Boss Praises Priceless Pair

Sir Alex Ferguson pinpointed the tireless work done by Ji-sung Park and Darren Fletcher against Liverpool as being crucial to United’s 2-1 win over our foes from down the East Lancs road.

Park struck the winning goal with his daring diving header in the second half, while Fletcher added another fine display to his already impressive portfolio of big-match performances.

”Ji-sung was fantastic,” said Sir Alex. “He’s one of these players that we can give him roles to play and he does it because of his control and discipline. We found another role for him [against Liverpool], which was slightly different to the one he played against Milan, but nonetheless he did a really important job for us. He’s such a brave little lad that his courage got him the goal.”

Fletcher was equally omnipresent all over the pitch and Sir Alex was quick to pay tribute to the work his fellow Scot did. “His work-rate is fantastic, and his natural energy is important,” said the boss. “He’s got such a light frame, too, but he covers every inch of ground and does a really important job for us. It’s interesting that we’ve lost the last three games to Liverpool and Darren has missed all of them, twice with flu once with injury.”

The United boss was also pleased with the performances of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. Despite the early blip of allowing an unmarked Fernando Torres to head Liverpool in front, the central defensive pair was rock-solid at the back.

”It was good to see them looking fresh,” he said. “It was only their eighth game together, but having them back to that form gives us a great hope for the rest of the season.”