SCREAMING kids and squalling babies may have been taking their toll on Manchester United - until Sir Alex Ferguson introduced a new matchday regime.

And since the derby defeat by Manchester City last month, the Reds have been checking into a hotel on the day of home games, a routine which they only used to go through for away games.

The United boss has been increasingly concerned that the distractions of family life may have been affecting the focus of some of his top-line players.

Young families

Several top-name players, such as David Beckham, Wes Brown, Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Mikael Silvestre, have very young families - which invariably means disturbed sleep, and an extra workload.

Since instituting the new regime, the Reds have not looked back, beating Newcastle, Arsenal and Deportivo La Coruna in home games - so the new routine looks to be here to stay.

The Reds also booked into hotels for the short hops to Liverpool and Burnley - and it helped to bring two more wins.

The matter came to a head when United lost the derby match to Manchester City last month - and Fergie had a long meeting with his assistant Carlos Queiroz in a bid to pinpoint the reasons behind the Reds' slump in form.

Queiroz is used to spending much longer in the company of players in the run-up to matches, during his time as coach to the Portuguese youth and national squads, and as South Africa coach.

Continental approach

They decided that a more Continental-style approach might benefit the team - big European clubs take their players away for two or three-day training camps in the build-up to every match.

Now the Reds book into a local hotel on the morning of home Champions League games, and even stayed overnight for the Premiership clash with Arsenal last week, which had a 12.15 kick off.

For evening games, the Reds are checked in during the morning and are sent to their rooms to sleep in the afternoon.

The Reds are believed to have been using the Airport Marriott in Hale and the Mottram Hall Hotel in Cheshire, both of which are also regular golf haunts for the United stars and Fergie.

But golf - and even snooker - are not on the agenda for the pre-match get-togethers.

Fergie believes that on the day of a game his players should be totally rested and relaxed, and that even rules out a walk around a snooker table, which Fergie feels can waste nervous and competitive energy, as well as taking the edge off a player physically.

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