Manchester United news and links

WHIZZ-kid Danny Welbeck is convinced he was denied a clear-cut penalty as Everton wrecked United’s quintuple dream at Wembley.


And Sir Alex Ferguson - master of the mind games - believes the youngster may have been thwarted because of a seed of doubt planted by Everton manager David Moyes in the mind of referee Mike Riley.

WHIZZ-kid Danny Welbeck is convinced he was denied a clear-cut penalty as Everton wrecked United’s quintuple dream at Wembley.


And Sir Alex Ferguson - master of the mind games - believes the youngster may have been thwarted because of a seed of doubt planted by Everton manager David Moyes in the mind of referee Mike Riley.

The FA admits improvements are needed to the Wembley pitch after criticism of the surface.

Sir Alex Ferguson joined the chorus of disapproval over the state of Wembley’s pitch after Manchester United were dumped out of the FA Cup by Everton.

Manchester United

Ben Foster Lucky to escape when he tried to beat Saha inside his own area but was rarely tested by the Everton attack 6

Rafael Provided a sweeping cross Lescott almost deflected into his own net. Dealt with exchanges between Baines and Pienaar 7

Ferdinand Brought resilience as well as composure to the United defence and offered Saha little space with which to trouble Foster 8

Vidic Looks more relaxed alongside Ferdinand and dominated in his duel against Saha while also coping with the threat of Fellaini 8

Fabio Does not attract the eulogies of his twin, Rafael, but was a diligent performer against Osman and helped stifle Everton 7

Ji-Sung Park Bright and dangerous, he and Tevez carried the main threat for United before fading out of the game in the second half 6

Darren Gibson Left his mark early on with shuddering tackles while his neat distribution showed there is far more to his game than strength 7

Anderson Did not stamp his authority on the midfield battle but was composed and disciplined in his task of keeping Cahill quiet 6

Danny Welbeck Should have had a penalty for a trip by Jagielka, and arguably would have done had he not thrown himself to the ground 7

Carlos Tevez The most creative outlet in United’s starting XI. Caused Everton problems with his movement and link-up play 7

Federico Macheda Brought Welback into the game with several fine passes and his pace kept Jagielka and Lescott on the back foot throughout 6

Substitutes

Evra for Fabio Da Silva (63); Scholes for Park (67); Berbatov for Macheda (91)

Everton

Tim Howard Has been struggling with form and a thigh strain of late but, after a quiet 120 minutes, made critical saves in the penalty shoot-out 8

Tony Hibbert Made countless vital tackles inside his area, none more so than on Macheda with 12 minutes to go. Injured in the process 7

Phil Jagielka Could so easily have conceded a penalty with his trip on Welbeck but that was his only error in a robust display 7

Joleon Lescott Showed good pace to deal with several breaks by Macheda and his reading of the game was key to thwarting United 8

Leighton Baines Looked heavy-legged on Wembley’s pitch and wasted several openings to supply forwards, but improved in extra time 6

Leon Osman Caught by Gibson in first minute and did not impose himself on the contest. Like Baines, appeared slow on the Wembley surface 5

Phil Neville One of the few Everton players not lost to the occasion, he fought a gruelling tussle with Gibson while trying to shackle Tevez 7

Tim Cahill Worked hard with Neville in central midfield but had one chance to test Foster as his adventure was sacrificed for the team 7

Steven Pienaar Struggled to escape the clutches of Rafael Da Silva or provide the ingenuity that his forwards needed, but worked hard 6

Marouane Fellaini Won many headers but received no support. Was a booking waiting to happen given his use of the arms against Ferdinand and Vidic 6

Louis Saha Had the ominous task of carrying Everton’s threat to Ferdinand and Vidic while short of match fitness, and it showed 5

Substitutes

Rodwell for Saha (70); Vaughan for Fellaini (102)

Sir Alex Ferguson says comments from Everton boss David Moyes might have ultimately denied Manchester United a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final.

• ‘I don’t know how the referee didn’t give the penalty’
• Ferguson believes Moyes’ comments a factor

Rio Ferdinand believes referees are wary of giving penalties to Manchester United. The United defender rounded on referee Mike Riley for his failure to give United a second-half penalty when Danny Welbeck went down under Phil Jagielka’s challenge.

“I don’t know how the referee didn’t give the penalty but that is the way it goes,” said Ferdinand. “We don’t get many penalties these days. Referees are reluctant to give them to us. Maybe they are being put under pressure by people in the media but that is the way it goes.

“We are not going to harp on about it because, in the end, we were not good enough in the penalty shoot out. There was always going to come a day when you don’t have a good time in that situation and this was it.”

His manager, Alex Ferguson, was furious on the touchline. Asked if he thought Riley didn’t award the spot kick because of remarks made earlier in the week by Moyes about Riley, he replied that it could have been a factor. “I think it might have been,” Ferguson said. I’m not saying that for certain. I’ve no idea if it affected the decision but you never know. It may have. It can prey on a referee’s mind.

“I’ve seen the video and it looks a penalty kick but in the importance of the game the referee probably has to be dead sure. Why would he [Welbeck] go down when he had the goalkeeper stranded out of his goal? It was a major decision and unfortunately it has gone against us. Nothing you can do about it. We have to move on now.

“When he [Riley] sees it he’ll probably realise he’s made a mistake but I can’t say that’s the reason for us losing.”

His Everton counterpart, Moyes, also admitted: “I thought it looked a penalty kick. If I had been the manager I would have been calling for a penalty kick.”

• Phil Jagielka scores decisive penalty to reach final
• Sir Alex Ferguson blames pitch for fielding weakened team

David Moyes revealed he persuaded Phil Jagielka to take the decisive penalty that swept Everton into their first FA Cup final for 14 years at Wembley and shattered Manchester United’s ambitions of winning an unprecedented quintuple.

The England international emerged the reluctant hero of Everton’s passage to a final with Chelsea on 30 May, having harboured reservations over taking part in a dramatic penalty shoot-out ­following his ordeal in the Uefa Cup last season. Everton exited against Fiorentina as a consequence of Jagielka’s penalty miss in a shoot-out at Goodison Park. However, after Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand had their spot-kicks saved by the former United goalkeeper Tim Howard, the defender stepped forward to beat Ben Foster and a side weakened by, what Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, admitted, was a direct result of the Wembley pitch.

“I don’t think Phil was entirely keen on taking one, but he had scored in training this week and that stuck in my mind,” Moyes said. “I asked who wanted one and there were a few heads nodding. I looked at him and said, ‘You all right for one Jags?’ I think if he’d got his way he might not have taken one, but I didn’t have too many takers on the day.

“James Vaughan went up and he’s not played for four months, and Jags missed his last one against Fiorentina. There weren’t many to pick from to be honest and then when Tim [Cahill] missed the first against United, who are probably the world’s best at shoot-outs because they have done it so many times and won the European Cup on one, you fear the worst. But good on our goalkeeper, he made two excellent saves. It took great courage for James to go up – and Jags after what happened to him in the Uefa Cup last year. Jags has grown as a player and to take that pen shows how much he has come on in recent years.”

Jagielka was also the key figure in an otherwise drab semi-final’s major talking point, when he tripped the United forward Danny Welbeck inside the penalty area only for the referee, Mike Riley, whose appointment Moyes had questioned before kick-off, to wave play on. “I did touch him,” the Everton defender admitted. “I don’t know how much that contributed to him going down. Maybe I got lucky, but we’ll take that luck.”

