Rio urges United to tighten up

Rio Ferdinand has demanded Manchester United sort their defensive problems out before they start to eat away at their season.

Though United’s 4-3 victory over Newcastle allowed them to open up a massive seven-point lead on Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, conceding another three goals at Old Trafford on St Stephen’s Day drew more anxious words from Alex Ferguson.

Incredibly, the Red Devils have now conceded 28 goals this season, only five fewer than QPR who arelanguishing at the foot of the table.

To put that into context, at the half way point of the campaign, they have now exceeded the number of goals they conceded in three of their most recent title-winning seasons — 2007, 2008 and 2009. In all competitions, that figure now stands at 40, during which time they have kept just four clean sheets.

In addition, they have now gone behind 16 times, 11 of which have ended in victories.

They are quite shuddering statistics. And everyone in the United camp admits they must be corrected.

“We are concerned,” said Ferdinand.

“When you are conceding goals at any level you want to put it to a stop. This season we have let in far too many goals and we need to change that.

“We need to make a big effort now to push on. We are in a good position but if we are to maintain where we are, we need to sort ourselves out.”

Ferdinand’s words were echoed by central defensive colleague Jonny Evans, who feels it is only a matter of time before United finally resolve their defensive issues.

“We know what is going on,” he said. “Defending is a mindset. You have to be mentally prepared to defend and want to defend.

“We just sort of been concentrating too much on scoring goals. Instead of getting off to good starts we have killed ourselves a little bit by conceding sloppy goals.

“The good thing is we are scoring, which is the hardest part of football.

“We have been doing that freely so I am sure the more simple part of keeping clean sheets will come naturally to us.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, will not face punishment for confronting referee Mike Dean at Old Trafford, the Football Association has confirmed.

The Scot was furious after Dean overruled assistant Jake Collin and awarded Newcastle’s second goal.

The FA have confirmed no action will be taken against the Red Devils boss as Dean made no reference to Ferguson confronting him in his report. Ferguson approached Dean as he made his way out for the second half, before rounding on the fourth official Neil Swarbrick and Collin.

Ferguson was furious that Dean allowed an Evans own goal to stand after Collin had flagged for offside against Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse.

Ferguson said: “The referee changed the linesman’s mind. I think it was a bad decision.”

The Premier League issued a clarification, backing Dean’s decision, confirming that “as Cisse did not play the ball, then he was not interfering with play”.

United forward Bebe has joined Rio Ave on loan, the Portuguese side have announced. Bebe moved to United in a surprise £7.4 million deal from Vitoria Guimaraes in 2010 but struggled to make an impact at Old Trafford and joined Turkish side Besiktas on a season-long loan in June 2011.

Bebe, who Ferguson later admitted was the first player he had signed without having even seen him play on television, made just a handful of appearances for Besiktas before suffering a serious knee injury on Portugal U21 duty that sidelined him for most of last season.

The Portuguese forward, now 22, insists he is fully fit and raring to go at Rio Ave, telling the club website: “I’m ready to play and pleased to wear the Rio Ave shirt. I’m fine physically, I was always training and playing. It’s good to come here and I want to show what I can do.”