BLAME ROY

As the full ramifications of Roy Carroll's calamitous mistake became apparent, and the coach carrying Milan's victorious players inched away from Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson could be located in one of the stadium's corridors wearing an expression that screamed: "Leave well alone."

He was leaning against a wall, hands in pockets, and empurpled with a rage that had long-time observers thinking back to those days at Aberdeen when it was claimed he sometimes threatened to take a baseball bat to his players.

Back then he was known to his players as "Furious" and, even if he has
mellowed over the decades, there are still moments when his temper could set off a car alarm. Here was one of those occasions when there was no disguising the depth of his fury - first and foremost with his players, second with the journalists and finally, not that he would ever admit it, perhaps even with himself.

Had Ferguson not established himself in such a position of strength at Old
Trafford he might even have found himself being interrogated about how he
could allow England's biggest club to be in a position where their choice of
goalkeeper is no longer determined by standards of excellence but by who
makes the least high-profile mistakes.

Perhaps the most grating aspect of Carroll's failures in Wednesday's 1-0 defeat, the part that really made Ferguson squirm, was that anyone who has followedthe goalkeeper's career will know that he, like Tim Howard before him, has punctuated otherwise reliable displays with dangerous lapses.

Nobody expected Carroll to fumble Clarence Seedorf's shot into Hernán Crespo's path but, then again, nobody was totally surprised either. The issue here is why Ferguson had not recruited a more capable shot-stopper, either last summer or in January.

The consensus at Old Trafford is that Carroll should regard as a bonus every
appearance between now and the end of the season when, despite the financial restraints imposed since Wayne Rooney's arrival for an initial £10m, rising to £27m, Ferguson will have no alternative but to trawl the globe for yet another goalkeeper. Carroll, if he has any sense, will swiftly accept the offer of a new contract rather than playing hardball in the hope of convincing that he is worth more.