Five Reasons Why Ferguson Didn't Start Rooney & Chicharito

Sir Alex Ferguson took an enormous gamble by not starting either Wayne Rooney or Javier Hernandez in Manchester United's 1-1 draw against Liverpool, but there were a few reasons for that decision.

Did Fergie have reasons for the line-up against Liverpool?

Right on cue, and like he has done on so many occasions before, Chicharito spared the Gaffer's blushes with a late equalizer against the Scousers, which heightened the questions of his exclusion from the game.

Before the game even kicked off, Ferguson openly admitted that there were reasons why he selected the team he did, as he revealed Rooney's head wasn't right, but there were five other

1. Rightfully, the majority of the supporters are madly in love with the infectiousness of Chicharito's play, but they are completely dismissing the fine form of Danny Welbeck in the process. Through the first eight games of the season, the 20-year old has scored five goals in his first real senior season at United.

2. Another reason why Hernandez may have been left on the bench is that he has scored nine goals from 21 appearances from the substitutes' bench - the highest goals-to-appearance ratio in the club's, even better than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In games like this, the young Mexican might be better used from the bench, especially with the formation that needed to be used.

3. There was no question that Liverpool were going to play a 4-5-1, and Sir Alex couldn't risk having his midfield being overran like it was in the previous two matches against the Scousers (FA Cup in January -before Steven Gerrard's red - and then the 3-1 loss at Anfield last March). More proof that this was weighing heavily on his mind, Ferguson finally played Phil Jones in the center midfield with Darren Fletcher, which meant a striker would have to be sacrificed.

4. As you could see by his play when he came on, and because of his three-match ban for England, Rooney was not in the right frame of mind to play against Liverpool. The United No. 10 has never hid his hatred for Liverpool and the opposite is true, as well. For some reason or another, Sir Alex doesn't trust how his best player actions - or reactions for that matter - against either Merseyside rival, Liverpool and Everton.

5. With five games in 14 days, Ferguson is going to be forced to rotate his squad, which was clearly evident that he was doing it against Liverpool. Five of the best players - Dimitar Berbatov, Javier Hernandez, Nani, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic - from last season were either left completely out of the squad or reduced to a role as a substitute.

As much criticism as he is bound to get, Sir Alex Ferguson had his reasoning as to why he left of Manchester United's starting XI - but, thankfully, they came away from this game with Liverpool with a point.