Manchester United's flight to Lower Saxony yesterday landed at a tiny airbase which doubles as a research station used by the German aerospace centre to discover new "phenomena" in the atmosphere. On a day when some extremely fresh faces stepped off the special British Airways charter from north-west England, Flughafen Braunschweig-Wolfsburg certainly seemed an appropriate arrival point for Sir Alex Ferguson's squad.
Unless CSKA Moscow can manage a win in Besiktas, an injury-ravaged United require a draw at Wolfsburg tonight to finish top of Group B. As the handful of autograph hunters who had found their way to the 1930s terminal building could confirm, it was difficult to recognise several of the youngsters who will face the German champions. Ferguson will be happy that United have already qualified for the knockout stages.
His hand has been forced by a catalogue of injuries and illness suffered by his first choice defenders. Jonny Evans and John O'Shea were last night ruled out until January, and will join Nemanja Vidic on the sidelines after he failed to recover from flu in time for tonight's match. Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Gary Neville, the Da Silva twins, Rafael and Fabio, and Edwin van der Sar, the No1 goalkeeper, had already been ruled out.
Ferguson hopes to have Vidic back for the Premier League match at home to Aston Villa on Saturday. The Christmas schedule is hardly an ideal time to face such an injury crisis, with little time between matches to recover, but the fixture list beyond this weekend could have been more difficult – games against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham, Hull and Wigan round off United's year.
One player who may be offered the opportunity to impress either tonight or in the coming weeks is Oliver Gill. The 19-year-old centre-half, one of only two specialist defenders on the trip, the other being Patrice Evra, is the son of United's chief executive, David Gill. He received late dispensation from Uefa to be added to the roster registered to participate in the Champions League and is expected to begin on the bench.
"Oliver played with my son, Ben, for Manchester Grammar School," said Bryan Robson, the Thailand manager who is with United here in his capacity as an international club ambassador. "Oliver was a midfielder then but he looked decent – and he was two years younger than the team he was in."
At some stage tonight Gill, who has made nine reserve appearances this season, could find himself called upon to mark Edin Dzeko, Wolfsburg's £20m rated Bosnian striker. Coveted by most of Europe's elite clubs, United included, the 6ft 4in 23-year-old has scored 40 goals in 75 Bundesliga appearances for Wolfsburg and, with Armin Veh's side still hoping to qualify for the next phase, threatens to test ersatz defenders such as Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick to the limit.
Those two midfielders will almost certainly begin in the back-line with youngsters such as Cameron Stewart, Matty James, Magnus Eikrem and Oliver Norwood on the bench. Robson, though, is unconcerned. "These players are adaptable and that is the key," explained the former United and England captain. "There is a real flexibility about this current squad. You saw in the win at West Ham on Saturday that, when Michael Carrick had to go to centre-half, he looked like he could really play there. And we always knew Darren Fletcher could play anywhere."
Asked how difficult it was to fill in at the back, one of the finest midfielders of his generation said: "It's easier for a midfielder to go back than a defender to go forward because defenders suddenly find themselves with their backs to the play."
After tonight United's attentions will turn back to the Premier League where Robson is delighted to see his old team breathing down Chelsea's necks. "Manchester United are right where they want to be," he said. "But the key question is how much Chelsea are going to be affected by the African Nations Cup."
Robson diplomatically then claimed that, if he were a Premier League manager, he would prefer to sign Wayne Rooney than Drogba – "although, really I'd like both in my team". The England striker will not be in Ferguson's side thisevening, having been left behind nursing a slight hamstring strain, leaving Michael Owen and Danny Welbeck as United's sole two recognised strikers here. It is not just at the back where Ferguson's resources are thin.
