Tim Cahill and Rafael battle for the ball as the
Wembley pitch visibly cuts up
Sir Alex Ferguson blamed a dodgy Wembley pitch for his
decision to play a reserve team in an FA Cup semi-final. The United
manager pointed the finger at Wembley, echoing complaints of the
weekend's other semi-final loser, Arsenal boss Arsene
Wenger.
Ferguson said: 'We had a team picked after Wednesday's game in
Porto but when I saw the pitch yesterday I didn't want to go into
extra time with our strongest squad. 'I couldn't let that happen
because of the affect it could have.
'We had to take the bold decision of going with the younger ones
but Berbatov and Scholes would have started, possibly Evra,
too.
'Looking at the pitch, it looked dead and today it looked the
same. It looked spongey and dead and difficult to move the ball
about quickly. 'You'd think the lights would help the growth and
standard of the pitch, but it looked dead to me. You couldn't risk
it.'
Victorious Everton manager David Moyes agreed with Ferguson,
suggesting that the pitch may need to be ripped up. Moyes said:
'It's very difficult to explain. The pitch is spongey, there's no
speed, and it's all very slow. It's as if it needs the soil
underneath taking out.'
The pitch certainly contributed to a drab game but the FA have
dashed any hopes of it being better for next month's final.
Jagielka, who was to score the winning kick in the shoot-out,
admitted later that he did foul the United youngster. 'I touched
him but I do not know how much it caused him to go down. The
penalty was not given, so maybe we were a bit lucky.'
Ferguson suggested that Riley may have been influenced by Moyes'
suggestion that the official was a United fan. Ferguson said: 'All
that nonsense about him being a United fan was really ridiculous.
Somebody filled David Moyes' head full of nonsense about it and it
was used in the press conference. 'It can play on a referee's mind.
I've no idea if it affected his decision but you never know, it
might have. I hope not.'
Everton defender Jagielka had to be persuaded to take a penalty.
The former Sheffield United player, who missed one in a UEFA Cup
shootout against Fiorentina last season, said: 'I didn't know what
I was doing when I got up there but I am glad it went in.'
Everton captain Phil Neville revealed that he felt compelled to
take his kick, which he scored. He said: 'I had not taken one since
I was 11 and I missed that one. But I had been practising.'