Fergie hails 'massive' win

March 03, 2007

SHOWING THE WAY: Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez

UNITED manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes the last-gasp 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield was a "massive result" in the Premiership title race.

John O`Shea scored in injury time to put the Reds nine points ahead of Chelsea, who beat Portsmouth 2-0 in the late kick-off. It was against the run of play and the United boss admitted "Liverpool will feel very unlucky."

Ferguson told Sky Sports: "It was a fantastic result. We had a lot of narrow escapes and Liverpool upset our rhythm. They will feel very unlucky and they deserve to.

"It is a massive result for us. We broke away late on against Fulham and scored and now we`ve done it here. We`ve had that bit of luck in the last two weeks but you need luck if you are to win titles."

United midfielder Paul Scholes was sent off with four minutes left after swinging an arm at Xabi Alonso. He will now miss three games.

Ferguson said: " I'm not sure what happened with Scholes but it`s a disappointment for us."

Striker Wayne Rooney hobbled off clutching his thigh after a high tackle by Jamie Carragher. "It looks like a knee injury but we`ll have to see tomorrow," said the United chief.

Do you think United will win the title? Have your say.

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Sean, NYXMC (03/03/2007 at 15:55)

This is United's season. They'll deserve everything they win for the way they've played this year - and after somehow pulling of results like this (and Fulham), during what is our first real blip of the season, the gods are obviously with us. I think the treble might be a stretch, but I'll happily take a league and (either) cup double, which I really think is on the cards. Vidic was a bit wobbly today, but he won't face as intimidating an atmosphere as Anfield again this season (unless it's in the cup). Ferdinand was superb, as was Neville. I thought Carrick did OK, not wonderful, but not a bad performance by any stretch (although he's bound to be hammered here). I also think John O'Shea has earned the right (again) to be cut an awful lot of slack - he'll never score a more important goal than that if he plays until he's my age (or Teddy's)...

STEPHANINO BERTORATTI, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (03/03/2007 at 16:08)

YES, YES, YES! ANOTHER NAIL IN CHELSEA'S COFFIN.

bobbydazzler (03/03/2007 at 17:21)

saf is right it is a massive win.

Anthony, Hamilton,Ontario,Canada (03/03/2007 at 17:48)

It wasn't a fluke goal and as long as United win a massive away game like that who cares about giving a show. And the goal couldn't have happened to a better United servant, who never complains wherever and whenever he's told to play. You always need guys like that on any team. He's a real team player, that JOS. Ronaldo's freekick was well taken and it did what it was supposed to do, create confusion. But I do wish to see United elevate their game on Wednesday.I do wish that Scholes had thought his actions. This is not a good time to lose a player of his caliber.

COLIN, CANADA, Canada (03/03/2007 at 19:58)

What games does Scholes miss? Is he still eligible for Lille and the FA cup tie?
We rode lady luck today but we were away to a side with a fantastic home record so it was a good result. Fingers crossed for Rooney and I don't suppose the FA will take a look at Alonzo's nonsense causing Scholes to lash out. I would think Giggs would move inside with Carrick and play Ronny and Park wide while Scholes is cooling his heels.

karma2007, rochdale,greater manchester (03/03/2007 at 20:21)

colin canada theres no place in football for lashing out.
Deserved to see red it was a blatent swing to punch him.
No space in football for violence.

john blue (03/03/2007 at 20:55)

HAS ANYBODY ANY IDEA HOW OLD FERGIE"S OVERCOAT IS ?OR SHOULD I SAY ,CORPORAL JONES OUT OF DADS ARMY. DEAD RINGER.

Steve, Great Britain (03/03/2007 at 21:19)

What a relief to get this game over and done with. Before the game I would have been happy with a draw, during the game I was desperate to hang on for a draw, but once again, United steal the points. Cant wait to face all the Liverpool supporters in the office Monday. However, although this is a good result, there is a long way to go and 2 tradditional bogey teams coming up - Bolton and Blackburn.

