Ferguson hails 'risky' strategy
Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson said his gamble paid off after 17-year-old debutant Federico Macheda hit a late winner to beat Aston Villa 3-2.
Ferguson said: "I told him 'well done'. It's important to keep his feet on the ground. He'll need to handle lots of publicity over the next few days.
"It was a gamble but we deserved our result today because we tried to win.
"We take risks but risks are a part of football. We didn't defend well but there's always a goal threat from us."
United staged a remarkable fightback to earn a victory that takes them back to the top of the Premier League table, a point ahead of Liverpool.
Villa were 2-1 up with only 10 minutes to play after John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor had cancelled out Cristiano Ronaldo's opener.
But Ronaldo struck his second goal to equalise and substitute Macheda scored on 90 minutes with a brilliant curling shot to snatch all three points.
Ferguson revealed he urged his side to go for victory after they had brought themselves back to 2-2, rather than settle for a point.
"This club has been this way for a long, long time," he said.
"I love the thrill of it myself. I love to see that adventure. Yes, we take 'terrible' risks and we don't defend properly.
"But there's always a chance we'll win the match.
"We've had our blip. We had seven, eight players missing today, four or five of the very top team.
"But you can see that these young players are prepared to go right to the very end."
Villa boss Martin O'Neill was understandably upset after seeing his side beaten by a last-gasp goal.
But he was full of praise for his side for the way he felt they took the game to the Champions.
He said: "I thought we were absolutely brilliant. We conceded an early goal but fought back to get ourselves in front .
"I do not think we deserved to lose the game.
"We will gain confidence from this performance. That might sound crazy because we are in the results business - but we were terrific today.
"We should have got something from the game and I actually think we should have won it.
"The defeat is a bitter pill to swallow because we came to Old Trafford and played so well. We took the game to them and I am very proud of my players.
"We will have to take this on the chin, but we definitely come back from this."
No comments:
Post a Comment