Manchester City chief Mancini claimed United have been lucky to score so many late goals as they racked up a double-digit lead in the league. But Fergie said: "He is lucky it's only 12 points. We've only been doing it for 25 years. It's a terrible habit!
A counter-attacking masterclass from Jose Mourinho and his men at the Nou Camp sent a shiver down Fergie's spine ahead of Tuesday's Champions League tie at Old Trafford.
Now he is warning his troops to be more prepared than ever for an attempted smash-and-grab raid by Cristiano Ronaldo and the Spanish giants as United defend a 1-1 draw from the first leg of their last-16 tie.
United made sure of that in the Bernabeu with a combination of fine goalkeeping from David De Gea and stout defending from the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans.
It is certainly the best time for United to face the Spanish champions given the improvement in their defensive form compared to the start of the season.
"In the early part of the season we were giving all these early goals away and that may have been a combination of the fact that we had defenders out.
"In the first game of the season we had to play Michael Carrick at centre-half because we had four central defenders out.
"That had its impact but in the last few weeks there has been a definite change in terms of concentration and the awareness that these games are important."
With virtually his whole squad fit Ferguson has the option of making wholesale changes at home to Norwich today in preparation for Tuesday.
Fergie added: "This is an important one for us because Tuesday will look after itself, there is no doubt about that. It's an occasion on Tuesday.
"That is what our concentration is on. I can assure you, the players will not be thinking about Tuesday at this moment because all week we've been talking about how important Norwich is.
No comments:
Post a Comment