Fergie wants Ronaldo to find top form
Alex Ferguson is hoping the softly-softly approach can coax Cristiano Ronaldo back to top form.
The brilliant Portuguese winger has endured a turbulent season, beginning with the death of his father in September.
A month later, Ronaldo found himself at the centre of unfounded rape allegations before finally losing his temper and gesturing at Benfica supporters when his return to Lisbon went horribly wrong with an inept personal performance as Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League.
That display even irritated his own team-mates, particularly Ryan Giggs, with many pundits claiming Ronaldo was once more spending more time on his tricks than finding an end product to his play.
Ferguson appears to have noticed the downturn in form too, restricting the 20-year-old to substitute appearances in United’s three Barclays Premiership games since the Benfica debacle.
However, there are signs the strategy is working.
A wonderful piece of skill almost created a third goal for United at Villa Park on Saturday and, suspended from the St Stephen's Day clash with West Brom, Ronaldo is a certain starter in a youthful Red Devils line-up for tomorrow’s Carling Cup quarter-final against Birmingham at St Andrews.
“Cristiano’s confidence has been a bit down,” admitted Ferguson.
“The boy has had a turbulent time and a lot has happened to him over the past few months.
“You cannot foresee his father dying. You never know how people will react to something like that but it is normal for a young player to have a reaction.
“What we are trying to do now is ease him back into it and get his confidence back.
“The longer Saturday’s game went on, you could see some of the confidence returning, which is great to see because he is a wonderful talent.”
Ronaldo will be expected to provide a cutting edge to a United side lacking a number of senior stars, including Ruud van Nistelrooy, Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes, yet still strong enough to reach the semi-finals for the third time in four seasons.
Tim Howard will return in goal and, providing he overcomes the virus which kept out of the Aston Villa win, Louis Saha will lead the attack.
According to Ferguson, the rest of his line-up will be filled with youngsters, although the Scot includes the likes of John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher and Wes Brown in that description, as well as Phil Bardsley, Giuseppe Rossi and Gerard Pique.
Given United’s exit from Europe and Ferguson’s pressing need for a trophy, it would have been no surprise if the Scot had fielded his first-choice line-up against a Birmingham outfit whose overwhelming priority is to preserve their Premiership status.
“I have never given it a thought,” replied Ferguson to the prospect of fielding all his senior stars.
“I will be making a few changes but the team I play will definitely be going all out to win it.”
In all its various guises, the League Cup has never been a particularly lucky tournament for United.
Despite reaching the final on five occasions, the Red Devils have won it just once, when Brian McClair’s solitary strike beat Nottingham Forest in 1992.
Yet, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham already out and Arsene Wenger playing a virtual reserve side, it could be the competition which gets Ferguson out of trouble.
“We have always looked at the Carling Cup in a certain way but coming in at the third round stage gives us the opportunity to be more ambitious about it now,” he said.
“We are only three games away from the final, so I will be picking a strongish side, although it will include all the young lads.
“They are young, fresh and fit. They want to play all the time and the more games we can get into them, the better it will be for the club as a whole.”
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