"Louis and Alan are both champing at the bit," Ferguson has told the Evening News.
"Saha had a good comeback and Smith has been substitute a few times recently, so both are desperate for a first-team game. I think I should utilise the squad we have. It is not about issuing a warning about places prior to the FA Cup semi-final a week on Sunday."
Ferguson believes he asked too much of van Nistelrooy:
"In fairness to Ruud it wasn't right to play him last week against Blackburn Rovers," says the United manager. He had two internationals for Holland, and had travelled to Romania before flying back to Holland and then to Manchester. He didn't get back here until Friday morning. After being out for so long, asking him to play after two internationals was just too much."
"We took a chance bringing him back originally when we did after his three months out with the Achilles problem. When you are playing AC Milan and you think of Ruud's goalscoring record in Europe, we had no option really. But it was too early. He was probably a couple of weeks away from a comeback."