United retreat to lick their wounds

THE consequences of Manchester United’s spectacular act of self-destruction at Fulham will become clear in the fullness of time but you know there must be something wrong at Old Trafford when Alex Ferguson greets an international break with something approaching relief.

Ferguson is a past master at protecting his squad from the pressures that build during the final weeks of a title race but even he knows that, right now, the best place for them is out of sight and mind.

For two weeks the focus will shift from speculation about whether United are losing their nerve and onto the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. The distraction couldn’t have been better timed. During that fortnight, Ferguson will have time to analyse what has happened in the course of a week to turn his cocksure team into a bunch of anxious, petulant wrecks.

Having been embarrassed by Liverpool seven days previously, this was not the time to incur back-to-back defeats for the first time in 147 Premier League games.

The dismissals of Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney at either end of the game — both avoidable — provided the manager with the opportunity to divert attention away from his side’s stuttering, half-baked display and towards that of referee Phil Dowd though, he admitted his side simply hadn’t been up to it.

The fall-out of defeat was immediately limited by Chelsea’s failure to take advantage at Tottenham, but Liverpool’s coruscating display against Aston Villa yesterday will only have deepened Ferguson’s worry-lines. The only consolation is that an increasingly bedraggled Villa are the next visitors to Old Trafford, although the Scot will have to mastermind victory without the suspended Scholes, Rooney and Nemanja Vidic.

That is not misfortune: that is sheer carelessness on the parts of players who should know much better. By then, Rooney will also know whether he will receive further punishment for the tirade of abuse he directed at Dowd after being shown a second yellow card, and the right hook he threw at the corner flag on his way off the pitch.

Already cautioned for a foul on Olivier Dacourt, the forward had cause to feel hard done by when he was booked for throwing the ball back to team-mate Ryan Giggs when a quick free-kick was called back shortly after Zoltan Gera’s late second goal.

Rooney’s frustration was under- standable but it was also predictable and he will always run the risk of punishment until he learns that some referees don’t take kindly to his snarling demonstrations of dissent.

Rooney had offered more after coming on as a half-time substitute than most of his team-mates managed in the a full 90 minutes.

Quite what happened during the first half is anybody’s guess but there was only one side chasing, harrying, moving and causing all kinds of problems to the opposition and for once, it wasn’t United.

Scholes’ impetuous decision to turn goalkeeper to deny Bobby Zamora’s goal-bound header conceded a one-man advantage and a penalty — duly dispatched by Danny Murphy — after just 17 minutes.

“Scholesy’s sending off dealt us a double blow because we were down to ten men and Fulham were awarded a penalty,” said Giggs. “We had to arrange our shape a little bit differently. We didn’t get going in the first half — our passing was sloppy and our movement wasn’t good enough. We just couldn’t get it going.”

Unfortunately Giggs was as guilty as the rest of his team-mates and it was only the introduction of Rooney that jolted United into anything approaching their usual fluency. Certainly there was no inspiration to be found from Cristiano Ronaldo who spent more time running through his repertoire of pouts than his tricks.

When he did apply himself in the second half, he rounded full-back John Pantsil to create his side’s best chance of the match for Ji-Sung Park who was denied by Mark Schwarzer.

United’s efforts became more frantic but then Gera and Andrew Johnson combined in a sharp break that culminated with the Hungarian’s acrobatic volley securing the points.

“We didn’t expect that result, it’s better than them winning,” said Giggs, after hearing of Chelsea’s later defeat.

“We’ve got to do our own job, not worry about the teams around us. It’s still in our hands.”

That may be the case, but it won’t be for long if this display is repeated

REFEREE: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 7: Ferguson blamed the referee for Rooney’s dismissal but it was hard to disagree with Dowd’s view that he had shown dissent.

MATCH RATING: **** Fulham’s outstanding performance was over-shadowed by Scholes and Rooney’s sendings-off.