Mind games were employed again today but Sir Alex Ferguson's only target was Manchester United. The Scot has warned his champions they cannot miss the chance to close in on Liverpool tomorrow night against a Wigan team who will pose a greater threat than Chelsea.
Ferguson's comments could have been taken as a cheap dig at an already floored Luiz Felipe Scolari, following the destruction of Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday, but the aim was purely to guard against complacency in the champions' ranks ahead of tomorrow night's visit of Steve Bruce's in-form side. With both Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand absent through injury, the former with a foot ligament problem that will keep him out for up to four weeks, and given the energy expended against Chelsea, Ferguson admits United will struggle to recapture Sunday's rarefied heights against a Wigan team on a run of six wins from seven games. The end result, however, must be the same in the first of United's two games in hand, according to their manager.
"This is the harder game for us now," Ferguson said. "It is one of our two games in hand and we have to win these games. It is a very important game for us. On the back of the Chelsea game people will expect us to be at that level of performance but that was a very high level. I haven't watched the game again but I've looked at the stats and Chelsea worked amazingly hard, which shows you the level we got to. I will have to freshen things up against Wigan, but freshen things up to win."
The United manager also cautioned against treating Wigan with any less respect than shown to Roman Abramovich's troubled investment at Old Trafford. He added: "Wigan are on a fantastic run. They are a powerful team. I thought they would do well this year but they had a disappointing start as far as Steve Bruce is concerned. I thought they would fly off from the start because there is a good age about their team, but they have certainly recovered now."
A United victory tomorrow night and at Bolton on Saturday would take the champions above Liverpool at the Premier League summit ahead of Monday's Merseyside derby at Anfield, and Ferguson admitted he is surprised by how swiftly his team have closed the gap at the top. "I didn't expect it yet, no," he said. "But the time to judge us is when we have played the two games in hand and our next one is not until 14 February."
Ferguson's changes tomorrow night will be enforced as well as dictated by fatigue, with Ferdinand again absent through a back problem and Evra paying a high price for the immaculate cross that created Wayne Rooney's goal on Sunday.
"Evra is out for three weeks minimum, maybe four. And for such a simple thing," said the United manager, who confirmed Ferdinand will also miss the trip to Bolton but should be available for the FA Cup fourth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur. "He went over on his foot as he crossed the ball and damaged the ligament in the bottom of his foot. It will take seven or eight days just to clear the blood and the swelling. But we recently had to cope without him for four games and John O'Shea is a fantastic player so I have no concerns. Wes Brown should be back in two weeks as well. January is a difficult programme but we have the squad to cope and the versatility is a big help. Once we get Wes Brown back we will be OK."
United officially unveiled their new Serbian left-winger Zoran Tosic today, signed from Partizan Belgrade as part of a joint £17.3m package with Adem Ljajic, who will move to Old Trafford next season. And Ferguson, who admitted he expects Tosic to challenge for a first-team place within six weeks, explained: "Whereas Cristiano Ronaldo has a fantastic ability to dribble, Zoran is more direct and straightforward on the wing. He is intelligent, naturally left-footed and has a good delivery. He is similar to [David] Beckham in terms of his box-to-box play."
