MEANWHILE, AMONGST ALL THE HORSE BUSINESS…

Last updated : 29 February 2004 By Editor
Quotes and reactions from yesterday:

Fergie:

“It's an uphill fight, no question of that. We know that and
I think everybody else knows that. But we're capable of
winning matches and could go on a run of victories, which is
what we need.”

Fergie was happy with Saha’s performance:

“It was a terrific goal. Ronaldo played him the ball and,
after a good first touch, he accelerated between players and
produced a great finish. Louis' has been terrific and the
more I see of him, the more pleased I am. He's actually
carrying this little calf and heel injury he had at Fulham
and we're gingerly looking after him as we don't want it to
get any worse."

Fergie targeted his anger at the denial of a penalty for the
foul of Louis Saha:

“It's time match officials earn their money. If they're not
doing their job, they shouldn't be out there, frankly. This
is the new dawn in football with professional referees but
that's very questionable. There's no confidence given to
managers that they're doing their job.

“It sometimes happens that, when you're not having a good
run, you don't get the breaks. Maybe they'll come our way in
a few weeks.”

Saha also couldn’t believe that the penalty was not given:

"It was a definite penalty. I couldn't chip him because he's
too tall so I tried to turn him and he never touched the
ball. I don't understand why the referee didn't take two or
three seconds longer to think about it because it was such a
big decision.

"It is a shame because that decision cost us two points and
I think I would have taken the spot-kick which would have
been a good opportunity for me to get a brace today."

Fulham's acting manager Steve Kean, couldn’t believe his
luck pre-match:

“We were four men out on what we thought their team would
be. I didn't think Roy Carroll would play, I thought Giggs
and van Nistelrooy would and that they wouldn't have Roy
Keane at the back. It gave us a lift when we heard their
team, as it did when we saw their side at Old Trafford. We
said to the lads 'stick to the game plan and we've got a
good chance today. I thought we could have nicked it at the
end as we had the momentum.”

Arsene Wenger claimed that title race is far from over,
despite his team going 9 points clear at the top:

“I don't believe that (the race is over) because seven games
ago we were three points behind United.

"Just seven games -- and we have 11 games to go and we have
tricky away games. And after the battle we had today in the
second half I would certainly not think the championship is
over. Far from it."