FERGUSON POST-MATCH

Last updated : 12 September 2002 By Editor

Fantastic game
"It was a very open game. I thought it was a fantastic game, end to end, we played some good football in periods of the game - exciting stuff. They had some good counter attack play, some good confidence in their game."

Losing a goal
"As we know, it only takes a second to lose a goal, and we lost our concentration for one brief moment in the second half. Apart from that we may have won the game, who knows. We increased the impetus of our game during the match and particularly after we lost the goal. We put in some fantastic spells of pressure. "

Diego unlucky
"I just don't know how we are going to get a goal out of Diego because he had a magnificent strike just on the drop and the goalkeeper made a fantastic save. Their goalkeeper played his part. He made some terrific saves towards the end. It's disappointing but we've played worse."

Missing chances
"We had a marvellous chance in the first half when Ruud hit the bar. But it was a good game of football. The way that the league is at the moment there are some surprising results. Nobody is winning any games by a handsome margin. They all seem to be nip and tuck matches. A goal here and a goal there."

Tough league
"What we are seeing is that nobody wants to go out of this Premier division. There is a determination from every team - teams who people said 'they'll be near the bottom'. You see the West Brom result tonight, everybody was tipping them for the drop. Would you bet on it now? They have had two great results recently. So that is the way the league is at the moment. It may pan out. By November there may be a different shape to the league, but at the moment it's very difficult."

Praise for Bolton
"Bolton were fantastic, they ran their socks off. And when you work as hard as that you can't deny them the victory. We have no devine right to think that because we are Manchester United we can walk over teams. As I have said, we are looking at a league that you have to work to get results."

Losing
"It was a disappointment, the manner in which we lost. It was a silly mistake. But after that we were very unlucky."

Moving on
"We have got to put it behind us because we have got important times ahead. We can always build on the fact that we have our resilience."

Looking ahead
"The atmosphere at Leeds on Saturday will be fantastic. It's the kind of atmosphere that I think we'll respond to. It just shows you the way the league is going, Newcastle are second bottom of the league tonight. Nobody would have dared thought that. Leeds have lost the last games, but bounced back tonight, so it'll be an interesting game."