Vidic Set To Miss April

José Mourinho may rejoice: United have lost yet another key player for a long time as Nemanja Vidic is set to miss at least a month.

The Serbian defender landed awkwardly on his shoulder after challenging for a ball with two opposing players, following Ryan Giggs' corner. It was clear for the first look that he had to be substituted and what we feared had come to pass: our best central defender is out for the crucial month of April.

'We think it's a four or five week job,' Fergie told MUTV. 'We'll do our best to get him back as soon as we can.

'It's a shoulder injury. We don't know the full extent now, we'll maybe know more tomorrow morning.'

Wonderful! So, we are lucky, aren't we? Only our skipper and our defensive rock are out? And two important squad players. But never mind, poor Chelsea had much worse problems - like struggling to break down Watford, that is. It'll be interesting to see if they still hide behind their injuries when Craig Cathcart makes his debut...

'I said two weeks ago the most important part of the club is the bench and that's proven itself now,' said Sir Alex.

'Now I need to think about alternatives for that position. I think I'll bring Craig Cathcart into the squad now. He's playing in the youth team on Monday but he'll travel with us to Rome.

There are other alternatives who can play in that position too. But the resolve of the team tells me they can handle it.'

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