Filed under: Manchester United, Football
Many observers have long been accustomed to Sir Alex Ferguson playing mind games, with the availability of his players often forming part of that repertoire.But news that Rio Ferdinand's season could be wiped out by his on-going calf problem appears to be a stark and harsh reality and one that is not just a body blow for the player, but is, more significantly, a huge one for Manchester United.
Ferdinand is used to injury setbacks.
Throughout his career he has been dogged with them, none more than a knee problem that ruled him out of on the eve of last summer's World Cup in South Africa.
But the England defender, when fit, has shown how he can form such a potent partnership with Nemanja Vidic at the heart of the defence and, having returned to the side, clean sheets have followed.
Of course there's no shortage of depth, with Chris Smalling's emergence a real bonus at Old Trafford.
Yet there is one thing having a player who was in non-league football 20 months ago, and there is another having a fit and hungry player of Ferdinand's quality, especially with games such as Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals on the horizon.
Because make no bones about it, there is certainly something missing when the Ferdinand-Vidic axis is broken up.
That has already been shown up this season as the duo's return has stabilised a United defensive ship that was looking far from steady.
And with big games looming, and United fighting on three fronts, his guaranteed absence will be keenly felt.
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To compound matters, utility man John O'Shea is out for five weeks with a hamstring problem, the same injury that is expected to keep Rafael sidelined for two to three weeks. Vidic, too, is expected to miss Saturday's game against Bolton with a calf problem although he should be back after the international break. Jonny Evans, whose star is hardly in the ascendancy at Old Trafford, will step in at the weekend.
You can imagine Lionel Messi and Co will be licking their lips at the prospect of Ferdinand sitting in the stands if paired with Manchester United in Friday's Champions League quarter-final draw.
Yet the problem for Ferdinand is that this is nothing new.
He has been hampered by injury problems throughout recent years and has not played this season since suffering the calf problem in the warm-up prior to the club's first Premier League defeat of the season at Wolves in early February.
Ferguson has long claimed the 32-year-old could return for the Red Devils' first game after the two-week international break.
Yet he changed tack when the veteran Scot revealed his doubts over Ferdinand's participation for the remainder of the campaign.
Ferguson said: "Rio has been out for a few weeks now. We are not looking at this as a short-term situation.
"He has not started training yet. We will be lucky to get him back for some part of the season. It's a big blow but sometimes calf problems can be troublesome.
"I remember Bryan Robson in 1990 he was out for four months with a calf injury. It's looking that way again with Rio."
Robson was a hugely influential player at Old Trafford.
Fast forward to the present day, there's no doubt Ferdinand holds as much sway.
That is why this news will be so crushing to Ferguson and his side and also goes some way to explaining why it appears inevitable that the England captaincy will be taken from the United man in the coming days.
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