IT'S ALL MY FAULT

Ferguson admits to selection blunders

Daniel Taylor in Prague
The Guardian

Ferguson was in unusually candid and self-critical mood as he prepared for tonight's tie against Sparta Prague. United should not encounter too many problems here but their indifferent league form has left them 11 points adrift of Arsenal and the United manager did not attempt to absolve himself of blame.
 

"Maybe I've made too many changes - that has to be considered," he said.

"We're not getting any consistency and that is definitely affecting our performances. At the moment I'm picking the wrong teams for a variety of reasons."

He cited the 0-0 draw at Birmingham when he picked Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo who had both just returned from a week on international duty. "I gambled on Roy and it turned out he wasn't 100%. I also thought Ronaldo would be fresh enough to play but he looked tired and the first thing he did on the team coach going home was fall asleep. So I knew I'd made a mistake there."

Ferguson, usually hostile to even the mildest criticism, admitted he had made another significant error in not allowing all the players involved in Euro 2004 to have a longer summer break. He meant in particular the decision to fly out Paul Scholes and Mikaël Silvestre to the final stages of the tour of the United States after criticism in the American media that too many stars were missing. The poor form of both players has been a feature of United's start to the season and Scholes has missed a month because of a groin problem, an injury which Ferguson said was related directly to being "called back too quickly for pre-season".