Manchester United, who are now thought unlikely to buy a new striker despite their injury problems, can bounce back after their opening Premiership defeat at Chelsea on Sunday, their French defender Mikael Silvestre predicted.
Silvestre said United deserved a draw rather than the 1-0 loss to pre-season big spenders Chelsea and can get back on track in front of the home fans against Norwich on Saturday.
”That game is going to be very important for us to stay in contention. We are at home with all our fans and I am sure all the players are going to be up for that one,” Silvestre told the club website on Monday.
”I think we can stay positive and take something from the Chelsea game. It was the first one, but we have shown we have the spirit and some good movement from all the team and we can be confident for the future.”
United are without three senior forwards — Ruud van Nistelrooy, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — and last week manager Alex Ferguson said the club would assess the situation before deciding whether to sign another striker.
But despite Sunday’s Chelsea defeat the club’s directors are believed to view the situation as a short-term problem, making it highly unlikely that another striker will be signed this season.
Silvestre hinted at United’s lack of firepower up front against Chelsea.
”Apart from the goal I think we played quite well at the back. They had a few chances and Tim Howard had to make a few saves but it was difficult to lose that way,” he said.
”Sometimes you don’t find the solution to score and while we had the determination we didn’t find any possibility up front.” — Sapa-AFP