Hughes 'under Pressure'

Sir Alex Ferguson has reiterated that he has few misgivings about Manchester City's immense new wealth, pointing out there are "no guarantees" Mark Hughes will be able to bring the team success now he is "under a bit of additional pressure".

Ferguson has dismissed City as "all talk" and made a comparison with Sunderland's Bank of England side, pointing out that they ended up being relegated in the 1950s. The Manchester United manager was unimpressed when he heard City's executive chairman Garry Cook talk about "being bigger" than their neighbors, and there was amusement at Old Trafford after Brighton humbled City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.

Ferguson said: "It's all very well having all the money but you can't buy everyone. It was proved in the summer. We didn't want to sell Ronaldo, other clubs don't want to sell their best players and there are only so many players you can buy. You can buy 11 individuals, you can buy 11 Robinhos, but it wouldn't be a team, would it?"

Robinho was allowed to miss Wednesday's game so he could fly to Brazil, in the words of the manager, to "organize a few things". He is expected back today or tomorrow but two long-haul flights are hardly ideal preparation for City's Sunday game against Wigan Athletic .

Ferguson is unlikely to have allowed one of his South American players to make such a trip, and he had further words of advice for Hughes. "Mark will be faced with the situation of having all this money and wondering what to do with it, and that can put you under additional pressure. The art of management is building a team with balance, with certain characteristics that blend with each other; that's the most important thing."

Manchester United face an anxious wait to discover which of their senior goalkeepers will be fit to face Bolton Wanderers tomorrow. Ben Foster is out with a sprained ankle while Edwin van der Sar and Tomasz Kuszczak have a bruised knee and a thigh strain respectively.

Ferguson hopes at least one of the latter pair, possibly both, will train today but his fourth-choice goalkeeper, the 18-year-old Ben Amos, is on standby.

Gareth Barry has said there were "no excuses" for Aston Villa's 1-0 home defeat by Queens Park Rangers in the Carling Cup, insisting the players selected should have been more than capable of overcoming a Championship side. The third-round tie was the fourth game in 10 days for Martin O'Neill's squad but Barry refused to blame fatigue. "It would be too easy to blame tiredness but the main thing is we had a team out there who were capable of winning the game, but we missed a few chances and it wasn't to be," he said.

The Football Association has charged Watford's manager, Adrian Boothroyd, with using abusive and/or insulting words towards the referee Stuart Attwell during Saturday's Championship game against Reading, who were awarded a goal when the ball went wide.