25/09/2011 12:59 - ManUtd.com, Adam Marshall
Boss ponders options for Basel
Sir Alex Ferguson expects to make changes to his side for the first home game of the UEFA Champions League campaign against FC Basel on Tuesday night.
Although the boss is full of respect for the Swiss champions and coach Thorsten Frink, he realises he needs to give some of his players more match-time in order to keep them sharp.
"Maybe I'll use some of them against Basel," he said. "I do need to get all the squad moving. I think there will be changes on Tuesday."
The boss won't be taking Basel lightly, even though he does hope to rotate his squad for the group fixtures.
"I think we got a positive result against Benfica," he explained. "Hopefully, we can strengthen our position. Basel are a decent side though. Thorsten Fink was a substitute in the final for Bayern Munich in 1999 when he came on for Lothar Matthaus. I spoke to him at the UEFA conference and he's done a good job.
"If you get to 10 points, you know you're into the next stage but we'd like to win the group anyway. If we win our next three games, we can utilise the squad. It would definitely help and we've done that over the years. It's sometimes backfired - I played a fresh team over in Fenerbahce and they beat us 3-0. Although I want to make changes, I don't want an embarrassment. So changes have got to be made with a mind of still winning the game."