Fergie fury as Boro bash United

ANGRY Alex Ferguson turned on his defenders in the aftermath of the shambolic 4-1 defeat at Middlesbrough and warned a repeat performance against Lille on Wednesday would probably end Manchester United’s Champions League quest.

Rarely in almost 19 years as Old Trafford boss has Ferguson presided over such a woeful display.

Once they fell behind to Gaizka Mendieta’s second-minute strike, United were totally over-run. In the end, they were reduced to a shapeless rabble and were fortunate the margin of defeat was not much greater by the final whistle.

And though Edwin van der Sar could be fingered as the culprit for the opener as he let Mendieta’s dipping 30-yard effort slip through his fingers, there is no doubting which area of his side Ferguson felt was responsible for the embarrassment.

“Defensively, I was very disappointed,” said the Scot. “The second and third goals were terrible ones to concede at this level. I would have to see the first one again but if you give players a free shot from that range, you are not helping the goalkeeper.

“All we have done is given encouragement to Lille. They will be really buoyed when they see this result. We will get a reaction, that is without question. It is my job to see that happens.

“But we also have to try to stay positive and make sure we don’t make the same defensive mistakes again because if we do, we will be out.”

Ferguson’s view is slightly alarmist given United will still have two Group D matches to play after their visit to the Stade de France but it gives an indication of how irritated he was by the result, which left the Red Devils 13 points adrift of leaders Chelsea, who visit Old Trafford next Sunday.

As the more experienced members of his back four, Rio Ferdinand, Mikael Silvestre and John O’Shea should shoulder most of the blame.

O’Shea’s distribution was poor throughout, while Ferdinand and Silvestre never looked remotely comfortable dealing with the twin threat of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Aiyegbeni Yakubu.

Ferdinand has already been dropped by England once this season and with Sol Campbell fit again, another axing could be on the cards for next month’s friendly with Argentina.

The ease with which the £29 million (42 million) defender was shrugged off the ball by Hasselbaink in the build-up to Boro’s second was shocking for a player of Ferdinand’s impressive physique and if Ferguson had a full compliment of defenders available, the former West Ham star might struggle to retain his place on Wednesday.

Instead, he is likely to end up as captain, almost by default, in a side lacking notable leaders in Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Gabriel Heinze and Paul Scholes.

After setting his side the target of beating Boro and Lille to ensure they face Chelsea in confident mood, Ferguson is now re-adjusting his sights.

If he genuinely fears what might happen in the French capital without drastic improvement, his worries over the visit of Chelsea must be magnified tenfold.

“We have to try to beat everyone,” said Ferguson.

“At the moment, no-one is putting together any kind of consistent form which would provide a challenge to Chelsea.

“I think a lot of people are hoping we are the team who can beat them and, of course, with the ability in our team, that is certainly possible. But we have to do better than we did at Middlesbrough because on that form, we couldn’t beat anyone.”

The visitors’ agony was only magnified by the knowledge the man instigating the damage was one of their own, Ferguson’s former assistant Steve McClaren, who has now taken points off United in each of the five Premiership campaigns since he quit Old Trafford for Teesside.

“We imposed our system on them from the first whistle and dominated the midfield. In the end, they had to change the way they played and that gave us the upper hand for the rest of the game,” said McClaren.

And in Gaizka Mendieta, Boro boasted the game’s undoubted star. The veteran Spaniard ran the show from start to finish, opening the scoring for Boro and completing it before Cristiano Ronaldo’s late consolation.

“Gaizka is back to his best,” said a beaming McClaren. “He has been threatening that kind of performance for a number of weeks now and no-one deserves it more after all the work he has put in over the past year to come back from injury.”

McClaren shared a private post-match drink with Ferguson, who the Boro boss said had “accepted defeat like a gentleman.”

Opta Fact: Middlesbrough have never kept a Premiership clean sheet at home to Manchester United in 11 attempts.

Opta Fact: Ronaldo scored Man Utd’s 1,000th goal in Premiership history.