The Usual Centre Back Woes

It seems to be something that is going to affect us no matter what we do.

It seems that we can go out and sign a plethora of central defenders and we`ll still be struggling to fill those two positions for some games.

That would seem to be the case tomorrow night when we entertain Newcastle United, in the Capital One Cup.

With Chris Smalling and Phil Jones still out injured and with Nemanja Vidic being protected as he completes a lengthy rehabilitation programme, the inference is that Sir Alex Ferguson seems reluctant to use either Rio Ferdinand or Jonny Evans for this fixture.

It would seem that with bigger fish to fry, namely the Premier League and the Champions League, Sir Alex is fearful of a further depletion in his centre back ranks with either Rio or Jonny, or both, picking up an injury in a competition that ranks fourth in our wish list.

Therefore, don`t be too surprised if Michael Carrick sits at the heart of the defence with Alex Buttner beside him. The only problem being is that Newcastle may take this competition far more serious than us and play Ba and Cisse, if so we could be facing a problem!

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