Fergie fumes at sloppy defending

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has blasted the sloppy defending that has almost certainly ended any hope of his team retaining their Premiership title.

Five days after their Champions League hopes were destroyed by Porto, the calamitous 4-1 defeat to bitter Mancunian rivals City at Eastlands leaves the Red Devils with virtually no chance of making up a deficit on Arsenal that has now extended to 12 points.

Though they enjoyed long periods of dominance and really should have been in front at half-time, United suffered their biggest defeat since the 5-0 hammering by Chelsea four years ago.

Once more, their performance was undermined by slip-shod defending, the worst example of which was Mikael Silvestre’s complete lack of concentration that saw him mis-control a hopeful lofted pass from Paul Bosvelt and let in Trevor Sinclair for City’s match-sealing third.

“It was the kind of sloppy defending that has been endemic in our play over the last couple of months,” fumed the Scot, whose side’s only chance of silverware this season rests on them winning their FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal on April 3.

“At that stage, whoever got the next goal was going to win the game.

“We are not even doing the simple things like clearing our lines and getting it away. We are just being far too hesitant.

“I know what people are saying about the title but there is a lot of football left yet and what we have to concentrate on is getting our own form right.

“Once we do that, we will find ourselves in a much healthier position.

“We can’t do anything about anyone until we get our own form right and at the moment it is not good enough.”

Having failed to keep a clean sheet in the Premiership since the goalless draw with Newcastle on January 11, United suffered an instant setback when Robbie Fowler nipped in front of Phil Neville, brought down Antoine Sibierski’s near post flick with one deft touch and nicked it past Tim Howard with a second.

United rallied but it was City who grabbed a second through former Old Trafford trainee Jon Macken, who swivelled onto Claudio Reyna’s pass and saw his volley fly through Silvestre’s legs and into the net.

Paul Scholes replied almost immediately but, though they dominated either side of the interval, United could not take their chances.

Cristiano Ronaldo twice struck the woodwork, so when Silvestre made his blunder, Sinclair’s effort sealed the contest.

At 3-1, City had equalled the scoreline from the corresponding fixture 12 months ago but in stoppage time, Shaun Wright-Phillips increased United’s misery.

He fired home an angled drive as the Blues recorded back-to-back home wins over the old enemy for the first time in 23 years and at the same time registered only their second home victory this season.

“This win is more special than last year because we needed to rest the ghost of this stadium,” said Keegan, whose team have now moved six points clear of the relegation zone.

“We have only won two games here and we have played so well at times that you start to wonder that there is something wrong with the place. If there is a curse, it has been lifted today.”

The intensity of the Premiership being what it is, the obituaries on United are probably already written but Keegan warned anyone considering writing Ferguson and his team off to think again.

“The idea of Sir Alex Ferguson going through a tough time is different to the idea of me finding it tough,” he said.

“They are still an outstanding team, with some outstanding players and will have a say in anything that goes on in this country for the next five or 10 years, or as long as Sir Alex Ferguson is still there.”