Fergies Warning

[jayp]

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has warned England's players that they are facing 'a big problem' ahead of next week's game against Russia.



The Euro 2008 qualifier in the Luzhniki Stadium a week on Wednesday will be the first time England have played an international on artificial turf and Ferguson believes it will be a tough ask.


United's Carrington training ground houses two state-of-the-art plastic pitches but Ferguson and his players are not big fans.



Not a fan

Ferguson said: "There is no problem with safety - on the old [artificial] pitches you used to get a lot of grazes on hips and knees when players went in for challenges, but the surfaces of today are terrific - there's no problem with that.

"The problem they will have is the bounce of the ball, the speed of the ball and of course Russia will be far more used to it than English players.

"That will be a big problem, it's not easy to handle that."


Ferguson admits United rarely use their plastic pitches, expect for the practising of set-pieces.


"In my time here at Carrington we have used the indoor pitch just once - for work on set-pieces."