couple of weeks now and during the game we decided he wasn't getting into the areas we wanted and he wasn't getting chances, so we had to change it."
As Rooney is declared fit for the Valencia tie, another man who was taken off in the match Ryan Giggs would not be so lucky and will have to sit out the midweek affair. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed that
Giggs was also taken off due to a fitness issue. He added that his veteran Welshman had a slight hamstring injury and would have to be out for at least 2 weeks.
Sir Alex said:"Ryan is the most serious,"
"It is a hamstring and I am afraid he will be out for a couple of weeks."
United’s manager had lined up pretty much his strongest line up against Bolton away from home, one man who was expected to be back was Rio Ferdinand. The club captain however surprisingly was not even on the bench. The manager
after the match said that Ferdinand was still feeling his way back to full fitness and after the Carling cup win (5-1 against Scunthorpe) he is feeling good, but he did not want to risk him before the match against Valencia.
The decision did cost Sir Alex as his team ended up conceding 2 silly goals and what should have been 3 points, ended up being a hard fought draw.
The Red Devils were behind twice in the match, and it was some fantastic football from Nani that got them level in the first half, and in the 2nd half after conceding from a deflected goal from Petrov it was the forgotten
man Michael Owen who got the goal just minutes after being sent on as a substitute.
Ferguson admitted that his team could have done better in the first 45 minutes, however he said that Bolton did improve in the 2ndperiod to a great degree.
"In the first half we should have done better but we did well to come from behind," said Ferguson.
"The second half was very even. Bolton were a real handful and our chances were reduced but we must take credit for coming back again. It shows a bit of character."
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