Now though, it appears the lack of competition in the current squad could be hindering United’s chances of reclaiming the Premier League crown from Chelsea.

In defence we’ve got the barely adequate John O’Shea at right back. Even he must be wondering how he’s managed to become United’s number one choice for the position, yet that’s what we’re seemingly lumbered with until Rafael can make the step up. Wes Brown is an option there too, but injuries have plagued him recently, meaning O’Shea is comfortable in his position and has no real threat to his place in the team.

Similarly with Jonny Evans in central defence, Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown have been constantly injured over the last year and during that time Evans has become more and more prone to errors. He at times looks like a rock alongside Nemanja Vidic and can make the absence of Ferdinand almost unnoticeable, but complacency may be a factor in his recent poor displays that have meant dropped points late on in away games.

Moving into midfield Paul Scholes has been the one pulling the strings for us this season, but with Darren Fletcher in a run of poor form the defence is left vulnerable. Scholes hasn’t got the les to chase back anymore and let’s face it, he was never much good at tackling anyway. Michael Carrick has been out injured and Owen Hargreaves …. he’s alive …. I think. Anderson has recently come back into the side but there’s still not the level of competition for places that there has been in previous seasons.

Now onto the position that should have strong competition for places: strikers.

Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and Federico Macheda should all be competing for places in United’s front line, but it seems only three of those players actually have to compete.

While Dimitar Berbatov (along with Nani) have carried us so far this season, Owen has shown he’s still got his goalscoring touch in the Carling Cup and at Bolton. Macheda is full of energy and effort, albeit without much of an end product at the moment. The only one not actually competing is supposedly our star striker, Wayne Rooney.

It doesn’t matter how badly he plays, he keeps his place in the team. I’m usually all for him keeping his place because he often goes on these runs with no goals and then goes on a scoring spree. The problem this time though is that his problems aren’t just down to his form, they’re down to off the field issues that are affecting him mentally. This in turn translates to poor performance (and attitude) on the pitch.

News that Rooney will miss the Valencia tie through ‘injury’ makes me hope that Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to give more deserving players a crack at the whip and leave his misfiring striker on the sidelines until he sorts his head out.

The bottom line though is that all through the squad there’s simply not enough competition for places, meaning less motivation for the players to play well and keep their place in the starting line up.

Nani‘s brilliant solo goal and substitute Michael Owen‘s headed effort saw United come from behind twice in a game they dominated.

United dominated from the opening moments of the game but were behind after 6 minutes after poor defending from Jonny Evans allowed Zat Knight to nip in front of him and steer Martin Petrov’s corner past Edwin Van der Sar.

United replied with constant pressure on the Bolton goal and Nani equalised for the away side in the 23rd minute. The Portuguese winger dribbled form his own half and as the bolton defence backed off him he drove through them and fired a low shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Rooney was cutting a frustrated figure up front, but his team mates have right to feel equally frustrated with his performance as the troubled striker continued his poor run of form.

The sides went in level at half time with Manchester United in the ascendancy but not really troubling Bolton’s defensive setup.

Federico Macheda came on for Rooney in the 60th minute and the England striker immediately applied an ice pack to his left ankle.

The young Italian made an immediate impact on proceedings, laying a clever one – two with Dimitar Berbatov whose shot was saved by the Bolton goalkeeper.

Despite United’s dominance, it was Bolton who took the lead again after Martin Petrov started and finished a brilliant counter attack. The Bulgarian played a cross field pass to Lee Chung-Yong and then made up the ground to get on the end of Johan Elmander’s pass and fire Bolton into the lead via a deflection off Darren Fletcher.

Sir Alex Ferguson responded by bringing on Michael Owen, who scored with his first touch to bring United level. Nani’s curling free kick was glanced in off the post by the former Liverpool player, which prompted chants of “michael Owen is a red, he hates scousers” from the travelling United fans.

United pressed for the winner but struggled to penetrate Bolton’s tight defence. And as they time wasted their way to a point they scarcely deserved, Sir Alex will be disappointed not to have capitalised on yesterday’s shock results in which both Chelsea and Arsenal were beaten.

Manchester United have thrown away valuable points already at Everton and Fulham, and almost did the same against Liverpool at old Trafford until Dimitar Berbatov settled the game with a brilliant hat trick.

Defensive lapses and silly free kicks allowed Liverpool to claw themselves back into a game they’d never really been in, and Fletcher wants to cut out these errors and become defensively solid once again.

“There has to be a concern that we nearly threw another lead away,” said the Scot.

“We have conceded sloppy goals through lapses in concentration in a number of games and were fortunate Dimitar pulled out the third goal to win the game.

“But we have to remember we threw away a fantastic lead.

