Ferguson: United were lucky

Even though Liverpool have started the campaign in exceptionally poor fashion, many United supporters still had their reservations ahead of the trip to Anfield on Sunday. It would be fair to say that such concerns were justified after United stuttered through to victory, with Sir Alex Ferguson even admitting that the Red Devils were poor and luck played a huge part in the win.

While opponents Liverpool may be rooted in the bottom three, the fact that they possess such a strong record over United at Anfield over recent seasons made many feel that this could be a huge banana skin. Moreover, when this was combined with the added emotion following the recent Hillsborough developments, there was no doubt that United approached this game with plenty of caution.

The fact that Liverpool played long periods of the game with ten men, following Jonjo Shelvey’s dismissal, made United’s performance look even poorer. While he is usually one of the first to defend his team, Ferguson afterwards admitted that the Red Devils had not played well and had been very lucky to steal the three points. He said, “We were very poor. Liverpool dominated the first half and we were lucky. In the second half, we had better statistics in terms of possession but we were playing against 10 men so that was disappointing.”

Despite the lucky circumstances, the victory still lifts United up to 2nd place in the table – one point behind leaders Chelsea. The fact that both teams have not really reached their peak but still sit in the top two is certainly interesting, especially as Manchester City have also made a slow start to the campaign as they sit in 7th. Nevertheless, United are continuing to show their ability to grind out results and with this game seeing the team come from behind to win for the fourth time this season, the omens are certainly looking good.

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WE STILL HAVE FAITH

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has said that he still has complete faith in Sir Alex Ferguson after seeing Manchester United failed to lift their 20th Premier league title this season. It is certainly not new for Manchester United failing to lift the trophy, but the way in which they lost the title this season will certainly disappoint a lot of Manchester United fans. The club had an eight point advantage over rivals Manchester City heading into the final few matches of the campaign, but losses against Wigan and Manchester City meant that they lost the title on goal difference. Sir Alex Ferguson said ahead of the penultimate match that if Manchester United lose the title this season, then it would be solely due to the 4-4 draw with Everton at Old Trafford.

Manchester United lost a two-goal lead twice in the match to give Manchester City a chance to go level on points with them in the Manchester derby that followed. Since then, the title has never really been in the grasp of United. Despite this, for defender Patrice Evra has said that he is extremely confident that Sir Alex Ferguson is right man to lead Manchester United in the forthcoming years as well. This is the first trophy last season for Manchester United in eight years.

‘I am not crazy. I won’t say that we’ve had a good season or we’ll be okay. Every player has to be better next season than we were this year, even if we haven’t been as poor as a lot of people say. Fans will want to see a few new players and I trust totally in the boss. He will do the right thing. There aren’t many players who can play for Manchester United and I know the boss will make the best decision,’ said Evra.