The Everton manager had asked the Football Association to review Riley’s appointment last week, alluding to an alleged leniency on the part of the ­referee towards United. Ferguson said Moyes’s “mind game” might have influenced Riley’s decision, but insisted he had no regrets over ­resting several main ­players for an FA Cup semi-final.

Ferguson, who insisted Wayne Rooney should recover from an ankle injury in time to face Portsmouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday, argued: “It might have had an effect. You can’t be certain, but all that nonsense about [Riley] being a Manchester United supporter is just ridiculous stuff. Someone put that in David’s head at a press conference. You never know if it influenced him or not. All I would say is he’s got to be 100% certain to give a penalty in a big game like this. If he sees it again he’ll know he’s made a mistake but why would the lad [Welbeck] go down when he’s gone around the goalkeeper and left him stranded? It was a clear penalty.”

The United manager left Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar and Michael Carrick out of his squad and revealed he would have started with Berbatov, Paul Scholes and possibly Patrice Evra, who were all substitutes, had it not been for the state of the Wembley pitch. “When I saw the pitch in the semi-final yesterday I decided I didn’t want to go to extra time with my strongest squad and that we had to be bold with young players with fresh legs. This club is built on giving young players a chance and they didn’t let me down today. I now know that I can use any of them in the important games we’ve got left this season.”

The Everton captain, Phil Neville, who scored against his former club in the shoot-out, admitted the FA Cup final would represent one of the high points of his career. “It’s one of the proudest moments of my career – to lead the team out at Wembley in the FA Cup final,” he said. “They say your next achievement is the best and that is certainly how it feels. We’ve beaten the best side in the world – it’s just a really proud moment. We’ve done it the hard way.”

The defeat was Ferguson’s first in an FA Cup semi-final as United manager and Moyes dedicated the victory to the club’s raucous support. “They were incredible and they willed us on to victory.”

Listen to radio commentary and follow text updates from 17:15 Saturday.

Sir Alex says Welbeck, Macheda and co vindicated his Wembley selection.

Read how Match Tracker covered United’s semi-final defeat to Everton.

Vidic gutted after FA Cup exit, but now his sights are set on the league and Europe.

UNITED defender Rio Ferdinand felt the Reds were wrongly denied a penalty in normal time after the FA Cup semi-final defeat against Everton.


Danny Welbeck went down under a challenge from Phil Jagielka but referee Mike Riley remained unmoved.

UNITED defender Rio Ferdinand felt the Reds were wrongly denied a penalty in normal time after the FA Cup semi-final defeat against Everton.


Danny Welbeck went down under a challenge from Phil Jagielka but referee Mike Riley remained unmoved.

• Match finished scoreless after extra time
• Berbatov and Ferdinand both missed penalties in shoot-out

Everton will meet Chelsea in the FA Cup final after beating Manchester United on penalties in the semi-final at Wembley. Sir Alex Ferguson picked a team made up of youth players, choosing to rest players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and leaving Paul Scholes and Dimitar Berbatov on the bench. Wayne Rooney was injured.

For 90 minutes and then for another 30 minutes of extra time, it was a tie that swung back and forth, each team seeming to dominate for 10 minutes at a time. However, with both sides tiring, the game finally went into penalties. Everton’s Tim Cahill missed the first, before Berbatov, on as a substitute, lazily struck his into goalkeeper Tim Howard’s arms.

The United captain then saw his penalty saved, while none of the remaining Everton players made any mistake. Phil Jagielka’s penalty meant Everton progressed after winning 4-2 in the shootout.

FIND out how we rated the Reds for their performance in the loss on penalties against Everton.

MANCHESTER United lost to Everton on penalties at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.



Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand missed their spot-kicks to end United’s dream of a quintuple.

MANCHESTER United lost to Everton on penalties at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.



Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand missed their spot-kicks to end United’s dream of a quintuple.

FIND out how we rated the Reds for their performance in the loss on penalties against Everton.

UNITED’S FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley has gone into extra-time.


The Reds felt they should have had a penalty when Danny Welbeck went down under Phil Jagielka’s second-half challenge, but referee Mike Riley remained unmoved and the game finished 0-0 in normal time.

MANCHESTER United are planning a swoop for Brazilian star Kaka if Cristiano Ronaldo leaves at the end of the season, according to a report.


Ronaldo could be on his way out of Old Trafford this summer - a long time target for Real Madrid - report the News of the World, paving the way for Kaka’s arrival.

MANCHESTER United are planning a swoop for Brazilian star Kaka if Cristiano Ronaldo leaves at the end of the season, according to a report.


Ronaldo could be on his way out of Old Trafford this summer - a long time target for Real Madrid - report the News of the World, paving the way for Kaka’s arrival.

FC UNITED had substitute Danny Williams to thank for keeping their hopes of squeezing into the UniBond premier division play-offs alive with a dramatic last minute winner at second-placed Ilkeston.


He fired in off the inside of the post to give the Rebels a 1-0 victory.


The win guarantees they’ll still be in the running for a top-five spot when their league campaign reaches a nailbiting conclusion at the weekend with the visit of fellow promotion candidates Bradford Park Avenue

FC UNITED had substitute Danny Williams to thank for keeping their hopes of squeezing into the UniBond premier division play-offs alive with a dramatic last minute winner at second-placed Ilkeston.


He fired in off the inside of the post to give the Rebels a 1-0 victory.


The win guarantees they’ll still be in the running for a top-five spot when their league campaign reaches a nailbiting conclusion at the weekend with the visit of fellow promotion candidates Bradford Park Avenue

ALTRINCHAM’S stand-in skipper Greg Young hailed the professionalism of his Moss Lane team-mates after they’d sealed their Blue Square Premier survival with a 2-0 home win over Grays.


Goals by Colin Little and sub Chris Denham gave the Robins a victory which sees them ease over the safety-line with two games to spare.


Young, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of the suspended Robbie Lawton, said: “It’s a relief to be safe, but the celebrations are on hold because we want to end up as high as we can.

ALTRINCHAM’S stand-in skipper Greg Young hailed the professionalism of his Moss Lane team-mates after they’d sealed their Blue Square Premier survival with a 2-0 home win over Grays.


Goals by Colin Little and sub Chris Denham gave the Robins a victory which sees them ease over the safety-line with two games to spare.


Young, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of the suspended Robbie Lawton, said: “It’s a relief to be safe, but the celebrations are on hold because we want to end up as high as we can.

Preamble: Given that I’ve been thrown into this at the last minute and, therefore, have prepared absolutely nothing here it’s probably best to go straight in with an email. “Well, having looked at the team Alex Ferguson has put out today it’s clear there’s no arrogance or contempt being shown for Everton or the competition. No siree,” writes Chris Kempshall. I’ll have to trust him as, frankly, I haven’t had a chance to look at the teams yet. Rooney’s not playing, that’s as much as I know.

Sorry for this particularly shoddy preamble. However, as Tom Lutz has just informed me, “No-one wants to hear you rambling on, anyway”. And he may well be right.

Teams … eventually:

Man Utd: Foster, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fabio Da Silva, Welbeck, Gibson, Anderson, Park, Tevez, Macheda.
Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Evra, Berbatov, Nani, Scholes, Evans.

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar, Cahill, Saha.
Subs: Nash, Yobo, Castillo, Vaughan, Jacobsen, Rodwell, Gosling.

Referee: Mike Riley (Yorkshire, as if anyone cares)

So, bit of a risk from Ferguson who gives Macheda has first start and fields two identical twins in defence, which won’t cause any problems commentary-wise at all, will it? Meanwhile David Moyes reckons playing Saha isn’t a risk, as he says he’s fit. We’ll see.

