Sir Alex Ferguson Unfazed By Lost European Record

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was not overly concerned by his youthful team's 1-0 Champions League defeat at the hands of Besiktas.

The loss ended United's European run of 23 matches unbeaten at Old Trafford and they still need a point to top Group B.

But Ferguson, who made eight changes to the side that beat Everton on Saturday, said: "I think we were a bit anxious but it's not a bad thing.

"They're young and you expect them to make mistakes."

And he added: "It was a strong showing in terms of the flow of the game."

United lost to a long-range Rodrigo Tello strike that was helped on its way past goalkeeper Ben Foster by a Rafael da Silva deflection.

They had long periods of possession but, despite two good efforts from Gabriel Obertan, the hosts only came really close to equalising in stoppage time when they had a penalty shout before veteran Besiktas keeper Rustu made two superb saves.

"We've shown some really good things tonight," stated Ferguson. "That's encouraging but at the end of the day we just didn't get the result we needed."

It was also United's first home defeat of the season but the Scot said he would consider using a similar team against Wolfsburg on 8 December.

"We'll see how our programme is going at the time but I'd be confident in these players," added Ferguson.

Substitute Patrice Evra was the man who was brought down in the penalty area late on and Ferguson was certain his team should have been rewarded.

He said: "It's a penalty kick - that's two games in a row they have denied us stonewall penalties but what can you do about it?"

"In the second half Besiktas went very defensive, they stopped the game and played out time. It's difficult for young players to understand that but it's a good experience for them."