Will Power

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sir Alex: Errors Were Costly

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Blackburn’s defending while bemoaning his own side’s errors after United slipped to a 3-2 defeat against bottom-of-the-league Rovers on New Year’s Eve.

On the manager’s 70th birthday the Reds went two goals behind before rallying to equalise, only to ship a third goal with 10 minutes to play.

“It's a disappointment. We never expected that,” Sir Alex told ESPN. “We've lost two terrible goals and you can't do that in games like this.

“You can expect Blackburn to put up that sort of fight, though. They were resilient, they defended well, blocked shots on the line. They did that all day. But if you lose goals like that it gives them a big opportunity to hang on.”

The visitors were certainly under the cosh from the first whistle. United enjoyed 63 per cent possession, won 17 corners and fashioned 27 attempts at goal, forcing Blackburn players into making an incredible nine blocks, 20 interceptions and 74 clearances.

What those statistics don’t show, however, is the sluggish nature of the Reds’ play, particularly in the first half.

“We found the speed of the pitch difficult,” the manager said. “We've had really heavy rain the whole week and it's made the pitch very boggy. It was difficult to get the speed of our passing up.

“But in the second half we rallied and got back to 2-2. I thought at that point we were a certainty to win it.”

Anderson’s introduction at half-time – sent on for Javier Hernandez – helped inject urgency into the side, but with the Brazilian having missed United’s last 11 fixtures, it was a substitution Sir Alex had hoped he wouldn’t have to make.

“We have a lot of injuries at the moment and I had to take a gamble on Anderson's fitness,” he explained. “He's been training very well for 10 days but it was his first game back and it wasn't easy for him. But he didn't let us down. He did his best.”

The defeat means United will end 2011 in second place, trailing crosstown rivals Manchester City. But Sir Alex is still confident the Reds will have a major say in where the Barclays Premier League trophy ends up come May.

“We know we can improve on today's performance,” he said. “We won't get many like that. I'm confident we'll give it [the title] a real go.”