Source: SKY_Sports
Fergie defends team selection
Sir Alex Ferguson has defended his team selection for the FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley on Sunday.
Manchester United began the game without recognised stars such as Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo while Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher were deemed unfit.
Other first teamers such as Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra had to make do with a place on the bench as Rafael da Silva, brother Fabio, Darren Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda all got the nod to start.
The average age of the starting XI was an astonishing 22 as the Red Devils lost 4-2 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes.
"I wanted to play the team I picked yesterday," he told Sky Sports News.
"The reservations was the height of the team and the experience factor whether we were asking too much of the young ones.
Mind made-up
"But when I saw the pitch on Saturday and saw the game against Chelsea and Arsenal that's the reason.
"We had some reservations beforehand and that made my mind up that we definitely picked the right team."
The United boss believes that the different events that are staged at the national stadium which cause the pitch to be constantly taken up is the reason behind its poor surface.
"The issue for the FA is of course from what I can gather it's used for other things," he added.
"They take the pitch up and use it for other things so obviously if they are changing the pitch all the time it's difficult to bed it down and make
it a true pitch.
"It looked to me on Saturday to be heavy and slow and that was a feeling that all my players felt in our game, spongy, dead."
Despite the criticism he received for fielding a much weaker side and ultimately missing out on a place in the final, Ferguson revealed he was pleased with the performance of his young players.
Pleased with performance"We are pleased with the young boys' contribution," he highlighted.
"We should have won it but that's the issue with Wembley there's very few games where there's a lot of goals
"That for a spectator's point of view it's a lot of money and I worried about that issue, I worried about it after the Tottenham game.
"But I am pleased for young players of that experience and I am quite pleased with their contribution."
