O’Shea Out For Immediate Future

Alex Ferguson has raised the possibility that John O’Shea might be
sidelined for two more months. The Manchester United utility man
picked up a thigh injury during the Republic of Ireland’s shattering
World Cup exit in France last month that Ferguson initially felt was
nothing more than a dead leg.

However, O’Shea has not played since. And while Rio Ferdinand and
Jonny Evans are inching towards their returns from injury and Nemanja
Vidic and Wes Brown have already made it back to the Red Devils first
team, for O’Shea the delay goes on. ‘There is no sign at all of
recovery for John,’said Ferguson. ‘It is his first injury at the club
and he is a big loss because he is such a versatile player. ‘We just
want to get him back but it could be a couple of months yet.’

Ferguson revealed that when O’Shea got back from France, blood
congealed in his muscle, raising the possibility of further problems.
The joint return of Vidic and Brown has coincided with a two-match
winning run over Christmas that yielded eight goals, five of them
coming against Wigan at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. Vidic and
Brown will continue to shoulder the burden for now but Ferguson is
optimistic Evans will return to duty in the next 10 days, with
Ferdinand not too far behind after United finally got to the root of a
back problem that has plagued the England defender for 18 months.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.