Scott Wootton - Manchester United

Birthdate:12 Sep 1991

Birthplace:Birkenhead

Position: Defender

Scott got another shout vs Club Cluj in the final group stage game, as United had already secured qualification. He had a decent enough game but may regret failing to keep a clean sheet and ultimately loosing 1 - 0 to a lesser opposition.

Scott got his first taste of Champions league action last night vs Cluj in the group stages. He came on to substitute defender Johnny Evans who is believed to have been attempting to run off an earlier knock.

This continued injury crisis stands only to help Wootton in his plight to break into the first team, one mans loss is another mans gain.

Scott only played the final quarter of the game but can be happy to have helped Manchester United see out the rest of the game and avoid conceeding the lead.

Scott Wootton got his first competitive start for Manchester United's first team this week as he started alongside Michael Keane in an unfamilliar back four for United against Newcastle in the Capital One cup, he did enough to warrant praise and recognition from the gaffer.

Well once again it looks like Manchester United have been struck with an injury crisis, something which inevitably cost them the title in the 2011/2012 campaign.

Once again their first choice pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand seems as elusive as ever, despite both lining up together once during pre season. Smalling and Jones seem to have being picking up injury after injury lately and its possible that they were played too much and too early into their young careers and it is showing with injuries. Johnny Evans proved to be a much improved player last season and Ferguson raved about his partnership with Ferdinand but he too is now injured.

25 Aug 15:00 Man Utd v Fulham @ Old Trafford

Joined Manchester United from Liverpool's Youth team in 2007 and has spent that time in the Reserves and enjoying loan spells at Peterborough.

Wootton enjoyed a big role in the Manchester United 2012/2013 pre-season and even managed to get to run out against European Giants Barcelona, which must have been a great honor. He proved to be entirely reliable throughout the pre-season campaign, staying clear of errors and proving to be a good solid presence in defense, drawning comparisons with Vidic.

So then why when he performed very well in Pre-Season did SAF opt to put a CM in the CB ahead of Wootton an actual accomplished Central Defender, if i were Wootton i would surely be wondering what must happen to break into the team, if even when the whole Defensive line is taken out, SAF opts to play a player out of position ahead of him, one which didnt look up to the task no less. Manchester United in SAF, have a great history of giving young players the chance on the big stage and have been rewarded with it greatly in his time in management, so surely he must give Wootton the chance to prove himself here, a player who looks much more comfortable within the position and at coping with Aerial balls.

In their first EPL game of the season, Manchester united opted to field a rather irregular back four of;

Evra -- Vidic -- Carrick -- Valencia

Valencia at RB may not be such a surprise, as he has played at RB for the entire pre-season tour, whether it is born out of neccesity, in the absence of Rafael, who is assumably the first choice RB, as he was participating in the Olympics, helping Brazil to the final, or whether SAF (Sir Alex Ferguson), believes that this is the solution to his winger dilema, Nani and Valencia battled it out for the RW position all last season and with Ashley Young and Van Persie also an option for the position, it seems that SAF has quite the headache in keeping all players happy and involved. Nobody seems to have been able to fully stamp their authority on the RB position since the departure of Gary Neville and even first choice Rafael gives concern to some fans with his sometimes rash actions, but none the less they remain light in this department and although Valencia is adept to playing there, he is much wasted in this position.

Michael Carrick at CB was perhaps the biggest shock, even though he did shift to CB at some points during the Pre-season, it was met with nervousness from most United fans, as Michael Carrick has attempted to deputise in the CB position before, during previous defender injury crisis's but has proved to be quite unconvincing and one dimensional, he is not renowned for his heading ability, nor a natural in this position and this showed against Everton, when it was his inability to win his header that led to the only goal of the goal from Fellaini.

SAF clearly believed it was better to play a more established player, irregardless of his inability to naturally play the position than field an lesser experienced player, with years of experience within that position, results would indicate that perhaps this was an error of judgement, but what do YOU think?