Tractor based emails: “I’ve got a question, is that a Massey Ferguson tractor? It doesn’t half bear a resemblence to Wayne Rooney…” asks tractor enthusiast Alex Banks. Weirdly, Steve Tara, two seconds later emails to ask: “Nice photo - is that Ferguson? No at a closer look it’s a Massey Ferguson…” Well, Alex and Steve, you’re both wrong, it’s an East German-built 1983 model, communism’s finest. I know this only because it said so on the picture caption when I ripped it from the library.

“Please, please don’t spend the 15 minutes before kick off talking about United’s line-up. It really isn’t that much of a suprise,” writes Ian McCourt, who wasn’t expecting all the tractor banter, obviously. “Everybody knows the FA cup is not United’s priority so why take a risk with so many other more important matches on the horizon? The ludites on BBC Radio 5 are losing it over the selection, as if Ferguson had told them that their mothers were not of the pretty variety.”

The teams, meanwhile, are trotting out onto the pitch. None of it has fallen apart. Yet.

We’re off: Fellaini is the target up front and he gets the ball back to Osman, who slices a shot over the bar.

3 min: Hibbert hoists over a free-kick into the box, which Park dribbles industriously back out. Jagielka gets hold of it, and he Pienaar and Fellaini try to work it up the left, where they come across one of the Da Silva twins. How to tell them apart? According to Tom Lutz - “One of them is better than the other”.

5 min: Macheda and Jagielka challenge for the ball and the 17 year old wins it, brings it down, swivels and shoots - just wide and along the ground.

7 min: Ian McCourt was keen not to discuss the starting lineup for the 15 minutes before the game, so let’s discuss it for the first 15 minutes after kick off. “I was hoping that Macheda, Gibson et al would be playing and thankfully they all are,” writes David Hickey. “Three points against Portsmouth on Wednesday are far more important than this game. Having said that, the team Fergie has selected are good enough to win this game.” Park fouls and Everton work the ball upfield to no avail.

8 min: Foster hoofs one down the other end of the (still intact) pitch. Jagielka lets it run past him and is forced to hold Macheda back as he tries to get on to the end of it. Howard collects though. A little later, Pienaar has the ball on the left, he cuts inside and plays a tantalising ball across the edge of the box. But, d’oh, there’s no-one there.

10 min Both teams are having a fair old crack at this in the opening stages. Macheda seems to be the focus of Manchester United’s attack. Saha, who’s had a stomach bug all week, gets the ball and doesn’t get immediately injured.

12 min: If you were an Everton fan, who would you least like to break the offside trap to collect a Fellaini through ball and be presented with a scoring chance? Phil Neville falls over and blasts the ball into the crowd. “Any chance you, or anyone else can explain the weird low camera angle in Wembley? It’s messing with my chi,” writes Zen Buddhism’s Zach Eustace.

13 min: Macheda and Welbeck link up brilliantly, slickly passing into the box. Welbeck slides the ball across the top of box where it finds Tevez, who makes a hash of things and taps it tamely wide. Would have been a great goal if he could have done better.

15 min: “From your picture it seems the Wembley groundsman is so proud of his home-made tractor that he has got a guard-dog to ensure Gus Huiddink, who is doing a pitch inspection wearing a dress for some reason, doesn’t try and hitch a ride,” writes Ben Bamford. Actually, looking at the tractor driver, he looks a little Arsène Wengerish, doesn’t he? Meanwhile, lumps of turf are already appearing all over the pitch. That’s not good.

17 min: Osman feeds Baines on the left. He whips over a cross but it’s not high enough and is cleared with a thumping foot from someone who I didn’t see. I’m betting it was a United player though.

19 min: Lescott lifts the ball forward to Fellaini, who nods down to Pienaar, who can’t keep it in. It heralds a period of Everton possession and, with a series of neat passes they advance slowly up the pitch. Baines, eventually, tries to beat Da Silva, but stumbles and can’t get past his man.

20 min: “If United score, my advice would be not to say that the Everton fans have gone quiet, as that would be impossible,” emails Mac Millings. “Gary Naylor’s at the game.”

22 min: Oops. Ben Foster almost makes a total Horlicks. He was hesitant as a back pass came to him, went one way, went the other and discovered Saha bearing down on him. He just manages to get the ball away. That would have been very embarrassing.

22 min: Brilliant challenge by Lescott. Macheda fed Welbeck again and, in the penalty area, Lescott times a sliding challenge perfectly to clear behind for a corner - from which nothing happens.

23 min: Lescott nearly undoes his good work. Rafael da Silva crossed, before Welbeck hit a tame shot into the defender. The deflection, though, nearly dribbles into the bottom corner. United are beginning to look good.

25 min: United are nearly in again but Everton scramble clear. Every time they get the ball out again, it falls to a red shirt, whereupon it’s driven back at them. Park crosses from the right but Howard claims and gets his team some breathing space.

27 min: Gibson to Tevez on the right, who has been dropping deep. He chips a crossfield ball to the other Da Silva twin, who offloads to Anderson. It’s all going very well for United until Everton nick the ball. They work it to Baines in the corner, he plays a one-two with Pienaar and gets dragged down just outside the box by Rafael da Silva who is carded.

28 min: Rather than cross to make use of Everton’s aerial strength, though, Pienaar hits one at the wall. It goes behind for a corner that is cleared.

30 min: “What are the chances, this afternoon, that Gary Naylor becomes the first non Guardian reporter to get a comment in the minute by minute of a game that he is attending?” asks James Wells. “In other words, should I keep hitting refresh in the hopes of seeing history made or just go back to trying to calculate the second order correction to the ground state energy of an electron gas?” I have no idea what it means, James, but I’d do the latter if I were you. Park hits it in to Tevez, who can’t control the ball as it gets to him too quickly, so he touches it wide.

32 min: Welbeck gets a bit pushy in the box, so Everton win a free kick. He’s looked threatening. For all those desperate tractor fans out there, inundating me with questions about what was really a fairly poor gag above, here’s what you need: “picture shows a farmer sitting on his homemade, handicapped accessible East German tractor built in the year 1983″. That’s all the info I have.

34 min: Hibbert throws the ball in and Vidic beats Fellaini to the header. However Everton get the ball away through Pienaar who is scythed down by Tevez - who gets a deserved yellow. Really poorly timed challenge, that one, and he knew what was coming. “Zach Eustace claims the low camera angle is messing with his chi,” writes the knowledgeable Mark Lumley. “While this is all very well, the word chi actually means to eat or food in Chinese as apposed to qi which means inner energy. That said Phil Neville’s head is enough to put anyone off their tucker, regardless of the camera angle.”

38 min: Pienaar and da Silva tussle for a high ball in the United box. There’s a big old shout from the Everton fans who believe that their player was brought down in the box. They’re wrong though, as Mike Riley agrees. “Judgement will be made on Alex Ferguson’s team when the final result comes in. That’s the way of modern football,” opines Clive insight Tyldesley. Really Clive? I’m sure nobody ever had an opinion after the final whistle in the old days.

40 min: A back pass to Howard leaves the keeper struggling and Macheda nearly chases him down. He clears, though … just. Welbeck then manages to work his way into the box, via some nice interplay with Macheda and Park (I think), but he shoots wide and high. Minutes later he scuffs a cross, when unmarked, behind the goal. Not so good.

