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Rooney waits for FA verdict
Wayne Rooney will have to wait until Wednesday at the earliest to find out if he faces punishment for shoving Tal Ben Haim in the face at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. Rival bosses Sir Alex Ferguson and Sam Allardyce held contrasting views on the incident, with the United boss claiming the Bolton defender's reaction was 'an embarrassment'.
Allardyce agreed Ben Haim's theatrical dive was over the top, but claimed contact had definitely been made - a view backed up by TV replays - and Rooney was fortunate to escape dismissal. Referee Dermot Gallagher appeared to miss the incident and did not even award a free-kick against the United man, who was reacting to allegations from Ben Haim that he had dived attempting to win a free-kick. Gallagher will make his observations known to the Football Association in his report of the game, but it will not be reviewed by Soho Square officials until Wednesday. It means Rooney will be free to face Aston Villa on Tuesday night but, if a violent conduct charge is brought, could miss the New Year's Day trip to Middlesbrough. Ferguson has already found himself on the wrong end of video evidence this season, losing Ruud van Nistelrooy for three games following the Dutchman's lunge on Ashley Cole at Old Trafford earlier in the season. And with van Nistelrooy sidelined for two months and Louis Saha out until the middle of January at the earliest, Ferguson cannot afford to lose another striker from his squad. Ferguson branded Ben Haim a disgrace and claimed the furore surrounding Rooney should not be allowed to mask the Bolton defender's attempt to get the England man sent off. "Because it is Wayne Rooney and because it is Manchester United, the emphasis is taken off the Bolton player completely," claimed the United boss. "That is sad because it is obvious to everybody what he did. "He lay down there for about two minutes rolling around, which is absolutely disgraceful as far as I am concerned and should be more of a concern for football in general than talking about Wayne Rooney." Whether officials at Soho Square will see the matter in quite the same light is open to question. As Allardyce also pointed out, shoving your hand into an opponents' face is regarded as an automatic sending-off offence, although other players have done worse this season and received no punishment. Apart from van Nistelrooy and fellow injury victims Louis Saha, Wes Brown, Quinton Fortune and Kleberson, Ferguson will also be without Gary Neville and Eric Djemba-Djemba for Tuesday's trip to Aston Villa. The pair have failed to recover from the flu bug that saw them sent home prior to the Bolton encounter. It means Ferguson will be forced to use the same 16 players for the second time in three days as his team look to extend a run of six wins in seven matches and keep the pressure on Premiership leaders Chelsea. "We still have plenty of options, although the squad is probably tighter than we would like it to be," he admitted. After confounding his manager's belief that he was not fit enough to be involved yesterday by netting his seventh goal in as many games, Paul Scholes should return to the starting line-up, with either Cristiano Ronaldo or Darren Fletcher standing down. Along with fellow old stagers Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane, Scholes has been one of the key figures in United's recent resurgence and Ferguson admits the former England man could not be playing much better than he is right now. "Paul is red hot at the moment," beamed the Scot. "He didn't train all week prior to Christmas Day and even though he said he felt okay, he didn't look it. "We couldn't afford to risk him, so we felt the best thing to do was put him on the bench on Boxing Day but he still came up with the goal that settled the match. "His form over recent weeks has been great and, because he contracted the bug a little bit earlier than the others, I expect him to be okay to face Villa." Ferguson used the pre-match build-up yesterday to watch TV coverage of Villa's narrow defeat at Chelsea and was suitably impressed by David O'Leary's men. However, the knowledge that Villa have mustered just one point from their last five Premiership outings and have seen defender Mark Delaney added to an extensive injury list, will fuel Ferguson's belief that his team will record yet another win on a ground where they emerged victorious on three separate occasions last term, including their momentous FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal. "Villa Park has been a good ground for us over the years, although our games down there are always tight affairs and we never have many big scorelines," said Ferguson. "But we are on a run of really consistent results just now and we have to try to keep it going. "What happens to the teams above us is out of our control. All we can do is win our games and hope the teams above us start dropping points." |
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