The Red Devils boss says he has encouraged the midfielder to stay and has confirmed that changes will be made against the Seasiders with the Champions League final in mind
FA Cup Semi Final- Manchester City v Manchester United, Paul Scholes
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Paul Scholes will extend his stay at the club.
The midfielder, whose contract runs out in the summer, is yet to sign a new deal at Old Trafford and had looked set to retire at the end of the season.
But Sir Alex told reporters: "I don't think it will be his last game. We have discussed it and I have encouraged him to stay on for another year. We'll talk at the end of the season."
The Red Devils boss has also dismissed suggestions that goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will be rested for the final Premier League fixture of the season against Blackpool, but has confirmed that he will make changes for the match.
The game will be Van der Sar's final league appearance of his career and Ferguson has said that the Dutchman will be one of several experienced players to feature on Sunday.
But with the Red Devils facing Barcelona in the Champions League final just six days later, Sir Alex has confirmed that he will need to "keep the right energies" ahead of the match at Wembley.
"Obviously people expect me to leave players out and that will be the case. I have to think about next week [the Champions League final]," Sir Alex told reporters.
"I have to juggle the balls and make sure I get the right mix and keep the right energies for Barcelona.
"There are players who need a game anyway. Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes and Anderson will all play. So will [Dimitar] Berbatov, [Patrice] Evra and Van der Sar."
He added: "We'll do our fairest to make sure there's no criticism of the club.
"The only thing you could be criticised for is if you lose a game and it affects other teams. That's when you should be put under scrutiny for the team you picked.
"Against Hull [in 2009] we played all the young players and we won 1-0, so there was no reason to criticise the selection on that occasion. This time it will be the same again. We have to make sure we win.
"For some reason the previous year, Neil Warnock found it easy to criticise us for losing to West Ham. But if he had seen the game we battered them, so it was a bit unfair."
The veteran boss also admitted that he was not looking forward to the game given what is at stake for United's opponents.
The midfielder, whose contract runs out in the summer, is yet to sign a new deal at Old Trafford and had looked set to retire at the end of the season.
But Sir Alex told reporters: "I don't think it will be his last game. We have discussed it and I have encouraged him to stay on for another year. We'll talk at the end of the season."
The Red Devils boss has also dismissed suggestions that goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will be rested for the final Premier League fixture of the season against Blackpool, but has confirmed that he will make changes for the match.
The game will be Van der Sar's final league appearance of his career and Ferguson has said that the Dutchman will be one of several experienced players to feature on Sunday.
But with the Red Devils facing Barcelona in the Champions League final just six days later, Sir Alex has confirmed that he will need to "keep the right energies" ahead of the match at Wembley.
"Obviously people expect me to leave players out and that will be the case. I have to think about next week [the Champions League final]," Sir Alex told reporters.
"I have to juggle the balls and make sure I get the right mix and keep the right energies for Barcelona.
"There are players who need a game anyway. Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes and Anderson will all play. So will [Dimitar] Berbatov, [Patrice] Evra and Van der Sar."
He added: "We'll do our fairest to make sure there's no criticism of the club.
"The only thing you could be criticised for is if you lose a game and it affects other teams. That's when you should be put under scrutiny for the team you picked.
"Against Hull [in 2009] we played all the young players and we won 1-0, so there was no reason to criticise the selection on that occasion. This time it will be the same again. We have to make sure we win.
"For some reason the previous year, Neil Warnock found it easy to criticise us for losing to West Ham. But if he had seen the game we battered them, so it was a bit unfair."
The veteran boss also admitted that he was not looking forward to the game given what is at stake for United's opponents.
"This game on Sunday is not the kind of game you actually enjoy," he said.
"You are talking about one point separating five teams.
"It is very tight down there and you could sense what was coming with the way the league was shaping.
"Losing a couple of games can put you right back in the mire and Sunday is going to be a very important day for the futures of these clubs, which means it is not the easiest game for me to pick a team in."
No comments:
Post a Comment