Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged that he is leaving himself open to criticism from the Premier League's relegation-threatened clubs by deciding to make changes to his team for Saturday's game at Middlesbrough. Ferguson is considering giving Federico Macheda his first league start, as well as resting Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo, a decision he knows will go down badly among Middlesbrough's rivals in the contest for survival.
Neil Warnock, when in charge of Sheffield United, famously fell out with Ferguson because the Manchester United manager fielded a weakened side in his team's final game of the 2006-07 season, losing 1-0 to West Ham United in a result that meant the Yorkshire club were relegated.
Ferguson, however, says he has little choice but to rest key players ahead of the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal on Tuesday, and he attacked Sky for scheduling today's game as a lunchtime kick-off. "If you shake hands with the devil, you pay the price," he remarked.
While Ferguson "freshens up" his team at the Riverside, he also expects Arsène Wenger to do the same when Arsenal face Portsmouth today, joking in midweek that they might "play Pat Rice at right-back and Wenger at centre-forward". Looking further ahead, Ferguson could conceivably put out a team of reserves and youth-team graduates in their final league match at Hull City on 24 May if the championship has already been settled and United are involved in the Champions League final three days later.
"At this time of the season all of the games are difficult. Pressure is on everyone in the game and you want to represent yourselves in the right way," said Ferguson. "For instance, we were accused of playing a weakened team against West Ham in 2007 and Neil Warnock wasn't happy with it. But that situation arises again this weekend, with some teams saving players and some blooding young players. I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as a team represents a club in the right way and tries to win. That is the best way to do it."
At least on this occasion Ferguson is being open about his plans. Warnock's anger – he was left with a "bitter taste" and "felt physically sick" – stemmed from the fact that the Old Trafford manager had promised not to do West Ham any favours out of a sense of responsibility to the other teams fighting relegation.
As for today's game, Ferguson cited the fact it had originally been moved by Sky to 4pm on Sunday but was switched after the Champions League draw. "The teams who play in Europe on a Wednesday shouldn't have to play at lunchtime on the Saturday," argued Ferguson, whose side have a three-point lead over Liverpool at the top of the league, with five games to play, compared with Liverpool's four.
