Source: Telegraph
Manchester United v Besiktas: Sir Alex Ferguson defends Ben Foster the unfortunate
Foster, whose campaign has been marred by high-profile errors against Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland, was beaten by a deflected 30-yard shot from Rodrigo Tello after 20 minutes of this Group B fixture. The defeat leaves United requiring a point against Wolfsburg in Germany on Dec 8 to secure top spot in the group. [LNB]Despite Foster's failure to keep out Tello's long-range effort, Ferguson claimed the goalkeeper was powerless to prevent the goal. "It was a bad deflection and it made us have to chase the game," he said. "The shot was probably going a foot to his [Foster's] right-hand side, but it took a wicked deflection off Rafael."[LNB] Related ArticlesManchester United 0 Besiktas 1Champions League actionChampions League tablesChampions League fixturesSport on televisionPeter Schmeichel endured his fair share of goalkeeping mishaps during his eight years as Manchester United's No 1, so Foster is hardly alone in suffering in the Old Trafford spotlight. [LNB]As Ferguson recalled only last week while attempting to defend Foster, Schmeichel had his moments, including one against Leeds when he "missed a cross by three days and Lee Chapman headed it into an empty net".[LNB]Foster can at least console himself with the knowledge that even United's greatest keeper had days when he performed like Massimo Taibi, the Italian whose brief career at Old Trafford marked him out as undoubtedly the worst. [LNB]When Schmeichel made a mistake, though, he blamed somebody else. Always. No matter whether he was 100 per cent at fault, it was Steve Bruce or Gary Pallister, Jaap Stam or Ronny Johnsen who were subjected to the goalkeeper's fury. [LNB]Foster is the polar opposite. When he commits an error that results in a goal, he just stares blankly into space, his eyes betraying the fear of a dressing down in the changing room. [LNB]Perhaps Foster needs to develop the Dane's nasty streak before he can seriously contemplate becoming first choice for United and England. [LNB]At 26, Foster was an old head in a United team whose average age against Besiktas was 24 years - a figure distorted by the presence of old stagers Gary Neville (34) and Wes Brown (30). [LNB]Youngsters such as Danny Welbeck, Federico Macheda and Gabriel Obertan did enough to suggest that they can carve out successful careers in a United shirt, despite this defeat. [LNB]"The young players were a bit anxious, which is understandable in a way, when they're only 18, 19 and 20 years of age," Ferguson said. "It's not the biggest fault in the world. The important thing is they showed a good level of performance."[LNB]United should have been awarded a penalty when Patrice Evra was bundled over in the 86th minute. The French referee, Stéphane Lannoy, dismissed United's appeals, a decision which prompted Ferguson once more to criticise the performance of match officials. "We can't seem to get these penalty kicks," he said. "It should have been a penalty kick. [LNB]"That's two games in a row we've been denied a stonewall penalty in Europe. It's not in the spirit of the game, but what can you do about it?"[LNB]
