United's hopes of qualifying for the last 16 will go down to the final round of Group C games after their Portuguese visitors moved into the driving seat at the summit thanks to an unexpected point.
United fell behind early on through Phil Jones' own goal, but equalised on the half-hour through Dimitar Berbatov and then went in front through Darren Fletcher.
But Pablo Aimar secured a point for Benfica after goalkeeper David De Gea's poor clearance caused chaos in the United defence, to leave Ferguson's men needing at least a point from their trip to Basle next month to make it into the knockout stage.
Ferguson told Sky Sports 4: "It was very disappointing. A bit freakish to be honest with you - an own goal and then a bad kick out from David De Gea.
"The passback could have been a little bit better but David should just have played it into the stands.
"But we played so well tonight, made some good chances and played some good football.
"I've no fault with my players at all - we deserved better.
"It's a cruel game at times and it was cruel for us tonight."
Click here for the match report
Ferguson felt the early own goal - coming after just three minutes - unsettled his players.
"We had a bad start and it takes the wind from your sails a little bit, but once they got into the game they played really well and we should have been maybe two or three up at half-time," he said.
United now look unlikely to top the group, with Benfica expected to pick up three points from their final game against Romanian minnows Otelul Galati.
And Ferguson's men must avoid defeat in their tricky trip to Basle - with the Swiss side just one point behind and hungry to cause a major upset.
"It's going to be a hard game," said Ferguson of the of the December 7 showdown.
"The chips are down for us but I have every confidence in my team."
What do you think? Have your say. Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Good Performance?!! Who are you kidding...I understand you might be trying to keep moral up in the squad but positive critisism is also good.
i went tonight poor start then bad second goal to give away-two open goals missed by berbs and da silva and deserved to win but hey thats life. ive just heard that the 20 city fans who went to Napoli are now in their taxis and on the way to the airport. Italian police said they have seen more people in a pizza shop! lol
SAF, it was not freakish moments. It was Manchester United played horrible. With this performance, good luck in the round of 16...
A cruel loss indeed and the cruelest part is still coming in the wave of negativity from the chicken little brigad who call them selves supporters.
r7
Set plays were below standards. Crossing passes were off the mark the entire game. Valencia hasn't been the same since his major injury and Young's form was better at the beginning of the season. And by the way Benfica played well enough to share the points.
A better ebb and flow to the game than against Swansea. Once Berba (who surely must hold his place) and Carrick took control in the second half it should have been game over. We were let down by poor defensive errors but should still qualify.
They had their good moments but the back 4 weren't good, Jones looked out of his depth at times and Fabio looked a bit suspect on defence. Valencia did not offer much and really should not have played. Nani was the only one who really caused problems for Benfica.
Rio doesn't need to be in these games. Smalling and Jones now. Definitely need a midfield buy in January. Where the hell was Anderson? Poor tactics. We are at home for christ's sake we should be attacking in a 4-4-2. He'll go for a cautious approach in Switzerland and I wouldn't be surprised to see us get caught out..
A letter to SAF,
There is nothing cruel about this result, if we CAN'T beat Basel at OT, what makes you think that you can beat a much better team in Benfica. Benfica deserves the point as much as we do, afterall, Berbatov's goal was offside which means that our portuguese visitors should have won.
Can you tell me how many passback to De Gea in this entire match? From what I have observed in the past month and half, there has been too many passback from our outfield players to the keepers. That is a significance that you possess so many deadwoods in the team whom CAN'T create opening or space for themselves. This enables opponent to press our players hard and force them to passback to keeper who has not fully settled in England. This puts pressure on De Gea. Why we bought this keeper when we have Lindegaard, I have no Idea. Lindegaard showed better poise during the summer tour in USA and has been awesome in the few matches he has played so far this season. We should not have paid 18 mil without given Lindegaard a chance. Look SAF, I am not saying that De Gea is not a talented young keeper. He might as well be a legend at OT in the future but what we needed badly in this team was 2 to 3 QUALITY central midfielders in the Summer. This is not money well spent. The 18 mil spent on De Gea should have gone a long ways in bringing either Christian Eriksen, Sahin or another creative or holding midfielder out there. I am not blaming De Gea for how the team is playing at the moment. Even De Gea must be wondering why he choose a team that passes so many ball backward. I bet you De Gea hasn't seen so many passbacks in his entire spanish career than he has in his few months with United. The outfielders are making De Gea look very bad and this might affect his confidence. Don't understand why Phil Jones didn't put the ball out of touch instead of passback to keeper. Numerous times in these past month and half, the rate of passback to our keeper has grown steadily. It says a lot about the quality we possess. I wonder if there is a STATISTICS on passback to keeper and if there was, United will be on top or near the top of the league table. It is quite a shame, SAF that the team is deteriorating right before your very old age eyes. Can't wait for your retirement. Not only will I cry about losing a manger with great achievement with United, I will also cry with excitement that you are gone.
