Sir Alex Ferguson laments scheduling

Dead_Man_Inc SG

Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United were ‘the better team’ despite being humbled 4-1 by title rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford.

The Reds reduced the deficit at the top of the table to four points, with their biggest away win against United since 1936.

But Ferguson was in no mood to be charitable after the game and insisted the match did not reflect the emphatic scoreline.

"It is a hard one to take because I felt we were the better team," he said.

"That is not reflected in the scoreline and quite rightly, when you win 4-1 you get all the plaudits. I can't deny that."

But the United boss has called on his players to bounce back from the defeat and continue their title charge.

The Red Devils have a game in hand over their rivals and Ferguson insists they are still in the box seat.

“There is no complacency on our part," added Ferguson.

"We have lost a game. We need to respond and that is what we will do.

"If the league started now and we had a four-point start I would take it.”

[J]erry SG

haiz.. nvm.. lose a lose, still -3 points

don't worry la saf.. liverpool might u know what next game =.=

alwaysdisturbed SG

thats vidiculous.

skythewood SG

he talking about shot on goals, shot on target... Man U had more... Just never scored...

But Man U won alot of games 1-0 that way, quite tycho, now lose one big one to ease back the tycho balance, ok also...

SexyChin SG

man u got less shots on target.

dragg SG

man u looked lost.

liverpool again proved they over depend on gerrard and torres.

kopiosatu SG

this is like CM

attack like crazy but the computer shoot 4 times, score 4 times.

gasband SG

Whatever better team. Lose lah is lose lah.

Chris88110 SG

Whatever better team. Lose lah is lose lah.

Yeah, for once i think even though united might have been the better team, which i think is unlikely, this is still humiliating

iceFatboy SG

Yeah, for once i think even though united might have been the better team, which i think is unlikely, this is still humiliating

well, be it 1-4, or 1-10, it is still 3points.

to be fair, only the last goal speaks of quality, the remaining 4 were all defensive mistakes, nothing to cheer about.

but kudos to Poo for taking advantage and winning on the day.

zocoss SG

Sir Alex Ferguson refused to speak to Sky Sports after Manchester United’s 4-1 defeat by Liverpool on Saturday in protest at the 12.45pm kick-off time, which he believes gave the Merseyside club an unfair advantage.

Liverpool’s victory was the biggest by an away team at Old Trafford since Queens Park Rangers won by the same scoreline on New Year’s Day 1992, but, as Rafael BenÍtez and his players were celebrating a result that gave them a glimmer of hope in the Barclays Premier League title race, Ferguson was making a silent protest at the scheduling of the game. His gripe was that United, having played the second leg of their Champions League tie against Inter Milan on Wednesday night, had only 2½ days to prepare for one of their biggest games of the Premier League campaign. Liverpool had an extra 24 hours, having beaten Real Madrid 4-0 on Tuesday evening.

BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster that is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, was quick to identify the United-Liverpool fixture as one of its live matches for the weekend, but kick-off times are not finalised without the agreement of both clubs, the Premier League and the local police. Greater Manchester Police recommended that, because of the clubs involved, the match should start at lunchtime rather than, for example, the 5.30pm slot on a Saturday or 4pm on a Sunday. Ferguson is thought to have wanted the game at Sunday lunchtime, particularly as neither team have a fixture midweek.

Oddly, Ferguson does not appear to have used this as an excuse for his team’s abject performance. In an interview with MUTV, the club’s television station, he said that his team “kept driving on and showed good energy, even though we only had 2½ days to prepare for the match”.

United remain strong favourites to win a third successive Premier League title. They still have a game in hand over Chelsea and Liverpool, whose wins at the weekend mean that the gap is down to four points.

But Steven Gerrard, the captain of the Merseyside club, believes that Saturday’s result could change the complexion of the title race. “I hope this result gives other teams belief that they can beat United,” Gerrard said, adding that, in Fernando Torres, Liverpool have the best centre forward in the world.

Javier Mascherano, the Liverpool midfield player, believes that his team will have to win all nine of their remaining games to have a chance of winning the title and that, even then, United would have to drop points. “I don’t know if we can win the league,” Mascherano said. “We don’t need to think about the title race right now. We just need to keep this form going. It would be wrong of us to start talking about being in the title race again because, if United don’t lose, it will be really difficult to catch them. We need to win all our games.

“The problem is that we have dropped a lot of important points at home. We have spoken about this in the dressing-room. When you lose points at Anfield to Hull and Manchester City and other teams like that, you have to be disappointed, but even more so now we have gone to Old Trafford and won so well. All we can do now is keep going. There are still nine games to go. We need to win every game to have a chance.”

iceFatboy SG

SAF just sore..

I think the game vs Inter at san siro was the key, but hey, lets' move on.