Manchester United Football Club News

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

• Ground:Old Trafford
• Capacity:68,174

No end to United's woes

20 Dec 2009 - 10:45:42

Click To Enlarge

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he is not sure when many of his first-choice Manchester United defenders will be able to return to action.

A makeshift United team slumped to a 3-0 loss at Fulham, their fifth defeat of the season, with players of the calibre of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand once again missing.

Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Ritchie De Laet were all forced to play in defence and they had little answer to the Cottagers' attacking flair.

A downbeat Ferguson admitted after the match: "The way the league is at the moment I hope today isn't too damaging. I hope it doesn't cost us the league.

"We'll have to get our defenders back to give us a proper chance of going for the league, there's no question of that. But if we get them back we'll be back in it.

"The quicker they're back the better. They're doing their best. The medical team and physios are working overtime to get them back. But there's no light at the end of the tunnel at the moment, that's for sure.

"There was a fragility at the back and we couldn't do anything about that. You have to have sympathy for the players in that respect.

"It's difficult to play midfielders at centre-back and Ritchie de Laet is only 21 years of age. He's not got the experience yet needed for these type of matches.

"Of course it was a terribly soft goal for the first one and that gave them the platform to build on. The goal after half-time took care of us. It was a poor decision by the referee for the third goal.

"To concede 20 seconds into the second half killed the game. We didn't anticipate that. The players are maybe feeling a bit sorry for themselves at the moment because of the situation they're in.

"But the quality of the football wasn't as good as it normally is. The fragile nature of the players at the back, with midfielders playing in defence, has left them feeling sorry for themselves a bit."