Ferguson praises injury-ravaged United

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has praised his side for overcoming an injury crisis to beat Wigan 5-0 on Boxing Day.

A hat-trick for Dimitar Berbatov and goals from Park Ji-Sung and Antonio Valencia sealed the victory for the Red Devils, who fielded a makeshift back four including the Ecuadorian, Michael Carrick and, later, young substitute Zeki Fryers.

“The result pleases me considering the fact that we had 10 players missing today,” Ferguson told Sky Sports News.

“We certainly had to (show strength in depth) today. We had to stand up and be counted because it’s built up over these past few days.”

“Chris Smalling and Phil Jones went down with illness and then Rio (Ferdinand) felt his back in training yesterday.”

“I thought he (Ferdinand) may have been able to play – he wanted to play – but those three were missing within a matter of hours, so that was a bad blow.”

“We had to start thinking about the best way to formulate a back four. I was tempted to play Rafael da Silva at right-back, but bearing in mind height was a factor as well as experience, so we stood by Antonio Valencia as our man.”

One of the match’s major talking points was the first-half sending-off of Wigan forward Conor Sammon when the score was only 1-0, with referee Phil Dowd having judged that the striker had elbowed Carrick when jostling to win the ball.

“Well, he’s a big, aggressive lad and he threw a hand. I don’t think it was intentional – I think he’s caught him with a hand in the face rather than an elbow,” Ferguson said.

“I think that with challenges like that, you’re taking a little bit of a risk, but it was a bit harsh – I have to say it was a bit harsh.”

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez went further than Ferguson, saying it was a “shocking decision” from Dowd to dismiss Sammon.

“The red card is a shocking decision,” Martinez said. “I was surprised when he gave the free-kick and gobsmacked he gave a red card.”

“It was an incredible call. It happened on every single ball Carrick and Sammon were fighting for. Berbatov used the same technique in the box for a goal and it was allowed.”

“If you want to give decisions like that, then we will end with five or six players on each team. I think football is a contact sport and you need to measure what is a foul and what’s not.”

“I thought the fans of Manchester United and Wigan deserved a bigger challenge on the pitch today but we didn’t get the big calls.”