Ferguson: One of our best ever performances

Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Manchester United's dominant 2-0 win at Schalke as one of the club's finest European performances under his lengthy stewardship.

A stunning display by Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer kept the semi-final tie alive ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford but the German side will need to produce an incredible turnaround to take advantage of his heroics based on the flow of Tuesday night's clash.

United's ineffective finishing, which left them scoreless until Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney struck in quick succession midway through the second half, could be the only criticism of an impressive outing. United's defence largely restricted Schalke to hopeful long-range attempts as Ferguson's team became the first side to complete an entire set of Champions League away games without conceding a goal.

"The concentration issue is important away from home in Europe,'' Ferguson said. "It is a different tempo at times and requires really good concentration. Credit to the players. They have shown that throughout the campaign. But over the past two or three years we have got a way of playing in Europe away from home. It requires some experience of course. The most important thing is to have confidence in possession of the ball."

There has been much discussion about how the current United squad stacks up against some of Ferguson's other groups, with the success of the current crop widely put down more to their collective mentality and their manager's expert rotation than the showy superstars of previous eras.

That argument aside, Ferguson was convinced his current team produced a European performance to match any other in his time at Old Trafford.

"Overall I was delighted. It was a top performance. We have had some fantastic performances in Europe during my time. Juventus in Juventus in 1999 obviously will always be high on the list but this certainly ranks as one of the best.''

Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick could only reflect on a disastrous night for his team, with only Neuer emerging with any real credit, even in the coach's eyes.

"We started quite well. Then it all went wrong,'' he said. "We gave them too much space and could have been behind by three goals at half-time if it had not been for Manuel Neuer. He is the best goalkeeper in the world but you don't need this performance to confirm that. If you see his development over the last few years he is absolutely top class.

"But for the goals, we just stood around and watched. You can't do that. We are not going to capitulate though. Manchester United have a better chance to reach the final but strange things happen in football. However, we do need to improve.''

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Ferguson ready to end German hoodoo

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United are ready to end their run of Champions League exits at the hands of German clubs, as the Premier League leaders prepare to face Schalke in this season's semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

Ferguson's side have suffered knockout defeats against Bayern Munich (twice), Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in recent memory - with the latter two both ending United's Champions League dream at the semi-final stage, in 1997 and 2002 respectively.

Most recently, Bayern knocked United out of last season's competition en route to the final, triumphing on away goals after winning 2-1 in Munich and losing 3-2 at Old Trafford.

United do, of course, also have fond memories of facing German opposition having beaten Bayern in dramatic circumstances in the 1999 final, while they also defeated Wolfsburg home and away last season.

And Ferguson believes United are fully equipped to exorcise their German knockout demons when they line up against Ralf Ragnick's Schalke at Veltins Arena on Tuesday.

"We've not had a great record against Bayern from the 99 season. We drew twice in the group stages and beat them in the final," Ferguson said.

"We were very unlucky against Leverkusen, we should have seen them off and we were very unlucky against Dortmund but you can't always be unlucky and sometimes it'll change for you. The German teams have always had that resilience and determination about them and that will be exactly the same on Tuesday night.

"We're going into this game with far more experience than we have in previous years and our record away from home in the last few years has been terrific."

Schalke's line will be led by three-time European Cup winner Raul, who recently revealed that United were interested in his services when his time at Real Madrid was drawing to a close last summer.

And Ferguson confirmed that he had considered signing the veteran Spain striker, who is the Champions Laague's all-time leading scorer in the Champions League with 71 goals.

"We spoke to his agent or his agent spoke to us and we were a little bit tempted because you said to yourself 'He's not too old that he can't score a goal in the Premier League," Ferguson said.

"His time at Real had come to an end after a fantastic career but players like that always find something in terms of ambition, they don't just wither away, and at his age he had plenty to do, plenty to offer.

"It would have been [a Henrik Larsson-type signing]. You get opportunities with experience like that like we did with Michael Owen and Michael Owen has been a fantastic professional here. They bring value to the team, bring experience and I think if I didn't have Michael Owen I might have been tempted.

"Raul is Raul and you've got to be careful in the last third of the field because he's still got the intelligence and a fantastic goal record. It's 71 in the Champions League? Bloody hell, I hope it stays that way for the next three weeks."

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Ferguson lauds Man Utd comeback

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson declared his side performed like "champions" to beat West Ham.

The Premier League leaders recovered from 2-0 down to win 4-2 with striker Wayne Rooney getting a hat-trick.

