Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that striker Dimitar Berbatov might need an operation on the injured knee that kept him out of yesterday's draw at Birmingham City.
The Bulgarian was keen to play at St Andrew's, but it seems that the problem might be slightly more serious than was at first believed.
"He wanted to play with it but we felt we should try and get it sorted and get him fit again," Ferguson told United's official website.
"He may have to have an exploratory operation."
Meanwhile, Ferguson was also clearly annoyed at the sending off of Darren Fletcher for his second yellow card after a foul on Blues striker Cameron Jerome.
That meant that the Scot's plans to use debutant striker Mame Biram Diouf were badly disrupted.
“You won’t see a softer sending off," Ferguson fumed.
"For a start, Darren’s not that kind of player. It’s a simple clip on the boy [Jerome], who actually stumbled. I think it was a terrible decision and it gave them some momentum.
“I'd hoped to put Diouf up front with Wayne [Rooney]. We know he can play alongside someone but to play on his own in his first game was difficult for him."
Ferguson was also disappointed to have collected only a point from the game, even though his side had overturned a one goal deficit to claim a draw.
"It’s not really a point gained, but we can’t argue with the result," he said.
"We were down to 10 men for the last part of the game, but in the first half we played absolutely brilliantly and dominated the match. It was a travesty to go in 1-0 down after they scored with their first attack.
"We spoke about patience at half-time because 45 minutes is a long time. We’ve won so many games late on so we shouldn’t worry about being 1-0 down, we’ve faced that situation many times. I think the players did their job well.
"It was a sickener but it's important not to let your head go down. We kept battling away and deserved a point."
I'm happy this may be a blessing in disguise, I mean who want's to buy an injured striker, and clearly if we plan on helping him recover and sir Alex didn't play him , then we have future plans for him good to hear as am a major Berbatov fan might get a kit soon!
The Bulgarian was keen to play at St Andrew's, but it seems that the problem might be slightly more serious than was at first believed.
"He wanted to play with it but we felt we should try and get it sorted and get him fit again," Ferguson told United's official website.
"He may have to have an exploratory operation."
Meanwhile, Ferguson was also clearly annoyed at the sending off of Darren Fletcher for his second yellow card after a foul on Blues striker Cameron Jerome.
That meant that the Scot's plans to use debutant striker Mame Biram Diouf were badly disrupted.
“You won’t see a softer sending off," Ferguson fumed.
"For a start, Darren’s not that kind of player. It’s a simple clip on the boy [Jerome], who actually stumbled. I think it was a terrible decision and it gave them some momentum.
“I'd hoped to put Diouf up front with Wayne [Rooney]. We know he can play alongside someone but to play on his own in his first game was difficult for him."
Ferguson was also disappointed to have collected only a point from the game, even though his side had overturned a one goal deficit to claim a draw.
"It’s not really a point gained, but we can’t argue with the result," he said.
"We were down to 10 men for the last part of the game, but in the first half we played absolutely brilliantly and dominated the match. It was a travesty to go in 1-0 down after they scored with their first attack.
"We spoke about patience at half-time because 45 minutes is a long time. We’ve won so many games late on so we shouldn’t worry about being 1-0 down, we’ve faced that situation many times. I think the players did their job well.
"It was a sickener but it's important not to let your head go down. We kept battling away and deserved a point."
I'm happy this may be a blessing in disguise, I mean who want's to buy an injured striker, and clearly if we plan on helping him recover and sir Alex didn't play him , then we have future plans for him good to hear as am a major Berbatov fan might get a kit soon!