Fergie Defends Squad Selection

Last updated : 20 April 2009 By Sam
After looking at the pitch at Wembley ahead of the game, Fegie decided to leave the likes of Dimitar Bebatov, Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra out of his starting XI.

All three players were used as substitutes but couldn't prevent an Everton victory in a penalty shoot-out.

"When I saw the pitch yesterday what I didn't want was to go into extra time with my strongest squad.

"Yesterday it looked spongy and dead and difficult to move the ball quickly around it.

"They've got all these lights around the perimeter to help the growth and the standard of the soil but it looks dead to me.

"So we had to go with the bold decision of playing the younger ones. After all our club is built on giving young players opportunities and they didn't disappoint.

"Once we made our mind up I was quite enthusiastic about it. It was the right thing to do. It was good for them."