Stars go to Southend

06/11/2006 07:53, Report by Gemma Thompson
Sir Alex Ferguson insists he will field a more experienced Carling Cup side when the Reds travel to Southend United on Tuesday evening.




The current cup holders were within a minute of being taken to a penalty shoot-out by Crewe in the third round until a dramatic winner from 18-year-old substitute Kieran Lee put the Reds through.

"We don't want another Crewe experience on Tuesday night so I'll be taking a stronger team to Southend," said Sir Alex.

"We're taking Ronaldo, Rooney, O'Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre, Heinze, Brown, Richardson... and Tomasz Kuszczak will be in goal. So we're taking a good squad.

"Although I've got some good young players in the Reserves they are definitely too young for this situation. Reserves football nowadays is just an extension of youth football and therefore doesn't provide the same challenges of playing in the football league.

"We've got around fifteen players out on loan at the moment who are gaining good experience but it means I'm restricted in terms of being able to play some of our young players in the League Cup as we used to do.

"However, players like Kieran Lee, Ryan Shawcross, David Gray and David Jones will still be involved against Southend."

United were given a timely reminder of the unpredictability of Cup football in the last round, and it is something Sir Alex is hoping to safeguard against when they face Steve Tilson's Championship side on Tuesday.

"Cup games have that sudden death thrust about them and you can be knocked out in a second," acknowledged the United manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists he will field a more experienced Carling Cup side when the Reds travel to Southend United on Tuesday evening.

The current cup holders were within a minute of being taken to a penalty shoot-out by Crewe in the third round until a dramatic winner from 18-year-old substitute Kieran Lee put the Reds through.

"We don't want another Crewe experience on Tuesday night so I'll be taking a stronger team to Southend," said Sir Alex.

"We're taking Ronaldo, Rooney, O'Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre, Heinze, Brown, Richardson... and Tomasz Kuszczak will be in goal. So we're taking a good squad.

"Although I've got some good young players in the Reserves they are definitely too young for this situation. Reserves football nowadays is just an extension of youth football and therefore doesn't provide the same challenges of playing in the football league.

"We've got around fifteen players out on loan at the moment who are gaining good experience but it means I'm restricted in terms of being able to play some of our young players in the League Cup as we used to do.

"However, players like Kieran Lee, Ryan Shawcross, David Gray and David Jones will still be involved against Southend."

United were given a timely reminder of the unpredictability of Cup football in the last round, and it is something Sir Alex is hoping to safeguard against when they face Steve Tilson's Championship side on Tuesday.

"Cup games have that sudden death thrust about them and you can be knocked out in a second," acknowledged the United manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists he will field a more experienced Carling Cup side when the Reds travel to Southend United on Tuesday evening.

The current cup holders were within a minute of being taken to a penalty shoot-out by Crewe in the third round until a dramatic winner from 18-year-old substitute Kieran Lee put the Reds through.

"We don't want another Crewe experience on Tuesday night so I'll be taking a stronger team to Southend," said Sir Alex.

"We're taking Ronaldo, Rooney, O'Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre, Heinze, Brown, Richardson... and Tomasz Kuszczak will be in goal. So we're taking a good squad.

"Although I've got some good young players in the Reserves they are definitely too young for this situation. Reserves football nowadays is just an extension of youth football and therefore doesn't provide the same challenges of playing in the football league.

"We've got around fifteen players out on loan at the moment who are gaining good experience but it means I'm restricted in terms of being able to play some of our young players in the League Cup as we used to do.

"However, players like Kieran Lee, Ryan Shawcross, David Gray and David Jones will still be involved against Southend."

United were given a timely reminder of the unpredictability of Cup football in the last round, and it is something Sir Alex is hoping to safeguard against when they face Steve Tilson's Championship side on Tuesday.

"Cup games have that sudden death thrust about them and you can be knocked out in a second," acknowledged the United manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson insists he will field a more experienced Carling Cup side when the Reds travel to Southend United on Tuesday evening.

The current cup holders were within a minute of being taken to a penalty shoot-out by Crewe in the third round until a dramatic winner from 18-year-old substitute Kieran Lee put the Reds through.

"We don't want another Crewe experience on Tuesday night so I'll be taking a stronger team to Southend," said Sir Alex.

"We're taking Ronaldo, Rooney, O'Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre, Heinze, Brown, Richardson... and Tomasz Kuszczak will be in goal. So we're taking a good squad.

"Although I've got some good young players in the Reserves they are definitely too young for this situation. Reserves football nowadays is just an extension of youth football and therefore doesn't provide the same challenges of playing in the football league.

"We've got around fifteen players out on loan at the moment who are gaining good experience but it means I'm restricted in terms of being able to play some of our young players in the League Cup as we used to do.

"However, players like Kieran Lee, Ryan Shawcross, David Gray and David Jones will still be involved against Southend."

United were given a timely reminder of the unpredictability of Cup football in the last round, and it is something Sir Alex is hoping to safeguard against when they face Steve Tilson's Championship side on Tuesday.

"Cup games have that sudden death thrust about them and you can be knocked out in a second," acknowledged the United manager.

"You have to really play well in cup ties because if you're a bit off the boil you can end up being embarrassed and you certainly don't get any second chances in the cup.

"In my experience, teams from the lower leagues are always very enthusiastic, committed and all desperate to play well against a side like United. They are also usually very good from set-pieces - that's an area in which they can trouble you. But hopefully we've got our homework right.

"We've watched Southend's last three games and hopefully we've got the right picture of them. I think we got it right against Crewe, but on the night Crewe excelled.

"We're very lucky to still be in the competition and hopefully we can progress further," he added.