Sir Alex Ferguson has branded as "over the top" criticism of
England coach Fabio Capello following the friendly defeat to
France.
The Three Lions went down 2-1 to Les Bleus at Wembley on
Wednesday night, with Peter Crouch netting a late consolation
following earlier efforts from Karim Benzema and Mathieu
Valbuena.
But Ferguson believes the defeat is understandable given so many
senior players were missing and Capello was blooding young players
in the game.
He said: "I think the criticism of Capello is over the top. If
Fabio had played all his strong hitters he would probably have got
a better result.
"But John Terry and Ashley Cole had withdrawn, while Frank
Lampard and Wayne Rooney weren't fit, so he had a lot of players
missing."
Liverpool are seeking £500,000 compensation from the FA after
skipper Steven Gerrard suffered a hamstring injury in the game
after playing beyond the agreed hour against France.
While Rio Ferdinand also picked up a groin injury and will not
be playing against Rangers in the Champions League on Wednesday,
although he played 90 minutes against Wigan, the United boss admits
he has no complaints as did not have an arrangement with
Capello.
He added: "Rio has a groin injury now and we won't be taking him
up to Glasgow to face Rangers in the Champions League on Wednesday,
I wouldn't think. But I had no arrangement with England about how
long my players would play.
"I am not surprised other clubs might have spoken about that as
it has happened in the past. I've done it with Sven-Goran Eriksson
and Terry Venables when they were in charge.
"I spoke to them and outlined the situation with certain
players, particularly when you get to March and have European ties
coming up.
"The present day national boss needs that flexibility to help
clubs, because we need to help each other.
"I've no complaints about what happened to Rio because you
accept injuries are part of the game. I don't know the situation
with Liverpool and how long was agreed that he would play, but you
can't be precise in these games.
"Don't forget, England were losing and now they are getting
hammered in the media for a friendly defeat.
"People are getting paranoid about friendly matches when Capello
has quite a few young players in there - Gibbs, Henderson, Carroll
and Ben Foster, playing his first game for a long time. It's over
the top."