"We played like champions," said Ferguson. "It was a real championship performance as far as I'm concerned.

"I said to them at half-time, 'Look, goal difference doesn't matter now - you're getting something from this game. The next goal wins the game'."

Ferguson added: "That's why I put Ryan [Giggs] back to left-back to have a go and just attack.

"It paid dividends and I'm pleased with that."

The Old Trafford outfit had fallen behind to two Mark Noble penalties after a Patrice Evra handball and Nemanja Vidic trip on Carlton Cole.

Ferguson, who was in the stands as he served the second of a five-game touchline ban, replaced Evra with striker Javier Hernandez and pushed Giggs back to left-back after the break.

I want to apologise for any offence that may have been caused by my goal celebration

Fellow forward Dimitar Berbatov also came on before Rooney kick-started his side's comeback by converting a free-kick.

Rooney added a clinical finish and a penalty to complete a 14-minute hat-trick, while Hernandez grabbed a late goal to make sure of the victory.

"They've [the players] got the ability to turn it around - that's the first thing," added Ferguson.

"But they've got great faith in themselves, faith in the team, faith in their team-mates.

"It doesn't always work but you can rest assured, they keep trying to create and play their football, and in the second half we dominated."

The Red Devils are now seven points clear of nearest title rivals Arsenal, who could only manage a goalless home draw against Blackburn, while Chelsea are a further four points behind following the Blues' stalemate at Stoke.

Chelsea have a game in hand and have still to play the Old Trafford side but will struggle to defend their title.

"It makes an impact on us," said Ferguson on the title race. "Seven games left.

Vidic could have been sent off - Grant

"You can count the games down one by one. It ends up you run out of games and hopefully we're there.

"Arsenal have games in hand and it could go to goal difference but I somehow don't think so."

The only sour note for Ferguson's side was Rooney heard swearing by a television camera after scoring.

The Football Association said it would examine the footage before deciding to take any action but Rooney was quick to say sorry.

"I want to apologise for any offence that may have been caused by my goal celebration, especially any parents or children that were watching," said the England stirker.

"Emotions were running high and on reflection my heat-of-the-moment reaction was inappropriate. It was not aimed at anyone in particular."

The defeat dropped West Ham back into the relegation zone and Hammers boss Avram Grant believed Vidic should have been sent off for a perceived professional foul on Demba Ba rather than the yellow card he received when the visitors were trailing 2-0.

"I think so [that he should have been red carded] but I don't want to talk about the referee," said Grant.

He continued: "In the second half, they [Man Utd] had nothing to lose but we have given them too much space.

"There were a lot of positive things. We wanted to win and did everything very good in the first half. But footballers need to complete two halves."

Grant added: "The league will be very tight but I think we can do it [avoid the drop] because we have come into good shape at the right time.

"Against Manchester United, you want to take points but you do not count on winning against them.

"We still have good momentum."

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Sir Alex Ferguson talks to BBC! Manchester United boss ready for a peace summit with Corporation

Sir Alex Ferguson and BBC director-general Mark Thompson have agreed to a meeting to discuss the Manchester United manager's six-year snub of the Corporation. The summit has been brokered by Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards in his attempt to get Ferguson talking to the BBC again and so avoid the need for the League to take action over Sir Alex's continued breaching of their media regulations. Turning over a new leaf? Sir Alex Ferguson's ban of talking to the BBC could be coming to an end The level of the fines for Ferguson was decided during a League board meeting last October, but Manchester United will not be informed until Richards has exhausted all avenues in ending Fergie's silence prompted by his massive displeasure over a BBC3 documentary in 2004 about his football agent son Jason. Getting Ferguson and Thompson in thesame room is a sign of progress, although a date for this notableoccasion has yet to be fixed. The expectation is that it will takeplace near or at the end of the football season. Building bridges: BBC director-general Mark Thompson will meet with Ferguson at a yet-to-be-agreed date Ferguson has maintained from the start of the marathon stand-off that he wants an apology from the director-general. The BBC insist, equally strongly, thathe won't receive one. Certainly the much-criticised Richards deservescredit, for once, if an unlikely compromise can be reached. Recent form: Ferguson chose to ignore his media requirements with the BBC following United's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool The ridiculous five-month delay in breaking the news to Old Trafford about the size of the Ferguson fines has irritated rival clubs and reinforced the impression that there is one rule for United and another for the other 19 teams in the division. The low-key BBC programme at the heart of the dispute concentrated on Jason's dealings as an agent with United but revealed little that wasn't in the public domain. Ferguson has never taken legal action over the contents.  Ferguson slammed for undermining Respect campaign over ref rantCharles Sale: John Terry breaks with firefighter PR as he bids to clean up act on his ownAll the latest Manchester United news, features and opinion  Explore more:People: Alex Ferguson, Mark Thompson

