Fergie upbeat despite loss
22 Jan 2007 - 08:53:06
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped his side to bounce back following the 2-1 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
United looked set to go nine points clear at the top of the Premiership table when they led the Gunners 1-0 with seven minutes left, but late goals by Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry consigned United to only their third defeat of the season.
"There's big disappointment in the dressing room but, when I look at things now, I think the result and the experience of losing so late will be good for us," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"We have some important away games to come at places like Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City and, if we get into that winning position again, we won't be making mistakes like we made today again - I can tell you that for sure.
"We've lost two goals from positions where we didn't think we'd lose them. But that's football.
"After controlling the first half, we were in a good position and defending well. We had some good possession and probably should have done better with it, but these games are always difficult and you can never really dominate for 90 minutes in matches like this.
"After we scored we sat back about 10 yards and their long balls up towards Henry and Adebayor began to force us back a little bit. But I still couldn't see anything that was going to disturb us.
"I'm not scratching my head and worrying about form or anything like that. Yes, we're disappointed, but our form is good and, in Michael Carrick, I thought we had the best player on the pitch - he was absolutely magnificent.
"So with players like that in our side with good ability we know we're going to be okay. The funny thing is, we've now got a game less left to play and we're a goal better off after Chelsea's result at Liverpool, so it's not all doom and gloom."