Fergie after the Chelsea defeat:
"I didn't get to my bed until 2.30am because I sat up watching a video of the game and thinking about how it had gone," Sir Alex confessed. "Was it your fault? Did you pick the right team? Were the tactics right?"
Possibly not, in preferring Louis Saha to Wayne Rooney and failing to offer him sufficient support. But the conclusion was: "When you come in the next morning all you can say to the players is, 'What a bloody stupid goal that was that you gave away!' "
For two successive seasons United have found the right balance at Highbury between supporting the strikers and protecting the defence, to achieve a creditable draw. More than ever this time, an equally delicate equi-librium must be maintained in responding to the fevered atmosphere without being carried away by it.
Ferguson has no doubts about his men on that score: "Our players have been in far more hostile arenas in their careers over the years. That is what experience gives you. Giggs, Keane, Scholes and the Nevilles have been at this club for a long time and that is what they have experienced, going to places where the chips are really down, where the atmosphere is unbelievable. They are big-game players, my players, and they won't get a bigger one this season because of all the hype that is going on.
"We have had great discipline in this club, and it is not by accident. There is good discipline among the players and there is good discipline from the manager of the team, and I pride myself on that. I am going there with an absolutely clear conscience about how we are going to play.
"We will play to win the game. We will play with great tenacity, with great commitment, great determination and great skill, and hopefully we will get the result that we want."