42 min: Ben Foster does his bit to keep David James in an England shirt, by slicing a ball into touch when panicked by the sight of Saha about 30 yards away. Hmm.

44 min: Bit of a lull, which gives Ben Holmes time to write: “Can you ask James Wells (30 min) if he does calculate the second order correction to the ground state energy of that electron gas, just how far his calculation correlates to the experimental data? Your readers want to know. Oh, and as a Liverpool fan I hope they both lose, but a little perversely, I hope Manchester United lose more.”

Peep, peep: Macheda tries to play Welbeck in, and both of them have looked good today. Their link up play bodes well for United’s future. Everton, on the other hand, are struggling to unlock the Ferdinand-Vidic partnership. With that, the referee blows the whistle and they stroll through the sun towards the dressing rooms.

Some hillbillies making their tractors dance for your perusal while I nip to the loo.

History is made. Sort of. “Tell James Wells (30 min) to put down his electrons, and become part of history,” writes Wembley’s own Gary Naylor. “As Everton’s best known internet micro-celebrity, I’m writing from a seat that is reserved for me every time Everton get to Wembley. It isn’t expected to be used much.”

Meanwhile, it would seem James has gone back to the science. He writes to tell Ben Holmes: “Not very well I’m afraid, it gives you infinity when you calculate it. You have to add up all infinity orders to get the correct value. At some point, they say, science and magic appear to be the same thing. I’m at
that point in my studies.”

I, on the other hand, have very little idea what’s going on. Still.

Tractor driving doesn’t get any tougher than this, as they’d have it on Masterchef.

Fergie’s back in his seat on the side of the pitch. Meanwhile, the Everton players are marching onto the turf. At least three of them are tying the drawstrings of their shorts. Just what was David Moyes doing to them at half-time?

Peep, peep: We’re off. Teddy Sheringham has just called for early balls. Perhaps that’s what David Moyes was doing.

48 min: Fellaini offloads to Baines but his team-mate had already moved position, so the ball goes into touch. Still, somehow Everton get the ball back. They pass around outside the box until Saha loses the ball. “This is one of the worst games of football ever played,” writes Niall Harden. A touch harsh Niall. I’d wager the St Edward’s School v Cherwell School game in which I was in goal and let in eight must have been worse.

49 min: Fellaini is penalised for handball, despite the fact it was ball to arm and Rio Ferdinand had his arms around him, preventing him from doing very much about it.

50 min: Osman gets done for handball this time, which is fortunate for Anderson who had just let him past and into a dangerous position. “These big games have to be seen as David Moyes’ job interview to manage a big, sorry bigger, club,” emails another Niall, this one Niall Mullen. “So far he’s flunking. Everton don’t have the ability to dominate a game even against a second string United. His big buy Fellaini looks worth every penny, but only if they were paying by the inch.”

53 min: Everton have been on the attack so far this half. The crowd are deafening as Neville throws in to Hibbert deep in the United half. His cross is easily cleared though. Fellaini is causing one or two problems but Saha has done nothing whatsoever so far.

54 min: Good effort by Cahill, low and to Foster’s right. The keeper gets a hand to it, which Ferdinand clears into touch. The ball, that is, not Foster’s hand. “I know what Ben Holmes means about science and magic being the same thing. Take the magic tractor for example … It turned into a field,” boom-booms Jean-Marc de Verteuil

56 min: The Everton fans are now phenomenally loud, coinciding with their team’s spell of dominance. United try to slow things down, keeping posession, not letting their opponents have the ball. “Worst game ever? Niall Harden hasn’t been to Boro, has he?” chortles Michael Ollier.

58 min: My word, the Everton fans are bellowing. Good on them. Park takes control in the middle of the pitch, flicks it to Rafael da Silva, who is fouled by Baines. Vidic trots up the pitch like, ahem, a tractor. He’d have been better off standing on one as Anderson lifts the free-kick 300 feet above his head and into the crowd.

59 min: Saha nearly gets a foot in as Ferdinand passes back to his keeper. But he doesn’t. So this is a bit of an inconsequential one, isn’t it?

61 min: Free kick to Everton on the halfway line. They lift it forward into the box but Mike Riley manages to get in the way and it’s cleared. Maybe Moyes had a point before the game. Everton work the ball back up the pitch and Osman gets a second go at a cross. Fellaini is on the end of it but so is Ferdinand and he gets it out.

63 min: One of the Da Silva’s is injured. I don’t know which one. But, with only 10 United men on the pitch, Tevez tears into the Everton box. He’s tackled and the back pass is nearly tucked home. Then Park gets on the ball, after more good work by Tevez, and he shoots through a crowd just wide.

65 min: Evra is on, meaning it must have been Fabio da Silva who was injured at left-back. It’s United’s turn to up the pressure now and they’re camping outside the Everton box. Fellaini taps Rafael da Silva and he goes down within free-kick range.

65 min: Gibson floats it over, Vidic heads it back across the goal and Everton win a free-kick in clearing the ball. “Speaking of Moyes’ big-club credentials, it’s interesting to note the Fergie rejects now on the pitch for Moyes’ side: Howard, P Neville, Saha. It’s hard to imagine a Wenger or a Hodgson or an O’Neill spending time or money on such players,” emails Jason in Austin, Texas, USA - or so he says.

67 min: Macheda can’t get on to the end of a through ball - but only by millimetres. Lescott just got there before him and hoofed the ball up the pitch. United are toying with Everton now. They lurk outside the area until Gibson finds some space and shoots from 30 yards, only to sting Howard’s hands. Park comes off for Scholes. “On the TV they’ve just been talking about the fans not worrying about how they’ll get back to the North-West. Surely the Manchester United fans just have to catch the tube to get home?” laughs Phil Sawyer

69 min: That’s going to be contentious. Welbeck flew into the box, with the ball at his feet, and was brought down by Jagielka. It looked a cast-iron penalty but hasn’t been given. Alex Ferguson has just gone ballistic on the touchline. He’s jumping up and down like a monkey, waving his arms and stamping his feet. That’s always good to see. Meanwhile, Mike Riley is beginning to lose control of this game - the players are offering him the benefit of their wisdom with alarming frequency.

70 min: Don’t think it was a penalty, but it could well have been given. Saha is off for Rodwell, so Cahill goes up front with Feillani.

72 min: “Macheda is like a younger and taller Pippo Inzaghi with no skills on the ball and very little possession time. But the difference is that Pippo usually scores,” emails 李晓苏 from Beijing. Nonsense of course, he seems to have a great touch and he always seems to score. I just wanted to include the email so that I could be the first m-b-mer to include Chinese letters. More history being made - stay right here, you never know what will happen next.

73 min: What does happen next is that Fellaini crosses and Ferdinand clears. On the other side of the pitch, Phil Neville crosses and sees it charged down by Anderson. Corner. It doesn’t beat the first man.

75 min: Osman and Foster have a clash and the keeper gets the decision, as they always seem to. Ferguson is still going berserk - this time to the fourth official. Presumably about the penalty claim, though it could be anything knowing Fergie. On the pitch, Tevez aims a long shot but it is charged down.

75 min: Anderson keeps the ball moving in to the box. The Everton defenders neglect to challenge him and his shot nips the back corner of the net - on the outside. “So, Niall Mullen (50 min) thinks that ‘these big games have to be seen as David Moyes’ job interview to manage a big, sorry bigger, club’. They don’t ‘have to’ at all. Several years of (largely) excellent league results and lofty end-of-season positions on a very limited budget should, unfortunately, see him able to get any job he wants, when he decides it’s time,” writes Wembley’s Gary Naylor.

