United's Carling Cup triumph last season was landmark victory in the club's history as the Reds retained a cup for the first time ever.

Sir Alex's men begin the defence of their trophy at Scunthorpe United's Glanford Park on Wednesday night and Paul Scholes says the squad have every intention of holding on to it.

"Last year we wanted to win it and it's the same this season," said the midfielder. "That's what you set out to do at the start of the competition.

"You get high intensity games in the Carling Cup. Maybe in other countries, cup competitions are not as important. Here you want to win every game.

"Going to Scunthorpe will be difficult. They are a good team at home and anything can happen at places like that. I hope we can get through this round and hopefully there is a nice Wembley final at the end."

Sir Alex has confirmed that his starting XI in the third round clash will feature a number of the squad's younger players who will gain both experience and much needed minutes on the clock.

"We have a lot of players in the squad and a lot of them need games," added Scholes.

"It's important to keep rotating the squad. It has been going on for 10 years now and it's something players have to get used to. You have 25 players and only 11 can play. We just have to be ready when called upon."

With a bulging mass of talent at his disposal, United's Carling Cup trip to Scunthorpe is a timely tonic for Sir Alex Ferguson.

The United manager can ring wholesale changes to his side as he seeks to placate and educate various action-starved squad members, while commencing another tilt at a competition the Reds have won twice in succession.

"We played a lot of young players last season and they all acquitted themselves well," Sir Alex told ManUtd.com. "We’ll do the same tomorrow at Scunthorpe. A lot of my young players will play. Bebe is training very well. He’ll be involved tomorrow night. Federico Macheda will as well.

"The Carling Cup’s served us well over the last few seasons - it allows me to keep everybody happy in terms of giving people games and we’ve reached the last two finals, which has its obvious advantages. Playing at Wembley and competing for medals on the big stage is terrific for players’ development."

Despite overcoming Aston Villa and Tottenham in the last two finals, the Reds' previous pair of Carling Cup campaigns were curtailed by underdogs. But even those early exits, against Coventry City and Southend United, provided valuable lessons.

"In retrospect, going out in the early rounds – like we did against Coventry and Southend – are good experiences, too, although we’d always prefer to win," admitted Sir Alex.

"I remember when Coventry came to Old Trafford and beat us. Our lads simply forgot it was a cup tie and forgot that the penalty for a poor performance was getting knocked out of the competition. Coventry, on the other hand, were very hungry and you have to say they deserved to win. That was a big lesson and that will help us tomorrow night."

Manchester United are taking a calculated gamble about the future of several key members of Sir Alex Ferguson's squad after bringing in a new policy about contract talks to save the club millions of pounds in wages.

Dimitar Berbatov, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Park Ji-sung are among the players who will be affected after the club's owners, the Glazer family, abandoned the old policy of initiating negotiations once a player is two years from the end of his contract.

Instead, the club are willing to delay contract talks until the player has only a year to go, a point at which his transfer value is already depreciating sharply. Previously, when the club operated as a plc., the club were eager to tie up players to new contracts with two years to spare, the idea being to demonstrate to their shareholders that the club were trying to protect their assets.

That no longer applies now the Glazers have control of the club and the Americans, together with the chief executive, David Gill, have decided it makes good business sense not to increase their wage bill any further if it is unnecessary. It runs the risk of United losing players for deflated transfer fees but the club are relaxed about that possibility, believing most, if not all, the players involved will want to stay at Old Trafford.

The policy is described as flexible, with each case being judged on its merit. Talks have already started, for instance, about offering Wayne Rooney a financial package that would make him the highest-paid player in the club's history, even though his current deal does not expire until 2012. Nemanja Vidic finalised a new contract at the start of the season and, once the Rooney negotiations are concluded, it is expected there will be discussions with Patrice Evra, who also has two years to go.

As for Berbatov, Fletcher, Carrick and Park, their position is not so clear and it may be that they have to wait until next summer before being offered new terms. In total, United have eight players out of contract in 2012, with Anderson and John O'Shea also among those not regarded as priorities.

The policy decision follows the Glazers' introduction of a new rule that stipulates the club will not buy players aged 26 or above for significantly large transfer fees, the reason being that they will have little or no re-sale value at the end of a contract taking them into their 30s. Dimitar Berbatov was signed from Tottenham Hotspur for £30.75m at the age of 27 two years ago but that was as an exception to the rule and, in the words of Gill, the "last of his kind".

Instead the club will continue to go down the route they took with Cristiano Ronaldo by trying to find young players who can develop into stars of the future. Their three summer signings – Chris Smalling, Javier Hernández and Bébé – all fit into this category, with the latter lined up to make his first appearance in the Carling Cup tie at Scunthorpe United tomorrow.

Federico Macheda will start in attack, probably alongside Michael Owen, with the former England international now relegated to the role of fifth-choice striker at Old Trafford. Anderson is also expected to make his first start of the season now that he has recovered from a cruciate ligament injury. The Brazilian's relationship with Ferguson has been strained at times over the last year but the United manager is hoping his player can re-establish himself in midfield, today being the two-year anniversary since the injury-plagued Owen Hargreaves last started a match.