“It is something we have to try and put to rest if we want to progress in the Premier League.”

Collectively United have looked fairly solid, but Fletcher believes the mistakes of individuals are to blame for late goals conceded against Everton and Fulham.

“It has been individual lapses of concentration that have cost us,” Fletcher added.

“It is something we have been looking at and it is important we put it right as soon as possible.

“On the whole, our performances have been very good and really, we should be sitting here with maximum points. Unfortunately we are not.”

Looking ahead to Sunday’s trip to Bolton Wanderers, Fletcher says United must be at their best to beat a side that always raise their game when United come to town.

“A trip to Bolton is always difficult.

“When Manchester United are in town, the fans get up for it and the players get up for it.

“At Bolton, taking our scalp means a lot. We know what to expect from them.”

“Maybe they are more of a footballing side but they still have that physical threat,” he added.

“Owen Coyle is trying to stamp his mark on the team but the personnel is more or less the same.

“When you have two strikers like Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander, who are big and strong and powerful in the air, they are bound to try and get the ball into our penalty box from wide positions as quickly as possible.

“That is their strength and we will have to deal with it.”

“Patience is the key,. Sometimes you have to earn the right to play.

“It is important to keep possession because Bolton are not going to give us too much time on the ball.

“Owen Coyle will have them pressing and working hard all over the pitch so we will have to keep our shape and take our chances when they come.”

The home fans were treated to a masterful performance from midfield maestro Paul Scholes as he rolled back the years to give the Magpies a footballing lesson.

Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring for United, before Darren Fletcher doubled the lead just before half time. Second half substitute Ryan Giggs rounded off the scoring with a controlled volley after a brilliant chipped pass from Scholes.

Newcastle had their best chance of the game in the early exchanges after Andy Carroll’s clever run deceived Nemanja Vidic from a corner, but the giant striker headed wide of Edwin van der Sar’s post.

United quickly started to dominate possession and it was pretty much one way traffic from 20 minutes in.

Scholes picked up where he left off from last weekends man of the match performance against Chelsea and was again pulling the strings in United’s midfield.

The opening goal came after good tracking back from Antonio Valencia won the ball back inside Newcastle’s half. Darren Fletcher picked up the ball and threaded a pass through to Dimitar Berbatov who finished well from a tightening angle.

Nani was also in good form, with much of United’s attacking play coming from the left flank. It was his clever pass that sent Patrice Evra to the touchline to fire a cross into the six yard box where Wayne Rooney was able to touch the ball into Fletcher’s path. The Scot turned and shot low past the helpless Steve Harper to double United’s lead going into half time.

From then on it wasn’t a question of if United were going to win, it was just a matter of how many goals they were going to score in the process. As it happened, one more was all they could muster, but the scoreline flattered Newcastle and didn’t truly reflect United’s complete dominance of the match.

It was a combination of United’s old guard that sealed the win. Scholes the architect, Giggs the finisher, as has so often been the case over the years showed that there’s life in the old dogs yet.

Dimitar Berbatov could have scored a hat full of goals tonight, and while his finishing was poor at times, Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased that the Bulgarian striker is at least finding himself in goalscoring positions. It really could be a make or break season for him.

It may not have been a scoreline that matched Chelsea’s 6-0 win over West Brom at the weekend, but the performance was just as commanding and will act as a sign of intent from the deposed champions that they’ll be right up there at the top once again, looking to lift the Premiership trophy for a record 19th time.

Ah, Dimitar.

Like, I would imagine, all of my fellow United supporters, I had very high hopes for Mr. Berbatov when he arrived at the club. An alternative to the direct, destructive capabilities of Ronaldo and Rooney and the hard work of Tevez. A more composed, elegant attacking force which would surely provide the key ingredient to unlock the tightest defences.

You don’t need me to tell you how the past two seasons have gone. Berbatov has not exactly set the world on fire, but nor has he been, by any stretch of the imagination, a ‘flop’ as some have suggested. Up until the second half of the season just gone, there were, it seemed, two distinct factions between Manchester United supporters. Those who adored Berbatov and thought the team should be built around him, and those who thought he was a worse than useless waste of money who was detrimental to our play.

And then Rooney got injured.
With key games left to play in the title run-in, Berbatov had to step up. “Now he’ll really show the doubters,” was the opinion of the pro-Berbatov camp. “Well, here’s his chance. It’s now or never,” mused the anti-Berbistas.

As we know, it generally didn’t work out. The most glaring failure was our 0-0 draw at Blackburn, which had we won, would’ve surely seen us win the title. And yet Berbatov worked harder than perhaps he ever had before. But the clinical edge of Rooney was absent, and the rest is history.

