Hargreaves, Anderson set for United debut

Sir Alex Ferguson is preparing to let £35million new arrivals Owen Hargreaves and Anderson loose over the next 72 hours as Manchester United's pre-season campaign steps up a pace.

Hargreaves spent the entire Far East tour as a frustrated spectator as he struggled to overcome a minor ankle injury he aggravated in training.

Meanwhile, Anderson only started training at Carrington this week after spending his summer on Copa America duty with Brazil.

But, in the aftermath of last night's 3-2 friendly defeat to Inter Milan at Old Trafford, Ferguson confirmed both men would play some part in United's next two friendlies; at Doncaster tomorrow and Peterborough 24 hours later.

'Owen Hargreaves and Anderson will be involved over the next couple of games,' said Ferguson.

Neither player is expected to play any part in Sunday's Community Shield showdown with Chelsea at Wembley but, provided they come through their forthcoming tests unscathed, and a likely appearance at either Dunfermline or Glentoran next Wednesday, both should be in Ferguson's squad when United open the defence of their Premier League title against Reading on August 12.

Having kept faith with his starting line-up throughout the Inter defeat, Ferguson will use the trips to Doncaster and Peterborough to give the rest of his squad some much-needed match practice.

And, by the time they turn out at Wembley for the FA Cup final re-match, Ferguson expects to see some defensive improvement too.

Wayne Rooney put United in front but Inter struck three times late in the opening period, with Luis Figo a key figure in each strike.

And although Adriano's own goal gave the Red Devils hope, they could not stave off a defeat which, while not upsetting Ferguson too much, left the Scot in no doubt where his side need to improve.

'The defending in the first-half was very poor,' he admitted.

'You will not win any games, no matter who you are playing against, if you defend like that.

'We were so open in the first half. Maybe we would have had a few more free-kicks if it had been an English game but we were all over the place at times. If you defend like that, you will lose.'

Source: Soccernet.com