77 min: Gibson sends over a corner, which Vidic gets his head onto. He nods it onto Lescott, and it deflects over for another corner. From that, they work the ball back into the box, which Macheda tries to flick on. Howard claims.

79 min: Evra crosses, Jagielka clears to Scholes. United are back on top here and they celebrate by probing from just outside the box. Tevez has still dropped deep. You wonder if he might be of more use nearer the goal. Anderson tees up an ugly penalty area scramble. He puts it into Welbeck. Rather than shooting, he tries to ship it on to Macheda, at which point five Everton players dive in. There’s an unseemly swinging of boots, before Howard emerges with the ball.

80 min: “Of course (56 and 58 min) the Everton fans are loud. See my email at 20 min for the explanation,” writes Mac Millings as, on the pitch, the physios get to work on Hibbert and Macheda for a minor clash.

82 min: Welbeck, who’s been quieter this half, charges a cross down and United break quickly through Tevez. The ball is worked back to Scholes, he plays Macheda in, who’s standing in an excellent position - the only problem is that it’s also an offside one.

83 min: Having just said that about Welbeck, he immediately sent a shot skimming over the bar after Hibbert let him do one past him. “Regarding the penalty incident, Clive Tyldesley’s just said ‘it was an incident that could have gone either way, and it did’,” writes Phil Sawyer. “I’m presuming Clive is watching this match from a quantum state of being. Incidentally, Gary Naylor once said I should have been killed at birth for being the only Liverpool fan in a family of Evertonians. Does anyone else have stories of casual death threats issued by minor internet-based celebrities?”

84 min: Fellaini picks up a yellow card for swinging an arm into Ferdinand’s face. It looks like that hurt. The United players get a bit hot under the collar about it, but Mike Riley knows best. Of course.

85 min: Corner to United, which Howard punches very weakly straight to Macheda. He swings his leg but miskicks and it balloons over all the players and, unerringly, into Howard’s arms.

87 min: Fellaini gets done for hand ball in the United box. He didn’t handle it at all though. What he did get was a boot in the chest as this game gets increasingly tetchy. Cahill is the next to go down after jumping into Rafael da Silva. Cramp is his problem. Well, his medical problem. He’s no doubt got others.

88 min: Long throw-in from Neville. He chests it back to Lescott, who volleys and sees his effort deflected behind for a corner. Lescott tries to get on the end of it, Ferdinand beats him, and the Everton man gets upset about something or other.

89 min: There’s a minute left and Fergie is chewing gum frantically. Evra ploughs into the back of Pienaar - he’s got his hands up as if to suggest he’s doing nothing wrong, despite prodding his chest into the South African’s back. The free kick is swung over to the far post and Fellaini and Foster go up for it together. The keeper goes down and earns a free-kick, although for what is unclear.

92 min: Howard pumps it upfield. But Everton can’t make much use of it. This is heading into extra time.

Peep, peep: Neville goes long towards Fellaini, but Ferdinand clears. Seconds later the referee blows his whistle and we’ve got another 30 minutes of extra time. This is still anyone’s.

I’ve had emails from 李晓苏 and 冯广健 in China. Presumably this means the Guardian have breached that country’s firewall. Quick, let’s say something subversive.

Pitchwatch with David Jacques: Mr Jacques has emailed twice to ask about the pitch. From where I’m sitting, about ten miles away, it looks alright. Certainly nothing to suggest it looks anything like the picture above. The odd lump of turf is lying strewn about, but nothing to worry about.

Here comes Berbatov, on for Macheda. Is that going to help? Not sure.

Peep, peep: And we’re off again. “Subversive? how about Gary Neville for PFA player of the year,” writes Nick Smith.

1 min ET: Berbatov on the ball and his first impact on the game is to pass the ball into touch for a goal kick.

3 min ET: Gibson crosses from the right, to see his effort deflected behind for a corner. It’s cleared and Pienaar breaks. He looks around for someone else to pass to then realises Paul Scholes is the nearest marker so just waits for the inevitable lunging challenge. Free-kick. From it, the ball breaks to Cahill in the box, he fires across goal and Foster has to stretch a leg to keep it out. Good stuff from the Australian.

4 min ET: Scholes nearly slips Berbatov in, but doesn’t. They look altogether too casual at the moment - Berbatov’s influence? - and Welbeck’s lackadaisical cross is hoofed out with disbelieving ease by Lescott.

6 min ET: Pienaar runs up the left and gets the ball into Fellaini, who is the sole Everton man in the box. He turns and shoots but drives it straight into Vidic’s legs.

8 min ET: Scholes lifts one over the top of the Everton back four. Welbeck’s onside, but only just, although Berbatov wasn’t. Welbeck gets the ball, though, and is through on goal - only to see the linesman flagging. Tight one.

10 min ET: Berbatov rolls the ball back to the edge of the penalty box. Welbeck is there, with the goal gaping at his mercy, and takes a massive fresh air shot. That’s embarrassing. “We’ve been reading your tripe over here for ages. Especially when they block the telly feed,” writes Jason Dalton from, presumably, China. “They’ve shut down YouTube though, bloody censorists! Be as seditious as you like, I don’t think they worry about the Guardian.” Hmm, that’s disappointing.

12 min ET: Cahill crosses, it comes off Ferdinand and back to the Australian. After a bit of bobbling about, it goes to Pienaar who crosses again. It’s cleared. It comes in again … and is cleared again. Everton are struggling to beat Vidic’s aerial dominance. Even with Fellaini to aim at. Ah, having said that, Fellaini is coming off for James Vaughan.

14 min ET: Anderson offloads to Scholes, a few yards into the United half. He and Cahill have a scuffle, which leads to a United free-kick and a red-faced and angry Cahill. The ball is slipped into Berbatov, but hoofed back out. Baines runs it up the left, crosses, and earns a corner. The news from China, meanwhile, is increasingly bizarre. “There’s no firewall or anything like that in China. I watch news on Forest Green Rovers on your website all the time,” writes 冯广健 in 30 point green type.

Half time: The corner is cleared, despite Everton’s best efforts to force the ball goalwards. Tevez races down the other end and fires one from distance and it’s easy for Howard to hold.

And we’re off again: Baines runs up the left and pulls the ball back to Vaughan who is at the back of the penalty box. He can score the winner here, but he scuffs it wide! It was a poor effort, really. Remarkably, nobody looks tired. More understandable in United’s case as some of these players (the reserves and young ones) haven’t had as many games this season as Everton’s.

19 min ET: Osman slides a diagonal ball towards the far post, where Pienaar is just inches away from connecting. Very close. Everton have started this half well.

20 min ET: Cahill puts his foot out and Vidic goes over it. Definitely a foul, but wouldn’t have been a yellow card had Cahill not gone mental at the ref. “St. Edward’s always spanked Cherwell at football. It could get a bit rowdy that fixture,” writes Gabriel Stargardter, who is right in the latter case but wrong in the former - at least it was when I was in goal for St Edward’s.

21 min ET: “Does anyone know if there’s an iPod containing Everton players’ penalties?” asks Timothy Loh, as did someone else earlier, whose email I lost. Long throw in to the United box, which Ferdinand heads away. It goes up the other end of the pitch for Howard to hoof back down. Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman, looks positively tortured watching this in the stands. The club’s fans, though, are still in fine voice.

23 min ET: As Jim Beglin has just pointed out on the telly, United look as though they’re waiting for penalties now. What I said earlier about them not looking tired is now untrue. That’s how good at this I am.