Now, people have often spoken of Berbatov’s scoring record. Scott of the excellent Republik of Mancunia has defended this on several occasions, but the fact is that we knew we weren’t signing the next Alan Shearer, even if the Bulgarian did allegedly used to sleep in a Newcastle shirt (we all have our foibles.) He was a creative, deep-lying, playmaker sort of striker. Not a non-goalscoring striker in the Emile Heskey mould – perish the thought – but rather a striker who could do things besides scoring goals better. The Bulgarian Totti, perhaps. And so he was always going to be unsuited to being a lone striker.

Or was he? Speaking of Totti, when, in the 2005-06 season, (largely due to circumstance, in a similar manner that Berbatov was) he was thrust into being a lone striker for Luciano Spalleti’s Roma side, the new ‘strikerless’ formation was remarkably successful, and hugely influential throughout football. Particularly on our very own Sir Alex Ferguson.

Our Champions League-winning team of ’08, then so dependent on the fluid attacking force permitted by Ronaldo that, despite posessing many of the same players, it has effectively been dismantled – was often referred to as ‘strikerless’, but it was in an entirely different way. It was more that it lacked a permanent, obvious striker, not that we were simply never playing with somebody looking to lead the line, as Roma were. But then after Ronaldo left, we played Rooney centrally in a 4-3-3 when it came to the big games. And Rooney is no Kevin Davies either.

As is illustrated in more depth in this article by the superb ZonalMarking, Rooney’s effectiveness as a lone striker does not come from his energy and physicality – although this helps when he does want to act in a more traditional manner – but rather from his movement, and his dropping deep and pulling defenders out of position – acting as a ‘false number nine.’ Also on that article is the perfect example of this, the goal against Arsenal at the Emirates this year.  Rooney is perfect for this role, as he is, despite what we are frequently told by know-nothing media sorts, an intelligent and disciplined footballer, and has the right attributes – an ability to make calm, short passes under pressure, excellent movement, and the ability to drop deep and play more creatively.

But hold on, doesn’t that description remind you of someone even more? Like Berbatov? This is why his ineffectiveness in the role was such a mystery – in theory, he was perfectly suited for it. There are many reasons that could be posed as explanations for why it failed – perhaps he was simply out of form at the time, or that unlike Rooney, he did not have an understanding of the role. But his natural attributes appear to make him an even better candidate for the role than Rooney. So why did it fail?

To compare Rooney and Berbatov this season, we will first have a quick look at their statistics.

ROONEY

Overall

Played: 43
Scored: 33 (5 of which pens)
Assists: 6
Total Involved: 39
Goals per game: 0.77
Assists per game: 0.14
Goals involved per game: 0.91

BERBATOV

Overall

Played: 42
Scored: 12
Assists: 6
Total Involved: 18
Goals per game: 0.29
Assists per game: 0.14
Goals involved per game: 0.43

It may be quite surprising, given that Rooney, when in a 4-4-2, has generally played as an out-and-out striker, and given Berbatov’s creative instincts, that they both have the same relatively small number of assists. But statistics will rarely tell the whole story. Anybody who has watched United regularly this season will attest to Berbatov’s excellent build-up play that can occur before the goal or assist. The combination of Berbatov playing Valencia into space with a clever pass before the Ecuadorian crosses to Rooney for a goal is one that has happened very regularly this season.

But now, we will compare the statistics of the two players when operating as a lone striker in a 4-3-3, and see how they compare.

ROONEY

4-3-3

Played: 17
Scored: 13
Assists: 2
Total Involved: 15
Goals per game: 0.76
Assists per game: 0.12
Goals involved per game: 0.88

BERBATOV

4-3-3

Played: 5*
Scored: 2
Assists: 1
Total involved: 3
Goals per game: 0.4
Assists per game: 0.2
Goals involved per game: 0.6

*Berbatov has made numerous substitute appearances in games that have started with a 4-3-3, but his arrival is rarely in replacement for Rooney, and therefore usually signifies a switch to 4-4-2. Because of this, in addition to the fact that many of these substitutions are very late on, I have chosen to discount these.

As we can see, Rooney’s statistics are scarcely any different when performing in a 4-3-3 to his overall stats. Perhaps surprising, given his role as a ‘false nine’, he does not have a higher rate of assists. But again, if we look at Rooney’s goal against Arsenal at the Emirates, we see that although it was Nani with the assist, the goal was started by Rooney dropping deep. Again, the stats do not show the vital, creative build-up play.

Berbatov, on the other hand, appears to operate much more effectively in a 4-3-3, although the argument can be made that he did not play here enough for the statistics to be very reliable. Certainly he was not as effective as Rooney. This will need a deeper investigation.