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Sir Alex Ferguson slammed for undermining FA Respect campaign

Sir Alex Ferguson was last night accused of undermining the FA's Respect campaign with his criticism of referee Martin Atkinson. The Manchester United manager was hit with a five-game touchline ban and ?30,000 fine last week after claiming his side did not have a 'fair' referee when they lost at Chelsea earlier this month. An independent commission found him guilty of questioning Atkinson's integrity and its chairman, Craig Moore, said the comments from such a high-profile figure had damaged the FA's attempts to encourage more respect for match officials. Give me a call: Ferguson uses the phone to reach the bench as he starts his ban in the clash with Bolton In the commission's report,published yesterday, Moore wrote: 'Sir Alex's comments undermined theattempts by the Football Association, through its Respect Campaign, toencourage higher standards of behaviour within the game, includingrespect for officials. 'The commission had no hesitation infinding that any reasonable person, hearing the post-match interview...would have understood his use of the word 'fair' to imply that MrAtkinson had been 'unfair'. 'It clearly called into question theintegrity of Mr Atkinson and brought the game into disrepute bysuggesting that a particular referee lacked impartiality.' Ferguson hit out at Atkinson for notshowing Chelsea defender David Luiz a second yellow card for challengeson Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez as United lost  2-1. In an interview with United's own TVstation after the game, he said: 'You want a fair referee, or a strongreferee anyway, and we didn't get that. I must say, when I saw who thereferee was I feared the worst.' Flashpoint: Ferguson thought David Luiz (right) should have had a second booking for a foul on Wayne Rooney The commission rejected Ferguson'sdefence that he had retracted the word 'fair' and immediately replacedit with 'strong', as well as his claims that other managers have madesimilar comments and not been charged by the FA. It also revealed that Ferguson, whowas ordered to pay costs of ?1,200 for the hearing in Birmingham, didnot help his cause by refusing to accept the charge and failing toapologise to Atkinson. 'It follows from his denial of thecharge that no clarification or retraction of any of his comments hasbeen made by Sir Alex and no apology given to Mr Atkinson, even afterthe charge had been brought,' wrote Moore. 'The commission regarded this as a serious aggravating feature.' Moore also defended the decision toinvoke a further two-game ban suspended from 2009 after Fergusonquestioned the fitness of referee Alan Wiley because the Unitedmanager knew that threat was 'hanging over him' until the end of thecurrent season and also because the latest transgression was consideredeven more serious.  Fergie's fine should have gone to Japan, not to the FA, blasts Blackpool boss Holloway Fergie accepts five-match ban despite blasting FA rap for 'telling the truth' Graham Poll: Call that a ban? Sir Alex Ferguson still able to have his sayFormer United assistant Queiroz has lengthy touchline ban liftedAll the latest Manchester United news, features and opinion  Explore more:People: Alex Ferguson, Martin Atkinson, Wayne Rooney, Craig Moore Places: Birmingham Organisations: Football Association

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[EPL] Ferdinand could miss season, Rafael and O'Shea blows

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Rio Ferdinand could be out for the rest of the season.

The central defender has been struggling with a calf injury and the news is made worse by confirmation that John O'Shea has been ruled out for five weeks while Rafael faces three weeks out. Both players have hamstring injuries.

"We're having a bad spell," said Ferguson. "Only a few weeks ago we had every defender fit. We've got the bonus of Wes Brown being able to play centre-back and right-back, and Chris Smalling has been brilliant.

"Rio has been out for a few weeks now. We are not looking at this as a short-term situation. He has not started training yet. We will be lucky to get him back for some part of the season."

Ferguson also said he is yet to decide whether to appeal against his five-match touchline ban, but is clearly not happy about it.

A disciplinary hearing on Wednesday saw him punished heavily for comments made about referee Martin Atkinson following United's 2-1 defeat at Chelsea earlier this month.

He has vowed to defend himself strongly.

"It is disappointing," he said. "It is the only industry where you can't tell the truth. But it is in the past now."


source: yahoo uk sports

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