Ferguson Benches van Nistlerooy in Carling Cup Final

Sir Alex Ferguson is a living legend and list of accomplishments are longer than van Nistelrooy’s face, but benching Ruud in the Carling Cup Final is a slap in the face.

As explained on soccernet.com Ruud accepted his managers choice like a professional without complaint. So it has fallen on me to complain on Ruud’s behalf.

Let’s start by reviewing the current Man U season. Regardless of Fergie’s optimism, United are not challenging Chelsea for the title. There is no European football and no FA Cup to look forward to. All United had to enjoy was the Carling Cup. So why bench the league’s leading goal scorer (19 goals) for the club’s one chance for silverware.

Allegedly Ferguson started Saha over van Nistelrooy due to Saha’s current form. Understandably every manager wants to field their best team, but the opposition was Wigan, and as fantastic as Wigan have been all year Man U were heavy favorites for good reason. For some reason I think Manchester United would have done just fine with Ruud in the line-up.

United won the match 4-0. They were up 3-0 at the 60th minute. Why not put Ruud in? He deserves to be on the pitch for a Cup final instead of watching from the bench. This is a real knock for team moral. Van Nistelrooy plays a major role for United and is team leader. I don’t understand why Ferguson doesn’t reward his loyalty and performance. Ruud claims he isn’t upset with Sir Alex. I’m not sure I believe it.