Sir Alex Ferguson will stick to his usual formula when Manchester United
face Leeds in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.
For years, the United manager has used the competition as a launching pad
for young players and could be planning to do the same again as he takes
his side to Elland Road for the second time in 10 days.
Ferguson will be fielding a side made up of a mixture of youth and experience
when last season's beaten finalists come up against their Yorkshire rivals,
but how deeply he intends to plunge into his playing pool remains to be seen.
Teenagers Darren Fletcher and Cristiano Ronaldo could feature and Ferguson
said: "Nicky Butt, Eric Djemba-Djemba, David Bellion and Diego Forlan will
all play."
"It will be a mix of that and the first-team squad, which is exactly the
way we have always approached it. Roy Carroll will also play."
Ferguson is expected to follow past patterns and turn to some of his untapped
talent but there are no clues as to who might get an unexpected call-up.
Reserve players Danny Pugh, Paul Tierney and Chris Eagles could all find t
hemselves in the squad for the trip across the Pennines.
David Beckham, Paul Scholes and more recently John O'Shea have all made
their senior debuts in the League Cup - and Wales manager Mark Hughes was
one of the first United youngsters to use the competition as a stepping
stone to the top.
He began a career which took him to Barcelona and Bayern Munich by scoring
on his debut in a fourth round tie at Oxford's Manor Ground 20 years ago.
Last season, as United reached the final for the first time in nine years,
Ferguson broke away his regular approach by turning to his more experienced
players and he has hinted he might do the same again if the side has another
successful run.
He added: "What happened was we got by the early rounds, we beat Leicester
at home, then Burnley away, but then we came up against Chelsea in the
quarter final and I knew they were playing a strong team so my attitude
changed. We did the same ourselves."
One player certain to miss out is Brazilian World Cup winner Kleberson,
who is still not ready to make his comeback after dislocating a shoulder
at Southampton on 31 August.
"He started training on Thursday but there is no way he would be fit for
Tuesday," concluded the boss.
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