Fergie: We deserve criticism for hat-trick of failures
Published 22:39 23/12/11 By David McDonnell
Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Manchester United deserved criticism after under-performing in the first half of the season.
United are just two points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City, but they were humiliated 6-1 at Old Trafford by Roberto Mancini’s side and failed to make it out of the group stage of the Champions League.
Add to that a home defeat to Championship side Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup and Ferguson acknowledged he and his players had brought flak on themselves.
“The criticism has been understandable when you lose a derby game 6-1, get knocked out of the Carling Cup by Crystal Palace and lose to Basel, who are not a real power in Europe,” said Ferguson. “You can understand the criticism but in terms of the nature of the kind of player we have, the kind of club we are, we’ve got the resilience and determination to do something about it each time.
“That shows the character of the team. In a normal season we lose games but the games we’ve lost this season have been a bit more dramatic and emphatic in the sense of the impact it’s had on our chances of winning trophies.
“We’re out of the Champions League, out of the League Cup and lost to the local neighbours, City, in a derby game. These are bad results for us, but the character of the team has rescued us each time.
“Last season the focus was on our bad away form but the home form rescued us. We haven’t had any away defeats and you wonder what’s happened here because it’s a really tough league.”
Spurs and Chelsea’s 1-1 draw has seen City and United break away from the pack at the top. United take on Wigan at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and Ferguson said: “At this moment in time, everyone thinks it will be one and two for Manchester.
“But come March things change and you only need to go back over the years to see how dramatic it can be. We surrendered an 11-point lead to Arsenal and we managed to claw back a 12-point deficit to Newcastle.
“Last year Chelsea were 10 points clear in November and they ended up losing it.”
Defender Phil Jones has been given the all-clear after coming off at Fulham with a suspected broken cheekbone but winger Ashley Young will be out for several weeks after picking up an injury in the same game.
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