'Pull your fingers out', storms Ferguson as United's title bid falters

05 April 2009 12:25
Sir Alex Ferguson has declared it is time for his depleted squad to 'pull their fingers out' to avoid another Manchester United title collapse. Ferguson issued his warning as United take on Aston Villa today after losing their last two league games. United were odds-on title favourites at the beginning of the year but defeats by Liverpool and Fulham have conjured up memories of 1998, when Ferguson's team surrendered a 13-point lead to Arsenal. The United manager, who will have to do without Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Owen Hargreaves today, said: 'We had a couple of discussions with the players about all the nonsense of being supposedly untouchable. 'We hoped it wouldn't have an impact on us. Now the realisation has come all of a sudden that we've lost that nice, comfortable lead and we have to pull our fingers out. Our focus has to be back on winning the next game.' United had an eight point lead just over a month ago but have wobbled in recent games, most notably the 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool. Ferguson will be forced to start with Carlos Tevez today, even though the striker returned from Argentina only on Friday. 'Tevez is used to the long-haul flights,' said the boss. 'He has done it many times, coming back on the Friday and then playing well at the weekend. I can also play Ryan Giggs or Cristiano Ronaldo through the middle while Danny Welbeck will be on the bench at least.'

Source: Daily_Mail