Let’s compare the passing patterns of Rooney in a 4-3-3. Being in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 isn’t a simple case of Rooney looking to be attacking himself or creative, respectively. In a 4-3-3, he contributes more to the build-up play. His creative passes generally go out to the wings, and are unlikely to be assists because of that. We can see here that Rooney generally tries to drop deep and distribute his passing out wide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/1w5aHWX02c03bR2Y0r1y

The difference between Rooney in a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 is seen best in the home game against Aston Villa, where we started with a 4-3-3, only for Michael Owen to come on at half time and force a switch to a 4-4-2. In the first half, Rooney make very few passes into the box:http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/014Ht58S3C2iVf6V324b

But in the second half, he puts far more balls directly into the penalty area: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/4N3N9BkD5ZRYt2s4QQ85

Arguably Rooney is therefore more ‘creative’ in a 4-4-2 as he is looking to set other players up – the difference is that he does not contribute to the overall build-up play as much.

All this still points to Berbatov surely being able to fulfil this duty. So what’s the problem? Well, let’s take a look at his passing.

Against Blackburn, the most obvious thing to point out is that Berbatov’s passing is generally a lot shorter than Rooney’s. When Berbatov plays up front on his own, we can see here that he generally takes the short option. And crucially, unlike Rooney, he almost never passes the ball from the centre out wide – the wings have been the basis of our creativity this season, as we have become a team that does everything best, defensively and offensively, out wide. He does not compensate in other ways either – only four of his passes are into the box, and these are all around the perimeter: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/3P1M5I19GB4J8K836k0t

Against Chelsea is even more astonishing – the same is true, but the sheer number of passes Berbatov makes, as the focal point of a team who was on the pitch for 90 minutes, is astonishing. He failed to impose himself on the game and had a lower pass completion rate:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/89K3u7m5323E73Kh63xj

Ultimately, Berbatov again takes the safe option – but in a game where we had little posession, we needed to use it when we had it in as dangerous a manner as possible. Whether it is a lack of understanding of the role or a mental problem, we do not know, but it is clear that Berbatov is too eager to play the safe option when thrust up front on his own.

What this also points to, however, is that Berbatov is a very strange sort of player. Generally, the ‘second striker’ will not play a huge amount of passes, but will look to provide key passes that will lead directly to goals. You can have two players who are very good at passing, but will still be very different – a classic example would be Sneijder and Xavi, or our own Giggs (playing in the centre) and Scholes. Whilst the former will play farther forward, and generally contribute a lot more assists, the latter will generally have a better range of passing, and make a lot more passes but look to keep play ticking over and take control of the game. Berbatov is unique in that he appears to be a hybrid – he plays very far forward, but he also, if you watch him, actually contributes very few ‘defence-splitting’ passes – his game is generally to keep attacking play ticking over, to keep posession in tight situations, and to generally keep play progressing without necessarily providing the killer move.

Having said that, against all but the best opposition, we still tended to play well without Rooney when we played with two strikers, Berbatov and a goalscorer like Macheda or Owen. With both unlikely to be injured at the same point next season, and the addition of the prolific Hernandez, this will hopefully be a problem which we will avoid next season.

The Manchester United forward, aged 29, has an impressive record of 48 goals in 77 games for his national side, but has decided to call time on his international career for many “small and big reasons”, including his recent injury problems for United.

“I’ve thought a lot about this decision,” he said.

“I’ve been playing for the national team for 11 years. There are a lot of small and big reasons for my decision.

“I feel tired and have had some injury problems recently. Deep inside of me I think I had to say stop.”

The PFA Player of the Year wants a return to the treble winning side of 1999 which featured four top strikers. Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer combined to make history by winning the treble that year, and Rooney believes United need similar firepower if they’re going to challenge next year.

The champions look set to lose their crown today, where a win for Chelsea against Wigan at Stamford Bridge would see them win the title by 1 point, if United beat Stoke at Old Trafford.

“If we can bring in two big-name players in it would give us a good chance of getting the league back if Chelsea do win it,” he told The People.

“If you look at the team in 1999 that won the treble we had four forwards, all capable of scoring goals.

“Now there is me, Berbatov and Michael Owen. There is Federico Macheda too, but if we can get one more top forward in it would give us the right balance.”

Rooney’s thoughts will be echoed by the Old Trafford faithful, who feel Dimitar Berbatov has not proven to be worthy of his price tag. While the Bulgarian forward hasn’t been as a big a flop as many claim, he certainly hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, particularly when asked to lead the line in the absence of Wayne Rooney.

Federico Macheda will undoubtedly get more game time next season as Sir Alex Ferguson continues to oversee his development. And Mame Biram Diouf should get plenty of games under his belt too. There’s also new signing Javier Hernandez to come into the fold, while Danny Welbeck may also be in contention after returning from his loan spell. And Michael Owen rounds off the list, however it’s unclear how big a role he can play next season after undergoing surgery.

