Giggs wants quick response from United players

Ryan Giggs has demanded an instant response from Manchester United after suffering yet another body blow to their Premier League title aspirations.

Good enough to smash five past Bayer Leverkusen in one of the all-time great European performances barely a week ago, Wednesday’s 1-0 home defeat by Everton means they have collected just two points from their past three games.

They currently lie ninth in the table and their tally of 22 points from 14 games represents their worst return since the start of the 2001-02 campaign, when they ended up finishing third, 10 behind champions Arsenal.

It is not what United imagined the situation would be despite the obvious upheaval created by Alex Ferguson’s exit and everyone at Old Trafford recognises the form must be reversed quickly if the club are to stand any hope of retaining their crown.

“We have to pick ourselves up,” said Giggs.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves for too long. We have a home game against Newcastle on Saturday and hopefully we will get a different result. We were on a pretty good run. We just have to get over this disappointment now and get on another.”

As he is also a member of David Moyes’ coaching team, Giggs knows where United’s present problems lie. Again on Wednesday, they were guilty of wasting opportunities, which left them vulnerable to a late goal, which duly arrived when makeshift full-back Antonio Valencia failed to track Bryan Oviedo, leaving the Costa Rican unmarked at the far post to finish off Romelu Lukaku’s mis-hit shot.

It leaves United 12 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and five behind Liverpool, who occupy the final Champions League berth.

But Giggs is not panicking. “The gap is bridgeable,” said the veteran Welshman.

“Hopefully we can start picking up points again but we will get a better idea come the new year.”