Ferguson may have lost Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Yet that only increases his selection dilemmas.

For, while the likes of Nani, Park Ji-sung and Zoran Tosic might have understood if they were left out of the Red Devils starting line-up in favour of the world footballer of the year, they will probably not be as comfortable sitting on the sidelines now he is no longer there.

And it is even worse in central midfield, where Michael Carrick, Anderson, Darren Fletcher, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes will compete for two spaces, knowing Owen Hargreaves could be back in a few weeks' time to generate even more competition.

"I still have the same problems," Ferguson said.

"We have so many options my door will be worn out by the end of the year."

Ferguson is in fact scrambling around for defenders to face Birmingham tomorrow as United begin their quest to become the first side in English football history to win four titles on the trot.

Wes Brown looks set to be pressed into action after a recent thigh problem as Jonny Evans looks like joining Nemanja Vidic and Gary Neville on the sidelines after aggravating an ankle injury on international duty earlier this week.

The hole left by Ronaldo is huge. Fellow countryman Nani will possibly get the first chance to fill it, although new signings Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen are both eager to make their marks against Alex McLeish's side as well.

United have begun the last two domestic campaigns with goalless draws against sides - Reading and Newcastle - who went on to get relegated.

Ferguson would be unhappy if his team suffered a third successive opening day setback as they chase a four successive championship, if only because he expects the title to be a tightly-fought affair.

"You could put a blanket over ourselves, Chelsea and Liverpool," he said.

"What may decide it is if one club gets a run of injuries, or a lot of them at one time.

"We have more experience because of winning the titles but it doesn't make that much difference in terms of the competition we are going to get into.

"To win four in a row would be fantastic. But this is a difficult league is to win and rather than look to May I am looking at Sunday."