We had 12 players on the pitch today - the 12th was luck and any champion winning team needs him on your side. You just never know...

Wolfie (04/03/2007 at 02:37)

A massive win, and nearly a massive heart attack in the process. The results are great these days, but it's not easy watching a team that is mainly absent and somehow pulls the rabbit out of the magic hat as people are preparing to go home. Can we keep this up against Lille, then in the FA Cup, and against lowly EPL sides in the final run-in?

Red Eyes, Manchester (04/03/2007 at 09:50)

So much rot has been said about the victory on the TV and in the press. The game was just a win against fierce rivals and I do not think that SAF or any player thinks anything is won yet! Indeed, the next few league games (Bolton, Blackburn and Portsmouth) will need as much resolve as the reds can muster. As for all the good fortune etc, lets keep things in perspective. VDS had only one o/s save to make from Crouch. It is not Uniteds' fault if shots are off target and pressure is with Liverpool. What do people expect at Anfield? They did not score. Period! The Saha trip was a clear penalty and I wonder what the ref would have done to Rooney had the bad challenge been done BY him and not TO him? It was 2 hours of tension but that is what happens to us at Anfield and we survived. The last few games have seen us recoup some of the fortune that was missing when we dominated games earlier and could not finish off teams or when we had those five 0-1 defeats when we had all the play in four of them (celtic, Kopenhagen, West Ham and even S'end). Chelsea are not going to give up and they definitely expected us to slip up at Liverpool so the result is a bonus in that regard. But we must keep going. Vida would have learned a lot on Saturday and Scholes was silly to lash out. Lets keep going Reds!!

Davey Boy, Kuwait (04/03/2007 at 10:27)

Any win at the home of the bindippers is massive, and who cares if it is not thoroughly deserved...would they!
This is a great result for us in the PL, and lets not forget that chelski had a good few of these results over their previous 2 PL wins...and you have to have a some luck over 38 games.
Although no individual brilliance good team effort and well done defensively we kept our shape as well as looking very dangerous on the break!
Brilliant lets have a full house on wednesday and frighten the french to death!

lordsullivan, manchester (04/03/2007 at 12:45)

look Mr Jose,can u please give the key to that ur title room and let me just collect what belongs to us the red devils.thanks alot

chris, oxford (04/03/2007 at 13:22)

It was a massive win no doubt, still nine games to go but yesterday was a huge step towards the title - lets hope we can push on without Scholes these next few games and cement our position.

Loyal to the End (31 years, City Fans, 31 years), Nottingham, ex-Malaysia (04/03/2007 at 14:03)

Let's not get carried away, there is still some way to go yet and for all the talk of the 12 point (now 9) gap, I can definitely see Chelsea closing it back to 6.. It's not over by far, simply because they're on the up when it comes to form whereas we seem to have lost some steam over the last couple of matches..

COLIN, CANADA, Canada (04/03/2007 at 19:27)

Karma, agree however, Alonzo was on a yellow and was holding Scholes all the way. That's a second yellow isn't it? Why would that not be reviewed as well? It ticks me off because players don't lash out for nothing. I know the ref didn't see the holding but he could at least have consulted with his linesman. Carragher's tackle on Roo was much worse than Schole's "ATTEMPTED SLAP" on Alonzo. Players know that a short fuse like Scholes or Rooney just needs a bit of holding, (a booking offence), so they take advantage. Carrick was being held all the way when he got his yellow. How many holding calls do you see during the course of a game? very few and it's the linesmen who are turning a bling eye to it in the name of letting the game flow. If we are honest with ourselves, Neville's tackle was a pretty bad one and could have been red. Anyway, just venting and yes I'm ticked at Scholes for reacting. We should see a reasonably strong side for Lille and slightly weaker for the FA cup tie as Alex has his eye firmly on winning the prem. Are we going through a bit of a slump or are we playing teams that view our matches as FA finals and really get up for us?