United are not short of strikers by any means, but Sir Alex may feel he needs a clinical proven goalscorer who can ease the burden on Rooney to win games.

Berbatov has divided opinion among United fans, with many questioning whether he has made a big enough impact on the squad following his 30.75 move from TOttenham Hotspur, but his agent believes the speculation comes from the media, not anybody close to the club.

“There is no objective reason for his transfer other than these media attacks,” said Emil Danchev. “I neither know of any interest from any other club, nor has Manchester United said anything in that sense.

“Sir Alex has already made his opinion known on this issue. I do not think that he has to re-affirm his confidence in Mitko [Berbatov] every other day. I prefer to trust Ferguson.”

While Wayne Rooney has been taking all the plaudits, Berbatov has been slowly but surely raising his game and becoming a vital cog in United’s attacking play.

Two goals against Bolton on Sunday followed an excellent performance against Wolves last week, and  Neville believes this is down to Berbatov’s determination.

“Dimitar’s performances in the wins against Wolves and Bolton have showed fantastic determination,” Neville said.

“He has played up front on his own in both games. He was a massive presence running the line for us against Bolton. It was really important.

“It has been so important to us that when Wayne has not been playing Dimitar has been outstanding.”

With 27 goals already, Rooney is enjoying his most prolific season in a United shirt and is hoping his form continues to the end of the season. He did admit though that it’s frustrating being substituted when chasing a hat trick, but that he understands the manager’s reasons for doing so.

“I am just enjoying playing and scoring goals,” he told Sky Sports.

“Hopefully it continues but I have never really set targets.”

Asked if it’s frustrating to be brought off, he said: “A little bit but you can understand the manager’s thinking and I’ve no problems with that tonight.”

Rooney also praised fellow goalscorer Michael Owen, who scored United’s third after replacing Dimitar Berbatov. The former Liverpool and Newcastle striker has made just two starts since scoring a hat trick away to Wolfsburg in the Champions League, but Rooney still believes he’ll have a big part to play in the title run in and in Europe.

“It was a great run and great finish and I’m pleased for him because he hasn’t played a lot of football, especially over the last few months, but he showed what he can do.

“He’ll be a big player for us between now and the end of the season. We know what he gives to the team and he’s a great player for us.”

After missing out on last season’s Carling Cup final victory against Tottenham through illness, Rooney is hoping Sir Alex names him in his squad to face Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday.

“Obviously I missed it last year because I was a bit ill before the game so I didn’t play but hopefully I can play this year,” he said.

1. He isn’t playing enough

We were led to believe Owen would be used sparingly. His injury record over the last few years has made Louis Saha look like the Iron Man, so Sir Alex was expected to rest Owen’s aging legs as often as he could. The problem is he’s barely used at all. Since scoring a hat trick against Wolfsburg he’s found his way into the starting line up twice. That’s twice in 16 games. For a player Sir Alex expected would score 15 goals this season, he simply hasn’t been used enough.

2. He makes no impact off the bench

For a player touted as having “a goal in him”, he rarely makes an impact when brought on as a substitute. The ‘impact sub’ role has been his this season, with Sir Alex throwing him on towards the end of games because of his fox in the box abilities and a tendency to be in the right place at the right time. We haven’t seen this though. Apart from THAT goal against Manchester City in injury time at Old Trafford he’s been largely ineffective as a sub.

3. He doesn’t do enough for the team

Some of the top strikers in the world like Fernando Torres need not contribute anything to the build up play of attacking moves. Their ability to get themselves on the end of the move is what keeps them in a job and it more than makes up for their deficiencies in other areas. Michael Owen used to be one of those players, but not anymore. He contributes nothing to the build up play, and rarely finishes off our attacking moves. His finishing ability has been on show sporadically, but not often enough. An argument could be made that he’s not getting enough playing time, and it’s a point of view I happen to share, but you have to put yourself in the shoes of the manager who watches Owen in training everyday and if he isn’t seeing enough quality to put him in the starting line up then we have to trust his judgement.

4. The gamble failed

Ferguson took a risk in signing Michael Owen. His injury record has been bad over the last few years as I mentioned above, so anyone willing to sign him was putting their neck on the line. As it happened we signed him on a pay as you play basis, so the risk is relatively low in monetary terms, but it’s not risk free in terms of how it affects the team. You could argue that even if he scored no goals this season it wouldn’t matter as there was no transfer fee and no signing on fee, but you’d be wrong. What if signing Owen prevented us bringing in a better striker? If Owen wasn’t here, the chances are that Danny Welbeck wouldn’t have been sent on loan to Preston and he’d be our impact sub instead, gaining valuable game time and training with the senior team on a regular basis. Instead, he’s stuck in the Championship with Preston North End.

