CRUSHED champions Manchester United, who have never finished lower than second place in a Premiership season, are now languishing in ninth position 11 points behind leaders Liverpool who have a game in hand.

And the 1-0 home defeat to West Ham left Sir Alex Ferguson downcast, saying: ‘‘You could say we deserved something out of the game. Their goalkeeper had a fantastic game.

‘‘The first half was a disappointment because we never got the tempo going and allowed them to dictate the passing in the match. We hardly got a challenge in and didn’t squeeze the game like we did on Wednesday, so the focus we had on Wednesday against Boavista was lost.

'Clear penalty'

‘‘I thought it was a clear penalty kick for Dwight in the first half, but then Paul Durkin never gives us a penalty kick no matter what the circumstances are. In the FA Cup tie last year he turned down two diabolical handballs against us so he has just continued that today.

‘‘I was disappointed with him. He used to be a good referee but not now.’’

Ferguson’s decision to rest £58m worth of summer purchases with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Veron not even making the bench rebounded on him.

But the United manager defended his policy and insisted 11-goal leading scorer van Nistelrooy, in particular, needed a breather.

‘‘Ruud was very, very tired on Thursday morning and it is not surprising because he has come into the English game and has played a lot of football when he has really been off for a year before he came to us.

“He needed a break,’’ explained Fergie.