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Sir Alex Ferguson refused to get too downhearted after seeing Manchester United come unstuck at arch-rivals Manchester City on Tuesday.

A 2-1 defeat at Eastlands in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final means the Blues now hold the advantage heading into the return meeting.

United had taken the lead in a combative local derby which lived up to its pre-match billing, with Ryan Giggs rolling them in front early on.

However, Carlos Tevez, who left Old Trafford for Eastlands last summer, bagged a brace to ensure it would be the blue half of Manchester celebrating long into the night.

United now have it all to do if they are to secure a spot at Wembley on 28th February, but Ferguson insists the tie remains very much in the balance.

"We would be foolish to think it wasn't. The United crowd, the occasion and what's at stake, we will be OK," he told Sky Sports.
Dominated

Ferguson saw plenty on Tuesday night to suggest the Red Devils are more than capable of ensuring it is they who will be competing for the first major piece of silverware of the season.

"I thought we played well. We dominated most of the match," he added.

"We had a mad couple of minutes when they scored their equalising goal, we lost our composure a little bit for 15 minutes, but after that we were OK.

"I think for most of the game we were reasonably in control. For the first 30 minutes we were in complete control, that's not in any doubt, but that mad few minutes before half-time got them back into the game and there is always a chance away from home that you can lose a goal any which way.

He added: "There were some young players there, but we had experience.

"Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher - they have got plenty of experience. Jonny Evans is young, Anderson is young, Rafa is young, but we had enough experience."

No issue

The United boss also had no complaints about Tevez being the man to steal the show after his summer move from red to blue in Manchester.

He said: "That's just the way it happens. Football is like that, it can bite you at times.

"We have had many players who have left the club and then scored against us, so that's not an issue. We are happy with the players we have."

Ferguson, who has already found himself in trouble this season regarding outspoken views on referees, also refused to be drawn into a debate on whether or not City should have been awarded their first half penalty.

Tevez hammered home from the spot shortly before the interval after Craig Bellamy had been hauled down by Rafael, but initial contact appeared to have been made outside the box.

"I'm not going on about," said Ferguson.

"Everyone can see it for themselves. OK, the decisions have gone against us today, but they might go for us another day."

Kladze wrote:Don't worry BB . I'll copy / edit it/ and paste it for you ;-o

Sir Alex Ferguson refused to get too downhearted after seeing Manchester U***d come unstuck at arch-rivals Manchester City on Tuesday.

A 2-1 defeat at Eastlands in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final means the Blues now hold the advantage heading into the return meeting.

U***d had taken the lead in a combative local derby which lived up to its pre-match billing, with Ryan Giggs rolling them in front early on.

However, Carlos Tevez, who left Old Trafford for Eastlands last summer, bagged a brace to ensure it would be the blue half of Manchester celebrating long into the night.

U***d now have it all to do if they are to secure a spot at Wembley on 28th February, but Ferguson insists the tie remains very much in the balance.

"We would be foolish to think it wasn't. The U***d crowd, the occasion and what's at stake, we will be OK," he told Sky Sports.
Dominated

Ferguson saw plenty on Tuesday night to suggest the Red Devils are more than capable of ensuring it is they who will be competing for the first major piece of silverware of the season.

"I thought we played well. We dominated most of the match," he added.

"We had a mad couple of minutes when they scored their equalising goal, we lost our composure a little bit for 15 minutes, but after that we were OK.

"I think for most of the game we were reasonably in control. For the first 30 minutes we were in complete control, that's not in any doubt, but that mad few minutes before half-time got them back into the game and there is always a chance away from home that you can lose a goal any which way.

He added: "There were some young players there, but we had experience.

"Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher - they have got plenty of experience. Jonny Evans is young, Anderson is young, Rafa is young, but we had enough experience."

No issue

The U***d boss also had no complaints about Tevez being the man to steal the show after his summer move from red to blue in Manchester.

He said: "That's just the way it happens. Football is like that, it can bite you at times.

"We have had many players who have left the club and then scored against us, so that's not an issue. We are happy with the players we have."

Ferguson, who has already found himself in trouble this season regarding outspoken views on referees, also refused to be drawn into a debate on whether or not City should have been awarded their first half penalty.

Tevez hammered home from the spot shortly before the interval after Craig Bellamy had been hauled down by Rafael, but initial contact appeared to have been made outside the box.

"I'm not going on about," said Ferguson.

"Everyone can see it for themselves. OK, the decisions have gone against us today, but they might go for us another day."

CityFanFromRome wrote:To be fair, they did dominate the last ten minutes, but that's because we allowed them to, both with Benjani unable to keep the ball up, and the fact we were tired. But to say they dominated most of the match is a bit too much.

Alex Sapphire wrote:

CityFanFromRome wrote:To be fair, they did dominate the last ten minutes, but that's because we allowed them to, both with Benjani unable to keep the ball up, and the fact we were tired. But to say they dominated most of the match is a bit too much.

They "dominated" more of the match than we did.
We scored more goals in our shorter spells of "domination"
Simples

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

Alex Sapphire wrote:

CityFanFromRome wrote:To be fair, they did dominate the last ten minutes, but that's because we allowed them to, both with Benjani unable to keep the ball up, and the fact we were tired. But to say they dominated most of the match is a bit too much.

They "dominated" more of the match than we did.
We scored more goals in our shorter spells of "domination"
Simples

Exactly.

Just the same way as it pisses me off when we go on how we "dominated" this and that game but failed to win, it pisses me off when taggart or anyone else go on about how they dominated the game. Football is about scoring more goals than opposition. Pretty simple really. You don't get points for posession.

Regarding youngsters, even rag mate of mine, who I talked to on phone during half time, admitted that this was pretty much best side they could put together right now. Also admitted that only Rafael was what you'd call "one for the future" as Andersson is already regular and at 22 Evans is hardly kid anymore (also my mate said that concensus was that Evans would move on soon anyway).

mr_nool wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

Alex Sapphire wrote:

CityFanFromRome wrote:To be fair, they did dominate the last ten minutes, but that's because we allowed them to, both with Benjani unable to keep the ball up, and the fact we were tired. But to say they dominated most of the match is a bit too much.

They "dominated" more of the match than we did.
We scored more goals in our shorter spells of "domination"
Simples

Exactly.

Just the same way as it pisses me off when we go on how we "dominated" this and that game but failed to win, it pisses me off when taggart or anyone else go on about how they dominated the game. Football is about scoring more goals than opposition. Pretty simple really. You don't get points for posession.

Regarding youngsters, even rag mate of mine, who I talked to on phone during half time, admitted that this was pretty much best side they could put together right now. Also admitted that only Rafael was what you'd call "one for the future" as Andersson is already regular and at 22 Evans is hardly kid anymore (also my mate said that concensus was that Evans would move on soon anyway).

Evans isn't good enough for Scum. I'd rather have a Garrido than him.

I thought it was a bit funny how Lwro and that other commentator guy managed to make it sound like Mancini was committing a crime against all young footballers of the world when bringing Boayata off and replacing him with fellow academy graduate Nedum Onouha (off course they failed to mention that he's only 23, and that he's come through oour academy).