CSKA Moscow's coach must hope Sir Alex Ferguson has recovered a degree of good humour when he presents his Manchester United counterpart with a signed copy of a business tome entitled Renewing Organisations tomorow night. At a time when the first-team order at Old Trafford appears to be changing again, Ferguson, piqued last night by questions about his views on Alan Wiley's fitness and the Football Association charge, should nonetheless be intrigued by the conclusions reached by the book's author, Juande Ramos.

The Spaniard will spend this evening directing CSKA's latest Champions League game from the technical area adjacent to Ferguson's at the Luzhniki Stadium. Unlike many peers, Ramos's world is not entirely consumed by football, and the former Tottenham Hotspur manager has combined starting a new job in Russia with polishing off a non-fiction work aimed at business executives in all spheres.

As United continue to adapt to life after Cristiano Ronaldo, while seemingly preparing for a future that looks increasingly likely to feature Jonny Evans plus either the hitherto undroppable Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic at centre-half, Renewing Organisations may keep Ferguson surprisingly occupied during the four-hour flight home from Moscow. As David Beckham and Roy Keane, among others, will testify, United's manager does not do sentimentality and likes to keep Old Trafford in a state of almost permanent revolution.

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Right now he seems fixated upon a potential central defensive rearrangement. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Evans could start Sunday's Premier League encounter at Liverpool. Not for nothing has the Manchester Evening News asked readers to vote on United's "best central defensive pairing".

Although the injury-prone Ferdinand and Vidic both flew to Russia, their 21-year-old Northern Ireland rival is expected to feature against CSKA tomorrow night after Ferguson admitted it was becoming "increasingly hard to justify leaving Jonny Evans out". During Evans's two separate loan spells with Sunderland, Roy Keane said the defender would establish himself as a United first-team regular "sooner rather than later". That time could be nigh.

With United – who should be inspired by memories of beating Chelsea in the 2008 final at the Luzhniki – boasting a 100% Champions League group stage record, Ferguson has decided this is a game he can take slightly less seriously than some others. Accordingly, he has left Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra and Park Ji-sung behind.

Even so, CSKA, aka "the Army Men", have won their last six European home games, and the way in which not just Evans but Michael Owen and, if fit, Dimitar Berbatov – who played for Ramos at Spurs but has failed to start United's past five Champions League fixtures – cope with them could inform Ferguson's selection at Anfield.

Evans, whose younger brother and co‑defender, Corry, may make the bench, knows better than to start treading water. "It's nice the manager is saying these things about me, but Nemanja and Rio are unbelievable players," he said. "I feel there's a lot more to come from me, though. Last season I felt I was playing within myself because I was concentrating on defending, I was playing safe and making sure I wasn't at fault for any goals. I'm not saying I'm going to start dribbling through teams but this year I need to get on the ball and express myself more."

Although Russians insist Moscow is a city where life should be lived "Bespredel" – without limits – Ferguson is becoming irked by the number of soft goals United are leaking and an excess of self-expression on Evans's part could prove risky on the Luzhniki's artificial surface.

Although United's manager argued that the ball's bounce is "true" on the plastic, it travels faster. Moreover, in Milos Krasic, a coveted young Serb – "a very good young player", said the Scot – CSKA boast a threatening striker. Ramos's teenage play‑maker Alan Dzagoev is also being monitored by Europe's leading lights.

Ferguson, though, is likely to concentrate closely on CSKA's goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev. In the light of Ben Foster's travails, the 23-year-old is tipped as a potential successor to Edwin van der Sar, and United's manager smiled broadly while bodyswerving a question about Akinfeev. "I can't deal in rumour," he said.