Fergie longs for 'stable' defence

Alex Ferguson has put sorting out his defence top of his list of priorities for this summer.

The Manchester United manager accepts his leaky backline was one of the main reasons why the erstwhile champions finished a ‘lowly’ third last season.

United conceded 45 goals during their unsuccessful league campaign their highest total ever in a Premiership season.

Ferguson said: ‘‘I think in fairness we have to address the defensive situation and make sure we are in a stable situation there.

‘‘If we get that we will have a marvellous chance. That’s a priority for us.’’

Ferguson has already started to rebuild his defence and he has released Denis Irwin and Ronny Johnsen, while he also hopes to persuade Laurent Blanc to remain for another season.

Even if Blanc stays, he will still want a new centre-half and another full-back.

Ferguson’s dream is to form another centre-half partnership which would be as durable and effective as Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister were.

Ferguson is nowhere near that and last season he fielded 17 different pairings at the heart of his defence.

He claims this was down to injuries to key players and he said on MUTV: ‘‘I always think when the Bruce-Pallister partnership broke up we were never quite the same again.

‘‘Those two stalwarts played four to five years together, hardly missing a game. That continuity and understanding is something I would love to have again.

‘‘If you look at the centre-back situation, Jaap Stam was out for six months with an Achilles, Ronny

Johnsen has had numerous injuries over the years, Wes Brown has had a cruciate, while Gary Neville is injured at the moment.

‘‘Until we get a stable partnership then you are going to get this kind of inconsistency.’’