Manchester United’s  Potuguese youngster Bebe will be handed his first taste of competitive action when he features in the Carling Cup at Scunthorpe.

But manager Sir Alex Ferguson will also hope that the Brazilian Anderson can continue his progress back towards his first team.

Certainly Ferguson and the United supporters who travel to Glanford Park to see their team begin their defence of the trophy will be keen to see how Bebe copes with a night of first team activity.

The United manager indicated that the 19-year-old would be involved at some stage.

Ferguson, however, was also mulling over a start for Anderson and if he does involve him - rather than save him for Sunday’s Barclays Premier League trip to Bolton - the United boss will anticipate further signs that the South American has recovered from the period last season when he almost gave up on life in England.

Having spent part of last January at home in Brazil considering his future, Anderson then suffered a knee ligament injury that ruled him out of the World Cup and - during his recovery - was involved in a late night car cash in Portugal.

Understandably, the 22-year-old has tested Ferguson ‘s patience during a time when - since the turn of the year - he has actually played just three times in the Premier League.

But United sources have indicated this week that Anderson’s stock has risen again recently with some senior players noticing an upturn in attitude from a player who is now in his third season at Old Trafford.

Ferguson - for his part - still believes that the player he bought from Porto can still become one of the best attacking midfield players in the world.

Anderson was a late substitute in United’s 3-2 win over Liverpool at the weekend - his first game since late February - and he indicated to Ferguson at the start of the week that he would like a longer run-out at Scunthorpe.

Ferguson suggested that his squad would be similar in composition to the ones that have lifted the trophy for the last two season.

That would suggest a mixture of young prospects such as Bebe and Federico Macheda and more experienced players like Michael Owen and Wes Brown.

The United manager said: 'We played alot of young players last season and they all acquitted themselves well.

'We will do the same at Scunthorpe. A lot of my young players will play. Bebe is training very well. He will be involved. Federico Macheda will aswell.

'The Carling Cup has served us well over the last few seasons as it allows me to give everybody happy in terms of giving people games.

'Playing at Wembley and competing for medals on the big stage is terrific for players’ development.'

Bebe is expected to operate down one side of United’s attack, though Ferguson has not indicated whether he will start the game. He has impressed some United players with his raw pace in training - with one player saying he is similarly quick to the French forward David Bellion who briefly played for the club between 2003 and 2005.

Ferguson also remains confident Bebe’s technical skills are sufficient to give him a chance of making it at Old Trafford.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's national federation has suspended Carlos Vela and Efrain Juarez for six months and fined 11 other players for violating its code of conduct.

The players threw a party at the team hotel in Monterrey after a friendly match against Colombia on Sept. 7.

The sanctions were announced at a news conference Tuesday by Nestor de La Torre, the director of national team selections for Mexico. He said Vela, who plays for Arsenal in the English Premier League, and Juarez, who plays for Celtic in Scotland, violated four rules from the code of conduct.

The players fined were Rafael Marquez, Javier Hernandez, Giovanni dos Santos, Guillermo Ochoa, Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido, Andres Guardado, Gerardo Torrado, Pablo Barrera, Hector Esqueda and Hector Moreno.

Tomasz Kuszczak has conceded he may have to quit Manchester United in order to play more regular first-team football.

The Polish goalkeeper joined United from West Brom in 2006, initially on loan, but has made just 52 appearances for the club.

He started last week's UEFA Champions League draw with Rangers and is expected to be in the team for Wednesday's Carling Cup tie at Scunthorpe United.

Kuszczak saw former team-mate Ben Foster leave United for Birmingham City over the summer following his lack of opportunities at Old Trafford.

It is a path that Kuszczak may also follow at the end of the season if he fails to dislodge Edwin van der Sar as United's first choice.

Years going by

"I could understand Ben's position," Kuszczak told the Manchester Evening News.

"He wanted to move because he wanted regular football and he wanted to play for England.

"But if I don't get enough games I will have to do the same as Ben.

"The years are going by and I will be 29 after this season. I want to enjoy football and I want to play."

So we could be looking to bring two instead of one GK in the summer? *assuming Amos will remains as 3rd GK * Or bring in a new #1, promote Amos to #2 and promote someone internally again for #3

did i hear joe hart for next season 

add- not to forget we have conor devlin in the reserve who could fill #3 but no official debut yet so far

The risk is on putting Amos as #2 when considering that he is still a young GK without much 1st team experiences 

So if we want an experienced #2 and Kuszczak indeed leaving then we might have no choice but to spend 

alien bro!!!the astro guide change to chelsea game liao!!!damn astro!!!

argh!!!!!!
that's bad.....
i just prepared everything for tonight game,
suddenly they change it to chelsea's game......
   

alien bro!!!the astro guide change to chelsea game liao!!!damn astro!!!

I know most of us here arent convince with Kuszczak, but I for one, believe he can take over from VDS the #1 spot.
But if we have to spend for a top GK, most of them are >26 and going to cost a lot of moneh. This is soo against Glazer's policy. Malcom Glazer wont like this

* But if I may allow myself some muppetry, get Rene Adler please! He is godlike in mah FM! *