5. Fergie made a mistake

It’s rare, but it happens. From Kleberson and Liam miller, to Veron and the Djemba twins. Sir Alex has been known to make mistakes in the transfer market. Although it looks like Owen was signed with the best of intentions, it now appears that it was a mistake to sign him. Owen wanted to prove himself and break into the World Cup squad for the Summer in South Africa. Fergie wanted a decent back up striker for Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. For whatever reason, neither will be satisfied with the current situation. Barring an injury crisis of epic proportions, Owen has zero chance of boarding a plane with the rest of Fabio Capello’s men this Summer, and Sir Alex doesn’t have an able backup to Rooney.

Disclaimer: I’d be fecking delighted if this article was thrown back in my face in May after Owen scores the winning goal in the European Cup final. Unfortunately that’s very unlikely.

Berbatov – who may need surgery to a troublesome knee – limped off the pitch against Burnley on Saturday after scoring the opener in a 3-0 win, and faces a late fitness test to make tomorrow’s clash at Eastlands.

“I thought Dimitar had got a knock on the knee,” the United boss told manutd.com.  “It turned out it was a dead leg. We are having a look at that at the moment.

“I am hoping he will be all right but we will see what he is like in the morning.

“He is one doubt. Ryan is another because he missed Saturday’s game. We have to give him time to recover a bit. All the rest are fit.”

Ferguson will have a tough time finding a good balance tomorrow as he looks to play a starting XI strong enough to get the job done as well as being loyal to the youngsters who have got us there.

“I have got to think about getting a mix in terms of the programme we have got and also the fact I have given young players a game in the past,” said Ferguson.

“I will have a strongish team but there will be some young players.”

The Senegalese striker came from Molde, the same Norwegian club that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came from, and Diouf emulated the United legend by scoring on his debut.

“It feels good to score in my first game here,” he told MUTV.

“I was nervous for the first two or three minutes but then you forget about all the people in the stands and you do your job.”

“I’m just going to work hard and do my best and we’ll see when the manager needs me. I’ll be ready, though.

“I want to give my best for my new team and be ready when they need me. I’ll work hard in training, never give up and be ready for the next chance that comes along.”

He believes he can learn a lot by playing alongside United’ senior strikers, Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney.

“I’m sure I can learn [by playing alongside Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov],” he said.

“They are top players, some of the best in the world. They’ve done so much in football and in this league so I’m going to try and learn a lot.”

He celebrated his debut by scoring against Burnley after coming on as a late substitute and that can only be good news for the future.

Antonio Valencia had floated a long ball up towards him and he was able to head in past Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen to make the score 3-0 to United.

He’ll have tough competition though if he wants to become a starter at Old Trafford. Rooney continued his excellent goalscoring form today and Dimitar Berbatov also got on the score sheet.

Michael Owen – with 5 goals in his last 5 starts – will also provide competition, but has seemingly fallen out of favour with Sir Alex following his hat trick against Wolfsburg.

The Bulgarian striker, who was named Player of the Year today, came through United’s training camp in Qatar unscathed and Ferguson hopes this means he can finish the campaign with his £30 million on the pitch rather than in the treatment room.

“If we could see it through until the end of the season it would be better,” Sir Alex said at his Friday press conference.

“The advice was to have an exploratory operation but Dimitar wants to play through it.

“Sometimes he feels it and sometimes he doesn’t. Maybe the climate helped but he didn’t feel it when we went away, so he trained every day.

“It is a difficult one and if he is feeling OK it is not a problem.

“But if he is keeps continually coming up against a problem we would have to make a decision on it.”

He recently became Bulgaria’s all time top goalscorer with a brace against Malta and he has added to his collection of honours by finishing ahead of Aston Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov to win the national award.

“I’m proud to have won the accolade for a sixth time,” said Berbatov.

“Last year was a successful one for me as I won the English title with Manchester United and I became Bulgaria’s record goalscorer. This makes me smile.”

If only he could find his goalscoring boots for Manchester United and be as prolific as he is for Bulgaria, we might start to feel that his £30 million price tag was justified.

To my surprise Owen has proved me wrong. He’s shown that he’s still able to be a fox in the box when the need arises, most notably with his injury time winner against the bitters and his hat trick away to Wolfsburg in the Champions League.So surely after proving how clinical he can be, he was certain to be pushing for a regular spot alongside Rooney some time soon? Not according to Fergie, who has only started him once since his hat trick at Wolfsburg.