25 min ET: For the umpteenth time today, Neville throws a long one into the box, only to find the ever-present Vidic there clearing. United take it up the pitch and lurk outside the area. Gibson crosses but Lescott is there this time to clear. A little later Tevez slumped down in the box with Lescott in attendance. Nothing dubious there, though. He just looked like he wanted a lie down.

26 min ET: Evra forces a corner kick, after battering his way up the left. Vidic rumbles forward again. Evra takes the corner and it is headed out to Scholes. He lamps it back in and, in claiming it, Howard takes it over the dead ball line. Another corner, which is also kept out, eventually to become a goal kick.

29 min ET: It’s all a bit scrappy and desperate now, as you might expect. Gibson passes it back to Foster but doesn’t put enough on it. Vaughan charges down his clearance and Baines and Foster tussle as the keeper scrambles to get it clear. Unfortunately he shoves Baines and Everton get a dangerous free-kick. It’s floated over but Vidic, again, clears. He’s been immense.

Peep, peep: The whistle blows … penalties it is.

Ben Foster is no doubt scrolling past whatever it is he listens to on his iPod, trying to get one up on the Everton penalty takers.

The penalties are being taken in front of the United fans. Foster marches into the goal, to face down the first Everton effort.

Cahill takes the first penalty: He shoots well over the top of the bar - high and right.

Everton 0-0 Manchester United: Berbatov staggers his run and hits a tame one down the middle. Howard saves with ease. Appalling penalty. Laughable, really.

Everton 1-0 Manchester United: Baines nails one slightly to the left of Foster.

Everton 1-0 Manchester United: Saved! Ferdinand goes low and left, but so did Howard and he keeps it out.

Everton 2-0 Manchester United: Phil Neville to put one past his former team … and he sends the keeper the wrong way!

Everton 2-1 Manchester United: Here comes Vidic. He runs in off a long run-up, stops, then hits it left. In off the post. Lucky.

Everton 3-1 Manchester United: Brilliant penalty from Vaughan. Right, and just over Foster’s depspairing dive.

Everton 3-2 Manchester United: Anderson steps up and, left-footed, puts it calmly into the opposite corner to which Howard dived.

Everton are through! Jagielka slams it home - United are out, Everton will face Chelsea in the final. The players go mental, Moyes looks entirely calm.

Well done to Everton, bad luck United - but then they can’t have it all. United dominated the first half but Everton probably shaded the rest of the game. There will, inevitably, be talk of Fergie’s selection but few of his young players let him down. Still, their performance was based on the rocks at the heart of the defence. Credit to Everton and credit to Moyes that they saw this one out.

I’m off, thanks for all your emails, from China, Alaska and everywhere else.

UNITED’S quintuple quest is alive and well.



They battled through against Porto and now face Everton in a record equalling 26th FA cup semi final.

UNITED’S quintuple quest is alive and well.



They battled through against Porto and now face Everton in a record equalling 26th FA cup semi final.

While United have been busy in Europe, Everton had had the benefit of rest

Manchester United are tired, and no wonder. It is not just the matter of having to play a pacy game at Porto on a Wednesday night then get themselves up for an FA Cup semi-final against a team that has had a week off, it is the matter of being Manchester United.

Nemanja Vidic puts it most ­succinctly. “Against Manchester United everyone gives 200 per cent,” the ­Serbian ­centre-half said. “When I played in ­Serbia and Russia I never played in this many games during a season. [Vidic has started 42 of United’s 55 games in all competitions]. We are going for four trophies, but there is only time to think about the next game. Everton will be treating this semi-final like a cup final because this is the one trophy they can win, but for United that situation is ­normal. We don’t just have to play Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday all the time, we always have to face opponents trying to have the best game of their life. That’s the big ­difference. ­Playing for United you need to concentrate fully on every game.”

Sir Alex Ferguson hopes the ­impressive defensive performance in Portugal, with Rio Ferdinand back alongside Vidic, will help settle his side after their recent sticky patch, though he has ­admitted he will be ­making changes for today’s ­Wembley semi-final. “Not everyone will agree with the changes I make, but no one in their right mind would consider naming an unchanged team,” he said. “All you can do at this stage of the season is concentrate on the game coming up and try to keep the team fresh.”

Tim Howard is one of several former United players now at Everton who knows just how good Ferguson is at doing that. The underdogs might have had all week to prepare for their first visit to Wembley since the 1995 final, while United have had European football on top of a slight stumble in the league, but you will not catch Howard, or Phil ­Neville or Louis Saha, venturing the opinion that this might be a good time to play them.

“I’ve been at that club, I know the ­psyche, they will be right up for it at Wembley, no matter which team they put out,” Howard said. “Now we are in the last four you can safely say this is our biggest game of the season. We have reached a stage where we can see ourselves winning something if we put in a couple of really good performances, but we will have to make sure we are at our best because we won’t get any favours from United. Whatever the competition, they just don’t think like that.

“Our record against them isn’t that great, but semi-finals are always tight and both our league games this season have been tight. We drew at home and lost 1-0 at Old Trafford. So we have a chance, and we know what it would mean to our fans if we reached the final. There is a massive hunger at this club to win something, to have something to show for the improvement we have made in recent years.”

David Moyes knows all about that. The manager sounded out by Ferguson for the assistant’s job that eventually went to Steve McClaren has rebuilt Everton so impressively he is now being touted as a candidate for the Old Trafford succession, or at least he will be as soon as the present incumbent stops dismissing all talk of retirement. Moyes does not need a trophy to underline his managerial ­credentials; ­everyone is impressed at the way he has brought stability and substance to Everton on the tightest of budgets, but he passionately desires a tangible and lasting reward for the efforts of his players and the loyalty of the fans.

“We are going to win a trophy soon, there’s no doubt about it,” Moyes said. “We need to win a trophy. The way the game is now there are bigger clubs than us who won’t win any trophies this year, and that will put them under pressure because of the money that has been spent. We haven’t had an awful lot of money so we’ve had to build slowly. We can be proud of that, but everyone at the club would dearly love a trophy too.

“The league is not really within our grasp, but I think we’ve been getting a bit better at the cups. I’ve been here seven years now and I’m the first to admit I’ve got a terrible cup record, but this time we’ve actually got a good chance. Part of the reason for that, I must admit, is the professionalism that came with the players we bought from United. Phil Neville, for instance, came with a winner’s attitude that we didn’t have at the club previously. He wasn’t used to losing games and he didn’t expect to lose. He didn’t take it well when we did lose and some of that attitude has rubbed off on the other lads. Phil will help keep the lads focused.

“The fans are excited about going to Wembley but I’m quite keen to play it down a bit. This is only a semi, after all, it’s too early to get carried away. To reach the Cup final we’ve still got a lot to do.”

If Moyes ever needs any help ­preparing a CV for an Old Trafford job application, he knows where to turn. “He’s already at a good club, he’s put his own stamp on Everton, taken a long-term view on making them competitive again and built a team of young players,” Ferguson said admiringly of his fellow Scot. “He’s done all that without much money too, but money sometimes makes life more difficult. He’s improved Everton each year, that’s the impressive thing. He might not get a break with a top-four club – he’s not going to get the Liverpool job, for a start – but maybe he’s happy at Everton. I think as long as he is there they are capable of being a top-four club.”

