"A win is always welcome," Ferguson told Sky Sports. "It's been a period of change, we've had injuries and we've not had the results we expected. We've played a team that are historically our big rivals and it's a wonderful win. One thing you worry about in a game like this is when dominance does not transfer into goals. It encourages sides to come and have a go and that's what Liverpool did. But we got a goal that got us going again and I think we deserved to win."
'Our first-half performance in particular was excellent. We could have been three or four up at half-time and the only worry was that we hadn't capitalised on our chances. Their goal was a bit lucky but we didn't handle the situation well. Fortunately, we galvanised ourselves after that, got some tackles in and ended up with the win.'
Ferguson had praise for Ferdinand's display on his return.
'I thought Rio was absolutely superb and I don't expect there will be many people disagreeing with that,' said Ferguson.
'He has been out for eight months, yet he comes into a game against Liverpool and plays like that. He brings balance, composure and surety to our defence. He is just a fantastic player. I didn't think it was a risk to put him straight in the side because I have seen him train every day, which is a good measure of how he will go. His assurance transmits itself through the whole team, it was good defending, quick and aggressive and we didn't look like we would lose a goal."
"Ironically it was against Liverpool that Eric made his return. And, as his performance that day emphasised, it wasn't a risk with Eric either. He and Rio have a similar one-eyed approach to the game," hmmm.