Apparently Owen isn’t competing with Berbatov for a place, so it doesn’t matter if he scores more than the Bulgarian. Fergie has revealed that Owen is in fact in direct competition with Wayne Rooney for a starting place, thus completely eliminating any chance he ever had of becoming a regular at United. It’s a good job Owen likes coming on as a sub.

“It is difficult to leave out Rooney. That is the thing because I think Owen is identical to Wayne in the position he plays in terms of being further up the pitch, with Berbatov in the team.

“The combinations are more likely to be Berbatov and Owen, or Berbatov and Rooney. Rooney and Owen together, well then you have to have Rooney dropping in, I prefer him up the pitch a bit more, I must admit.”

Wayne Rooney is our best player, meaning Fergie is never going to drop him. Even when he goes through dry spells he never gets dropped because he’s the type of player who can produce something from nothing at any given moment.

It looks like Fergie’s comments could not only end Owen’s chances of becoming a United regular, but could also end his dream of making it into Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad.

I think we can all agree that Berbatov hasn’t hit the heights he did at Spurs yet while wearing a United shirt, but his recent performances suggest he’s finally finding his place in our team.

Fergie has revealed his high hopes for the partnership, claiming their contrasting styles compliment each other well.

“I think the partnership between Berbatov and Rooney is growing, he told the Daily Star Sunday.

“They have a good partnership. I think there is a combination there, between the two.

“I think they are different types of players but they are suited to that combination.”

Fergie added: “There are some partnerships which click right away like Yorke and Cole. That was amazing.

“It just happened. When I brought in Yorkie my thought was maybe playing him with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Or Yorke with Teddy Sheringham.

“My immediate thought was not Cole and Yorke. But when they played together they were unbelievable. They seemed to develop their partnership really quickly.

“It was brilliant. Cole’s form that first year of them being together was terrific. Hopefully this one with Berbatov and Rooney will be the same. It’s bubbling along nicely.

Fergie also said that Berbatov was carrying an injury for a while that may have affected his performances. The threat of surgery would certainly affect the way he played.

“We certainly hope that Berbatov will explode for the second half of the season. He was carrying an injury for a bit and it was affecting his game.

“It was also affecting, his own confi dence about whether he should have an operation. But he’s come through that now and he’s okay. He’s a very good player. A very talented boy.

Goals from Dimitar Berbatov as well as an own goal, were enough to see off Hull, but Ferguson also pointed to the returns of Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown to the defence as being important.

“Today is a step forward for us,” Sir Alex told MUTV. “We’ve got the win which is very important as we’re entering a crucial stage, and we’ve got two of our centre-backs back which will make a big difference to us. And they were absolutely magnificent.”

Sir Alex praised Stoke’s battling performance and the way they attacked United in the early stages.

“We have to give credit to Hull because they got really stuck into us and put tackles in everywhere. They gave a lot of fouls away which that had an affect on our momentum, but you know that games like this away from home will be tough.”

Special praise was reserved for Wayne Rooney, who gifted Hull a goal with a horrible back pass in the second half, but recovered fantastically by creating the second and third goals to seal the points.

“He was a threat all day,” declared Sir Alex. “He’s a natural winner and his desire is inborn. Yes, he made a mistake, but aside from that one bad moment, he was exceptionally good. He would have been more sick than anyone by his mistake, but he’s rectified it in a nice way.”

Chelsea drew with Birmingham on Saturday, meaning the gap between them and the champions has been narrowed to just two points.

“I think we are in a great position. There are still a lot of games to go and it will be difficult, but in the end I think we’ll end on top,” the Bulgarian told MUTV.

“We’ve had a difficult time with injuries, but we still have a great squad and players are starting to come back and we will go on a winning run now.

“The boss knows what to do in terms of changing things when he needs to and I’m sure we’ll finish on top at the end of the season.”

Rooney was uncharacteristically at fault for United conceding the equalizer yesterday, but his determination to put right his error led to him creating the second and third goals to ensure united took home all three points.

“Wayne did fantastic for us – we were joking in the dressing room that he had three assists to his name!” Berbatov told MUTV.

“He bounced back after their goal and made both the second and third ones which was great.

“If he can keep playing the way we know he can then I don’t think anyone can stop him. He’s still young and the future is ahead of him.”

The striker opened the scoring for United just before half time, but an unusually careless back pass led to youngster Rafael conceding a penalty, which Craig Fagan duely scored.

Rooney then pulled himself together to play a key role in United’s win. It was his cross that forced Andy Dawson to put the ball into his own net. He then play a beautiful pass to Dimitar Berbatov to tap in the third goal and seal the points.

Rooney admits Sir Alex Ferguson could have unleashed the hairdryer is United had not gone home with maximum points and that’s what spurred him on to rectify his mistake.