Time will tell, though filling Ferguson’s shoes still seems Moyes’s likeliest route, perhaps his only route, into the land of milk and honey. Not that Ferguson is going any time soon. And not that he would dream of putting himself or a fellow manager under pressure by recommending a potential successor. The status quo remains, and Moyes, for one, is quite happy with that. “I can’t understand why anyone would want Sir Alex to leave,” he said. “He’s the best, I think we’ve all got to hope he stays around for another few years.

“I am very pleased at the way things have worked out at Everton and I might never have got this chance if I had gone to be his assistant at United, but a small part of me will always wonder what that would have been like. You never stop learning, and you can’t beat learning from the best.”

Wembley, 4pm, Sunday 19 April

Manchester United

Shaun O’Donnell, Observer reader

We go in to this game on the back of our successful entry into the Champions League semis and the confidence of Wednesday’s display shows that we are returning to the form that made us unbeatable earlier in the season. Everton will go in to this game the fresher of the two teams and Fergie will certainly shuffle his pack and rest players with an eye on the midweek game with Pompey. I expect him to start with Tevez and Rooney up front with a midfield of Scholes and Anderson, hopefully the wonder boy Macheda will be given a decent run out as he has kept our league hopes alive with his two goals. Everton will treat this game as a final and although our priorities look towards the league and Europe we will have enough strength in depth to beat Everton who are lacking firepower up front. I feel the FA has devalued the FA Cup somewhat by playing the semis at Wembley and expecting two north-west teams to travel south for a Sunday afternoon game was a disgrace when they could have played this game at Anfield, Villa Park or the ‘Council House’ but then again when have the FA put the fans first? United to win 2-1 with Everton scoring first.

Due a big game Carlos Tevez – Rested on Wednesday, he will run the Everton defence ragged on this leg sapping pitch.

Everton

Simon Paul, NSNO.co.uk

It’s been a long time coming, but this trip back to Wembley – like a return to a childhood home for many Evertonians – is hopefully just the beginning of yet another chapter in the story of Everton under David Moyes. There is every reason to think it will be the first of two trips there this season. The game against Manchester United at Goodison turned our season around, and our second-half performance back then needs to be recreated for the full 90 at Wembley on Sunday.  Phil Neville needs to maintain his fantastic form and lead by example.  Hard, but fair (mostly) tackles need to be the order of the day, with a side serving of grit and determination, and just a sprinkling of flair from Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman. If Marouane Fellaini can stay below Mike Riley’s radar, and Tim Cahill is up to his best, then we can have every reason to believe that Everton can upset the apple-cart and – just like in 1995 – spoil the ‘dream final’ that Sky TV dream of.

Due a big game Tony Hibbert – Not scored in his eight years at the club, but what better occasion to get his first?

United’s players aren’t daunted by an increasingly packed fixture list.

Fletcher’s back and Rio’s return has boosted United, but Rooney and Carrick are doubts.

Reds midfielder Scholesy warns Everton ‘we don’t like to lose semi-finals’.

Sir Alex insists United will not underestimate David Moyes’ men at Wembley.

• Allardyce joins in attack on Liverpool’s manager
• Anfield sources laugh off ‘co-ordinated’ criticism

Sir Alex Ferguson, backed up by his close friend Sam Allardyce, launched a sustained attack on Rafael Benítez last night. The pair accused the Liverpool manager of being “arrogant,” lacking “humility” and displaying “absolute contempt”.

Ferguson first criticised the Spaniard for dismissing Everton, Manchester United’s opponents in tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final, as a “small club”. He then alleged Benítez had openly taunted Allardyce during Liverpool’s 4–0 defeat of Blackburn Rovers at Anfield last Saturday, making a provocative gesture to signal that the game was effectively over once the second goal was scored. “To get that kind of contempt, I don’t think any other Liverpool manager in the past would ever have done that,” Ferguson said. “But he [Benítez] is beyond the pale.”

The claims were ridiculed at Anfield where there is a strong suspicion that Ferguson and Allardyce, both of whom dislike Benítez, collaborated before their respective press conferences yesterday. “Rafa has laughed off what is clearly a co-ordinated attack on him,” said a source close to the Liverpool manager.

Allardyce, who looks up to Ferguson, also questioned Benítez’s “humility”, using similar language. “He [Benítez] opened his arms out and then crossed them over as if to say: ‘That’s it!’ The gestures he made were dismissive to myself and to Blackburn Rovers,” Allardyce said. “They were disrespectful and quite humiliating.”

Ferguson, who said he had not spoken to Allardyce and had seen it on Match of the Day, went further. “There’s one thing with his [Benítez’s] arrogance that you can’t forgive and that is his contempt for Sam Allardyce last week. Did you see it? Absolute contempt! He went like that [crossing his arms back and forth] as if to say: ‘Game finished!’ I don’t think Sam Allardyce deserved that. A guy who has worked so hard for the League Managers Association, looking after young managers and players, he didn’t deserve that.”

Benítez is yet to respond but there is a sense of bemusement inside Anfield about the allegations and, in particular, why Ferguson has felt it necessary to get involved. Allardyce did not raise the issue after the match and Benítez says the only gesture he made was a self-deprecating one to Xabi Alonso because the goal had originated from the midfielder ignoring his advice at a free-kick.

Benítez instructed Alonso and Emiliano Insúa to take a short free-kick and attack the Blackburn full-back, Keith Andrews, two versus one. Instead, Alonso whipped in a long ball that Fernando Torres headed beyond Paul Robinson and the Liverpool manager responded with a gesture to his players that apparently loosely translated as: “You were right. What do I know?”

The TV pictures appear to support Benítez but Ferguson says there is a case to answer. “I saw it and I’m surprised nobody picked it up,” he said. “I think you should respect a manager. I don’t think you’d ever get me doing something like that - you won’t. You have to have humility.”

Asked whether he had ever had any altercations with Benítez during games, Ferguson replied: “I’ve never had any of these issues like that. He’s never done that – never had a chance.” He went on to question why Benítez had insisted on having control of Liverpool’s transfer business. “He has played himself into a powerful position. He wants control of all the transfers - for whatever reasons I don’t know, but that’s the last thing I’d want. Crikey!” There was also a thinly veiled swipe about Benítez ’s recent criticisms of himself. “I don’t know what he does in his spare time, but he’s certainly not using it in the right way.” Of Benítez’s remarks in 2007 about Everton being a “small club”, Ferguson added: “Irrespective of what Rafael Benítez says, they are a big club. He called them a small club, which just points to his arrogance.”

Allardyce, who described Benítez before last weekend’s game as someone who “loves moaning and whinging” has not got on with the Spaniard since his time as Bolton Wanderers. He said: “I went to have a word with Benítez after the game but unfortunately and, as usual, he didn’t turn up.

“He probably was avoiding me and that shows you the measure of the man. It was a gesture that said to me: ‘Finished, you’re done.’ He didn’t do it directly at me, but it was more or less in my direction.

“I’ve looked at it three or four times, I’ve taken all week to have a calm and clinical look at it. I can only be of the opinion that’s what he meant by it. From someone of his standing I’d expect better – but that’s the way the man is. He needs to show a bit of humility.”

• Everton ready to win trophy, says manager
• Manchester United cause no apprehension

David Moyes was standing on the Kop this week when he discovered he may have overcome yet another obstacle as Everton manager. The strained relationship between the Scot and Rafael Benítez was forgotten at the end of the Hillsborough memorial service when the Liverpool manager approached and offered genuine well-wishes for tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson may have influenced Benítez’s thoughts, of course, but Moyes knows he has earned the respect of his Merseyside rival this season, however grudging. He can now ensure that “small club” is never mentioned within earshot again.