Not suprise one bit about the result of this match, we have struggled since Norwich's game at OT really. All our wins have been nail-biting wins. Nothing fancy. Some fans might say 3-point is 3-point no matter how the job is done. All I will say to those fans is, "Look very closely at the England national team "Three-Lions". The very moment you start appreciating mediocrity, that's the very moment United will start resembling the Three-Lions"
Am hoping that Basel does us in or that we are paired with Real Madrid or Barcelona or any other teams for that matter since we can't beat Basel at OT in the second round. We have no business in Europe this year and can't see us past Q-final. All I can hope for is for youth team to get older and wiser. Can wait to see W. Keane, Morrison, Tunicliffe, Pogba and co. I would prefer that we play these kids and win nothing for the next 2 years than watch dreadful performance one week after the other. Nuf Said.
Yours truly,
Dalek Supreme ;(
Agree , thought we played much better tonight and deserved to win .
Rilo
Exiled Droylsden Red
Although Carrick and Fletcher played well I feel we were undone by not having a world class midfield engine room. Both our lads were great but for me I'd have Fletcher in
there with a truly creative and agressive attach minded midfielder. Every team we play,
even though we usually win, they have a better midfield than we do. I hate to say it but
without the Roonerator in midfield, Scholesy gone, Cleverly injured, we are just not as good a team. Not that not having a world class midfield won't stop Fergie from winning everything, he's that good regardless of the players at his disposal. But for the fans,
for all that money our fans put out, we should have a known and experienced center mid that never would have allowed us to be pinned back like that in the early going.
Up the Reds!
Sorry! Not to make any Man U fans angry..but to be honest Man U have struggle to perform well in their group matches and none of the results was impressive, although they are still undefeated. Look like they have to settle 2nd in the group...Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona await them in the 2nd round.
i hold my hands up i am Carrick and Fletch biggest critic but apart from the usual odd passes going astray i thought they and all the team did really well , heart and soul was put into the game by all of them . I never thought we d get a win as i still think we must address the midfield , against european teams it sticks out a mile , compare their sharp crisp passing to ours. The ball needs to get into the box quicker for BERB to do more damage , lets hope we do a better job in BASLE than we did at home RTID
So much for "MORE TO COMES"..I guess we pay the price for average performances of late and our luck just ran out sooner rather than later. The result just show to us that we are no better a team than last season.
did i spell brigade wrong? sorry! cluck on naysayers...OMG the sky is...
r7
I've had enough of this, THERE IS NO DEPTH IN DEFENCE! Ferguson has taken his trust in young defenders (and goalies) too far and they make mistakes. Surely we have to sign some more experienced cover defenders in Jan or else it will be a long season.
Sometimes I'm not sure whether getting rid of JOS and Wes was a good idea.
I agree with SAF. We did have some great spells in the match.
Overall it was poor by our 'expected' standards, but never the less this wasn't our best XI.
Keep in mind, some of these players are either out of form, or inexperienced.
Remeber what happend without Roo 2 seasons ago vs B.Munich?
Let's stop with the negative already, I'm sure Fergie see's it.
He is the greatest manager of all time.
Excellent performance from 20th to 61st minute. Carrick was excellent but ran out of steam which is to be expected given he is not match fit. Poor campaign so far as we should be home and hosed and looking forward to Pogba and Morrison playing in Basle! Now for Newcastle and here's to hoping the dippers put in a shift on Sunday....... God that feels so wrong!
rio, what a waste of space. get rid
cruel result ? to win games you have to deserve it a little bit we didnt poor defending and a no energy midfield i really dont see a great future ahead on current form morrison + pogba have to figure soon surely, there are a few who need to be put out to pasture im afraid
Not good enough, AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sleeping for the first 10 minutes and inexperience from Jones, Fabio and a poor clearance from DeGea cost us dearly. That aside, it was a million miles better from the dross we've witnessed since the city game. It was a performance, and they've been missing recently. Lack of match practice showed with Berba and Young but both worked their socks off. Nani played well. Valencia tried hard, but again needs more games. Fletch was more like the Fletch of old and Carrick was outstanding (not his biggest fan, but I try to judge people on the game and not let moronic pundits and commentators make my mind up for me). The inexperience of Jones, Fabio and DeGea without Vidic in there is still a worry. Rio did well and Evra (first goal aside) played a captain's part. Benfica are streets ahead of Norwich, Everton and Swansea, so our performance level had to improve and it did. Injuries though are killing us, as we are getting no continuity. Congratulations lads on a performance of real conviction, heart and belief. We're getting there.
By the way I had a serious punt (for me anyway) on Cavani to be top scorer in the Copa America last summer. He got injured early on and never did himself justice. I'd just like to say; "Edinson, all is forgiven".
Midfield
its a good job the linesman was fast asleep when berbatov scored from an offside position otherwise we may have lost.
What to do for Fergie to accept his retirement ?