“Obviously when they got the equaliser it was a mistake by myself and thankfully we got the win, or I don’t think the manager would have been too pleased with me.

“It wasn’t a nice feeling, I didn’t want to let the lads down and at the time it looked like that but it happens and we got the win in the end.”

“We knew it was a big game. We had some good breaks and thankfully we got some goals at the end.

“It was quite open. Hull committed a lot of men forward and it did leave us spaces to counter-attack.”

The Sunday Mirror reports that Berbatov went under the knife last Monday, the day before Manchester United’s Champions League game away to Wolfsburg.

Berbatov also missed games against CSKA Moscow and Chelsea after injuring his knee against Blackburn at the beginning of the month.

The problem was thought to have healed, but recurred while he was on international duty with Bulgaria, so a specialist suggested surgery to “clear out” floating debris in the knee.

The operation was apparently a success, with Berbatov managing to make an appearance as a substitute in United’s 1-0 loss at home to Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Manchester United striker’s last appearance against the Merseyside club was in the FA Cup semi final last season. The Bulgarian missed a crucial penalty from which United never recovered, and Everton progressed to the final.

The penalty led to widespread criticism of Berbatov for his passive style and laid back approach to the game.

Tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity to put right his mistake. After starring for his national side in midweek and becoming Bulgaria’s top scorer of all time with 48 goals, he’ll be taking good form into the Old Trafford encounter.

He spoke to the M.E.N about overtaking Hristo Bonev’s record and also revealed his only remaining goal is to win the Champions League, after losing in 2002 and 2009 with Bayer Leverkusen and united respectively.

“I’m happy with the record because it was one of my goals,” he said.

“I’ve achieved a lot and now winning the Champions League remains my only unrealised dream.

“I took part in two finals and failed to win it so now I hope to make it third time lucky.”

The striker hasn’t played for United since scoring the opening goal in the 2-0 victory over Blackburn last month. He has missed matches against CSKA Moscow and league leaders Chelsea.

“I received a kick in my knee during the Blackburn match and I needed some rest and some treatment, but I’m okay now and I’ll play in Malta,” Berbatov told reporters.

He also has one eye on Hristo Bonev’s goalscoring record of 47 goals for Bulgaria. Berbatov needs just one goal to equal the record or a brace to beat it.

“I’m thinking about it, of course. I’ve scored many goals so far and I hope that with the help of my team-mates I’ll do it.”

A United victory would put them ahead of Chelsea by a point at the top of the league, whereas a Chelsea victory would see them stretch their lead to 5 points.

Berbatov is confident ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Stamford Bridge, and he has reason to be. The Bulgarian striker has a good record against Chelsea. With four goals in 10 games, he’ll be hopeful of notching a 5th to help United back to the top of the table.

“They will be our main title rivals,” he told MUTV.

“I always think Manchester United and Chelsea will be the top two and I don’t think this year will be any exception.

“They have great players and a great coach. It is still early but I think the title will be between us two.”

“I scored plenty of times against them with Tottenham, now I want to continue with Manchester United.

“I would be glad to score a couple against them tomorrow but it is not about one player.

“If it was 1-0 and Nemanja Vidic or Patrice Evra got the goal it would be just as good because we would be taking the three points home and we would be above them again.”

The Manchester United striker has praised his team mates as well as playing down the significance of which team is playing at home, probably to divert attention from United’s recent troubles away to Chelsea.

United haven’t won there since Paul Scholes, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave the blues a 0-3 pasting, but Berbatov believes that is about to change.

“In this match it doesn’t really matter whether you play at home or away,” said Berbatov, addressing that woeful United record at the Bridge. “It is always 50-50.” Berbatov told ESPN.

“There are players who have the quality to decide a game like this in a second.

“But when I look at our dressing room, I see guys I know I can depend upon, just like they can depend on me.

“Everyone supports each other on the pitch, which is something we must have.

“We know it is going to be difficult. Chelsea have some really great players. But we have a really strong team too. They need to be wary of Manchester United because I believe we have what we need.”

The Bulgarian put United on the road to victory with an excellent volleyed strike after Patrice Evra had drilled the ball into the box.

“In the first half I had a couple of chances to score, and you need to be patient and when another chance comes along you have to score it, and I was very glad to score my chance,” Berbatov told manutd.com.

“Then Wayne Rooney scored another and that was it finished for Blackburn. We were relieved because they are a difficult team to play against. Every time when you score a goal you are relieved because you feel you’ve done something special and that was the case for me.”

Berbatov is happy winning by small margins and isn’t worried that Arsenal and Chelsea are building up their goal difference.

“One-nil is a good result, as long as you finish it that way,” he added. “If it’s three-nil or four-nil, it doesn’t matter. As long as we keep winning I think everybody will be happy.”