Kevin, Tralee, Eire (04/03/2007 at 20:40)

OK. Great to win against loserpool in such a sweet way, but now the hard work begins. Scholes misses the PL games against Bolton & Blackburn & make no mistake they are going to be tough games, hopefully Rooney just misses the CL & FA cup games after that "tackle" from Carragher, ( funny how Scholes gets sent off for a girly airslap, no way was that a punch, & JC gets away with assault )It starts to get tricky now because as the game against Reading proved we don't have strength in depth. If we were to have another few injuries or suspensions we could be in serious trouble. We have a pool of about 15 players you can count on to do a job, the rest are cannon fodder & would struggle to get into the aforementioned Reading team. Time to start crossing fingers & hope that nobody else gets hurt, squeaky bum time indeed!

Pepe (04/03/2007 at 20:49)

That was a penalty on Saha.... i even tought that he was injured. And at least a yellow card to Carrager on that kick to Rooney.

Nikolai, Norway (04/03/2007 at 21:36)

lordsullivan, manchester - Jose's wife keeps their silverware in her Fiat punto. That says the most of their winning history. It's been a while since my last visit on here. Not so much sparetime in the army. I've seen all the action though, and Im just as delighted as the rest of you. Im afraid to hope, but we really have to mess up to see the trophy slip, and I don't think we will see that happening. The fulham and liverpool games must be a sign for us. Can't wait to sing "We got our throphy back". Keep the red flag flying high boys ;)

manc abroad, OT (05/03/2007 at 07:00)

When Liverpool were winning Championships year after year, I used to stand in the Stretford End and see United play them off the field and lose 0-1 or draw. To see that on Saturday was sooooo good.

As people have said the Premiership is NOT won yet there is a long way to go. Chel$ki had their blip six weeks ago dropping points on the way. We are having ours now, but still gathering max point, (long may it last).

As for John O'Shea a boyhood fan of Liverpool, (like Ole), to score the goal in front of the kop. Class. Gary Neville's dream is score in front of the kop, (could you imagine that the scousers would riot).

Keane was right Sell Ronny (05/03/2007 at 08:27)

Wonderful result - another poor performance and hopefully getting Saha in the strating 11 will shake things in the right way. His demotion to the bench has been simply mystifying. Scholes loss is a significant concern especially as we enter the critical run in. Weve got some nasty games still to come - my bottom is squeaking already !!!

Reds4Ever, West Yorkshire (05/03/2007 at 08:31)

I always said that JOS was a great footballer! Wont hear a word said against him. What a finish!

Demo, Glossop (05/03/2007 at 10:22)

anything can happen in the next few games especially without our ginger magician! i think chelsea will close it to 6 points and the fact they half the points difference may give them extra motivation. Lets just hope we can continue to win win win! We were lucky to win but we should have had a penalty and like someone said it isnt our fault the mickeys didnt score

Macca, Cornwall (05/03/2007 at 12:14)

great win, hardly deserved as we all know but that doesnt bother anybody im sure. the form of the team is a slight worry, but then we were never going to dominate liverpool at anfield. it does show though how easily our title hopes could be hit though when rooney got that knock, if it was proove to be really serious and with larrson going home and ole's injury it would make us look very lightweight up front. Hopefully it isn't serious. our next 3 games are vital against 'bogey' teams blackburn and bolton, but we should have no troubles at home.

Alias Smith, over the moon (05/03/2007 at 12:53)

Demo, it IS our fault Liverpool didn't score - Rio and VdS were particularly "at fault" on that score! It is nice to have home games for three of the next four, expect to see an immediate return to form, the team will be boosted by Saturday's result and really up to give Lille a trouncing!

Demo, Glossop (05/03/2007 at 14:09)

Alias your right but there were a few occasions in which scouse house could have scored like when the ball was played across goal and kuyt could have slid at the back post but he didnt. But when it counted vds and rio had them in the pocket! Rio merks liverpool again!

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