Ferguson endured a miserable evening at Upton Park
Manchester United manager Sir Alex
Ferguson admitted he could not explain his side's defending after they
slumped to a 4-0 League Cup defeat by West Ham.
The scoreline
was the worst suffered by Manchester United since 2001. "I didn't expect that, that's for sure. If you analyse it the goals we gave away were absolutely too soft," Ferguson told MUTV. Two goals each from former Red Devil Jonathan Spector and Carlton Cole took the Hammers to the semi-finals. Ferguson included veteran Ryan Giggs and Scotland captain Darren Fletcher in his starting XI, but could have seen them fall behind even before Spector's 22nd-minute opener.
Despite the referee's decision, Ferguson believes that the incident helped turn the game the way of Avram Grant's team. "The thing that sparked it was the goal that was disallowed because it got the crowd up," said Ferguson. "It was clearly offside but they celebrated for so long. It spurred them on." Ferguson was exasperated by his Premier League leaders' inability to keep a side bottom of the table at bay as United's 29-match unbeaten run was ended in emphatic style. "We didn't expect that, they were terrible goals for us," he added. "You can't just give goals away at this level. That first goal was a break for them. We were in control in the early part, played some good football. But goals change games." 
Click
to play
Poor defending disappoints Phelan
"I think there are lessons to be learned from the defending point of view with individual players and hopefully they'll take something from that," said Phelan. "Defeats mean you can learn and we need them to learn quick. "West Ham certainly got at us and our back four today and we didn't really handle the defending issue very well today." | ||
