FERGIE EXPLAINS

Last updated : 08 February 2006 By editor

"The form of Louis Saha made it easier for me to rest Wayne. I think he needed a rest because he's one of the players who’ve been playing in all the games and eventually it takes its toll. We saw the result of that today with Gary Neville getting a hamstring injury."

Vidic was given the time off after finding it tough at Blackburn.

"Vidic was a bit tired and had a bit of a calf strain after Wednesday night. He did fantastic but towards the end he was feeling it. Wednesday was a full-blooded game for him, a sort of welcome to English football. You don’t get rest in our game as you know."


Rooney’s steadying influence:


"We knew we’d have to take Gary off at some point. He told us at half-time that he was feeling his hamstring. I was toying with what to do. I felt if I moved Wes to right-back, it might pull us back to defending a bit more. So I decided to bring Wayne Rooney on to give us some control in the middle of the park."