Shinji Kagawa picked up a knee knock versus Braga

Versus Braga, it was another wild affair for Manchester United. I suppose heart attack 3-2 wins, when of course ignoring health considerations, is more joyful than grinding out consistent 1-0 victories (like during the cold of last winter). There was a casualty though from last night's cardiac arrest entertaining affair at the 'Theatre of Dreams' -- playmaker Shinji Kagawa sustained a knee injury. Here's what manager Sir Alex Ferguson had to say about the player he substituted off after half-time:

"Shinji twisted his knee. We had to take him off. He struggled on for 20 minutes after he got the injury. We'll assess it in the morning as it's too early to say what the damage is. I was confident the diamond would be important for us but, when you're 2-0 down, it's easy for them to kill the game by playing it out wide. So we had to change things with Nani on the right and [Wayne] Rooney on the left. Kagawa's injury forced my hand to play Nani as a wide player and it made a difference in terms of their possession."

- Ferguson | Source: ManUtd.com

Kagawa impressed early in the season for United but he's failed to make an impression since then. That's far from an indictment though because his quality and class is clear. Perhaps, at the moment, it's a bit of a compatibility issue. Exposing him in shuttling role might be as dire as asking Anderson to have only one plate at the buffet.

Going forward, we have monstrous ties at the next two weekends when we trek down to London for a clash with Chelsea and then when we host Arsenal at Old Trafford. It's been an acclimation process for our Japanese playmaker, and perhaps it won't be a bad thing to hold him out for these tense ties. Wayne Rooney is our other between the lines playmaker and he's in fine form at the moment. Let him go battle these English encounters and with the congested fixture list that follows, let Kagawa continue his adjustment to England -- or perhaps let manager Sir Alex Ferguson find a better way to fit in his talented Japanese attacker.