Manchester United Football Club News

• Nickname:Red Devils
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Sir Alex Ferguson

• Ground:Old Trafford
• Capacity:68,174

Fergie backs referee Dean

30 Aug 2009 - 10:39:02

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson refused to concede that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty in Saturday evening's thrilling 2-1 victory for his side at Old Trafford.

The Gunners were furious when referee Mike Dean refused to rule that Darren Fletcher had brought Andrei Arshavin down inside the penalty area, but Ferguson could not see what all the fuss was about.

Indeed the veteran Scottish manager thought Fletcher had been the best player on the pitch as United ended the Gunners' winning start to the campaign.

He said "Darren was outstanding. It was a marvellous performance and he's a big game player.

"Clearly Darren got the ball in the first half and the referee was ten yards away. He got the ball and the ref got it right.

"Wayne (Rooney) had a fantastic second half but I'd give man of the match to Darren, although we had a lot of good players in the second half.

"One down at half-time, it's always an uphill task against a team of Arsenal's capabilities. We had to dig deep and I think in fairness we really did perform well in the second half.

"Last season we lost four points to Arsenal and six to Liverpool. You have to try to correct these things as best you can."