Sir Alex Ferguson insists there is no problem with Manchester United's attack despite a scarcity of goals ahead of their Champions League Group F clash with Roma at Old Trafford. Five out of United's last seven games have ended in 1-0 wins but Ferguson believes his new Wayne Rooney-Carlos Tevez strike partnership is starting to click.
When United met Roma at Old Trafford last season Ferguson's team scored as many goals - they won 7-1 - as they have in eight Premier League matches so far this campaign. But Ferguson said: ``All the front players have been slow to get on to their game - that's understandable with Wayne with his injury and Tevez missing pre-season.
``They are getting better and will continue to do that. I think the partnership is good, using Wayne as a more advanced player and Carlos dropping in. Meanwhile, Ferguson does not envisage anything like the same scenes as Roma's last visit in April when they were torn apart by a rampaging United side who went through to the semi-finals.
The United manager said: ``I think there's a big motivation on Roma's part - I have seen some of the Italian papers and they are all about revenge. ``I can see it's a big occasion for them after the defeat they suffered last year. They will want to turn that scoreline around. ``But it was a one-off - it won't happen again. European football is just not that way nowadays, and it will be a very difficult game for us, Roma are playing very well at the moment.''
Defenders Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic are doubts after the pair picked up knocks at Birmingham - John O'Shea and Gerard Pique will step in if they fail fitness tests - but Owen Hargreaves trained on Monday morning and is in line to make his European debut for United. Roma can call upon midfielder Simone Perrotta after the World Cup winner declared himself fit to take his place in the squad.
Ashton-Under-Lyne-born Perrotta sustained a thigh injury in Saturday's 4-1 defeat against Serie A champions Internazionale, but is eager to start. Saturday's emphatic defeat, their first slip-up of the campaign, relegated Roma to fourth in the Italian standings - three points behind leaders Inter. But Roma coach Luciano Spalletti does not want his players to dwell on the defeat as they seek their second ever triumph in English soil after eight failed attempts.
``We must forget our defeat to Inter and bounce back straight away,'' he said. ``We are jumping into a completely different reality on Tuesday and we must be strong mentally.'' With the top spot in Group F up for grabs, Roma will be looking to pick up where they left off in their 2-0 triumph over Dynamo Kiev in their opening Champions League game.
Cicinho, a summer signing from Real Madrid, is expected to return to the starting line-up with Christian Panucci ruled out through injury. The Romans will also be without injured Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Taddei.
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