Manchester United legend Lou Macari has urged supporters to trust Sir Alex Ferguson's judgement in the build-up to their Barclays Premier League title defence.

After finishing last term with Champions League silverware to go alongside their domestic success, United headed into the summer with confidence.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo's long-running link with Real Madrid undermined such belief almost immediately and now the newly-committed Portugal winger is among a growing number of senior stars who will definitely miss next week's opener with Newcastle.

Apart from Ronaldo, who will be out until October following an ankle operation, the virus Wayne Rooney picked up in Nigeria looks certain to keep him on the sidelines.

In addition, Park Ji-sung (knee), Nani (suspended) and Anderson (Olympics) will be missing, Owen Hargreaves, Ben Foster, Michael Carrick and Gary Neville are major doubts as well, while Louis Saha appears to have been written out of Sir Alex Ferguson's plans.

"I am sure the manager will have the matter in hand and find a way round it," said Macari.

"In the past he has signed people like Eric Cantona and Henrik Larsson when no-one anticipated it and he is capable of doing again."

However, Macari does accept Ferguson has a problem, particularly up front where Carlos Tevez is the only fit senior star.

Ronaldo's extended absence has almost been overlooked amid the furore over his future plans but his 42 goals are going to be difficult to replace.

"It is only two months but Cristiano could score a lot of goals in that time," said Macari.

"The manager knows he will be missing and now it seems Wayne Rooney, who would be the person you looked to as the person who could shoulder that burden, will be out as well.

"It makes it very difficult for the manager because ideally he would not want to be putting someone like Ryan Giggs up front."

It could mean a surprise elevation for Fraizer Campbell, who was expecting to be loaned back to Hull following his return from United's pre-season tour of South Africa.

Instead Campbell will be on the bench, and could even start Sunday's Community Shield tussle with Portsmouth at Wembley.

"The indications were Frazier was going to Hull, which would probably have been fantastic for his development, but there is no chance of that happening now," said Macari.

"Sir Alex will have no hesitation putting him into the team if he thinks the lad is good enough. It is a big if but the manager has been around long enough to know."

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