Carrick blow for United

Carrick: Ankle injury

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will miss the start of the new season along with Rio Ferdinand and Anderson.

England international Carrick sustained an ankle injury in United's 7-1 success over an Airtricity League XI in Dublin on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old former Tottenham and West Ham ace limped from the field after little more than half an hour after twisting his ankle.

Although the injury is not thought to be too serious, manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed it is bad enough to rule him out of their season-opener against Newcastle.

"Michael hurt his ankle on Wednesday," said Ferguson, who thinks the midfielder will be out of action for two weeks.

"It is nothing serious but he will be out for a couple of weeks, so he will miss the start of the season."

Meanwhile, Ferguson has also confirmed that defender Ferdinand is still a few weeks from returning to training along with Brazilian midfielder Anderson.

Ferdinand damaged his knee ahead of the summer's World Cup finals while Anderson, who has been recovering from knee surgery, also suffered a car crash last week.

"Rio is still well behind," he continued. "It'll be a few weeks before he is back amongst us. Anderson is making good progress and he will be training in two weeks."