The Everton manager has won the majority of his challenges since arriving at Goodison Park seven years ago, changing the perception of a club whose grandeur had vanished, travelled to Europe only in pre-season and could not satisfy home-grown talents; all as a result of former managers’ mistakes and a conservative board failing to capitalise on the Premier League gravy train in the early 1990s. Wayne Rooney wearing red at Wembley will be evidence of an occasionally turbulent journey for Moyes but the fact his depleted team can face United without apprehension is testament to his success. Yet that does not suffice for the 45-year-old. Only when silverware is back at Goodison will Moyes even hint at satisfaction.

Moyes began this season speaking of a squad that “could not cope” with what lay ahead given that, until £15m Marouane Fellaini and several free transfers arrived in the final week of the summer transfer window, he had not made one new signing. Now he stands one victory shy of leading Everton into their first FA Cup final since 1995 and has European qualification in his grasp for the fourth time in five seasons through the Premier League. It is no wonder Bill Kenwright, his chairman and steadfast supporter, has made Moyes the highest-paid employee in Everton’s history with a contract worth £65,000 a week until 2013.

“Everton will win a trophy soon, that is for sure,” Moyes says, although he is aware that the FA Cup alone cannot put the club’s finances in the same league as his neighbours across Stanley Park. “The Champions League would give you the higher revenue to try and add more players, which in turn would hopefully mean that you would get to more cup finals. But as a football man I feel the players at Everton will win a trophy soon and I’m looking forward to that happening.

“The group we’ve built together is growing all of the time, and as the team is growing the performances are growing, too. I hope it is this time, but if it is not it is going to be soon. We want to win a cup. Last season we got to the semi-final of the League Cup, had a good run in the Uefa Cup, so we are getting better as a cup side. The pedigree is getting better.”

Moyes has spent every season at Goodison maximising limited resources, a demand that has often necessitated a negative approach at the homes of the “Big Four” and prompted Benítez’s “small club” criticism following a goalless draw at Anfield in February 2007. This season, however, has tested that ability on a weekly basis. Moyes lost his entire strike force to injury at one stage of the campaign before Mikel Arteta, then in the form of his Everton career, ruptured a cruciate ligament at Newcastle in February to join Yakubu Ayegbeni, Louis Saha, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe on the sidelines.

The manager responded by acquiring Jo on loan from Manchester City and the Brazilian has repaid his faith with five goals in eight appearances. In keeping with the season, Jo is ineligible for the FA Cup and Moyes’ forward options are limited to Saha, who has started one game this year and has missed training through illness this week, and Vaughan, the gifted but fragile 20-year-old who last appeared for the first team in November.

“I’ve had to find other ways of playing this year because of the injuries and I’ve actually found that Everton need the football in Europe. We need it for the development of our players,” Moyes says. “We want to be doing it regularly. Manchester United have that experience. They’ll be used to games like semi-finals. We are relatively new to it.”

Absences have given opportunity to youngsters, with Dan Gosling entering the Everton annals for the late winner against Liverpool in the fourth round and Jack Rodwell signing a new five-year contract with his boyhood club. However, it is the unsung veteran of the team, Phil Neville, whom Moyes credits with turning Everton’s season with a crunching tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo during October’s 1-1 draw against United at Goodison.

“That was someone trying to take ownership and leadership of the team and taking the responsibility to make something happen,” insists the Everton manager, whose captain could lead out the team alongside his brother, United’s Gary, at Wembley. “That can be with a tackle, it can be with a pass or someone scoring. But Phil Neville did it for us with a tackle that day. He’s tried to take a lot of ownership for what goes on and he deserves a lot of praise for that. I think if you asked Phil Neville, he’ll probably say that he’s as much at home here, if not more so, than he ever was at Manchester United.”

Victory in the FA Cup plus qualification for the Europa League would rank alongside Moyes’ achievement of reaching the Champions League qualifying stage in 2005. But until it is an achievement, and United plus either Chelsea or Arsenal are defeated at Wembley, he will curb the enthusiasm that has gripped his club’s support. “I think we all want to beat United at a final,” Moyes says. “This is a big day out to Wembley, two big teams with big support coming down. But we want more. This isn’t our final.I’m saying it to our supporters. This is our semi-final.”

Midfielder may lack celebrity status but United fans see him as the natural successor to Paul Scholes

When the Professional Footballers’ Association announced its candidates this week for Player of the Year there were five Manchester United names on the shortlist – but not necessarily the right ones. Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic will all be measured out for their dinner suits over the coming weeks. One or two might even put together the first words of an acceptance speech. Yet there is also a sense of surprise at Old Trafford that the player who really makes Sir Alex Ferguson’s team tick did not even make it on to the shortlist.

It is certainly strange that a footballer of Michael Carrick’s grace manages to be so under-appreciated. When it comes to an appreciation of space and the ability to hit the perfect pass, long or short, Carrick is probably the nearest English football has to Glenn Hoddle. Yet this is very much an unsung hero.

Even at Old Trafford, where the supporters have come to regard him as Paul Scholes’s natural successor (and there is no greater compliment than that at Manchester United) you won’t hear his name being sung. They still serenade Roy Keane at home matches but the man who took his No16 shirt is still waiting to find out what it is like, that adrenaline rush, when 70,000 fans start chanting your name.

Ferguson has his own theory, drawing a similarity with the former full-back Denis Irwin as someone else whose performances were consistently excellent but who “never had the celebrity status of a Ryan Giggs, David Beckham or Eric Cantona”.

As for the man himself, there is just a shrug of the shoulders. “It doesn’t bother me,” Carrick says. “I suppose there isn’t much that rhymes with Carrick. I’ve spent a few hours trying to think up something myself, but I haven’t come up with one yet either. What can you do?”

The midfielder has grown accustomed to not getting the appreciation his team-mates and manager thinks he deserves – so it is probably good that he is remarkably ego-free.

It has, after all, been like this for him at every club. At West Ham, where he was in the shadow of Joe Cole and came to be seen as the rosebud that never properly flowered. At Tottenham, where Martin Jol built his entire team strategy around him yet some fans still complained that he fell short. And in his early days at United, when there were misgivings about whether he was worth the £18m fee and could fill the enormous void left by Keane.

Almost three years on, what cannot be disputed is that Carrick has succeeded on both fronts. In fact, compared to some of Ferguson’s recent buys – Dimitar Berbatov at £30.75m, plus Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves, all £18m – it could even be said that United got a bargain.

“I don’t really like to talk myself up,” he says in that soft Geordie accent, “but I hope I have got past that now. It was natural, really. It was a few quid and at the time people questioned it, which is fair enough. It wasn’t something that could get to me, so I just forgot about it. I just wanted to come and do what I was bought for and, after that, I’m just pleased that things have gone pretty well.”

In many ways, it was a matter of acceptance. Keane was a once-in-a-lifetime legend and Carrick is almost the polar opposite in terms of personality. But United, sans Keane, was always going to be a different place.

“It is a lot more controlled in the dressing room these days,” says Carrick. “It depends how it goes, but there are times when it is just silent after matches. Everyone just sits there, gathering their thoughts, nobody really says much. Even after the Liverpool game [a 4–1 home defeat] it was pretty silent really, we just thought about what had gone on and what we would do after that.”

The accusation that is sometimes thrown at Carrick is that he does not dominate a game of football in the way his predecessor did. But it is not just a coincidence that since he took over from Keane United immediately re-established themselves as England’s top team. In his first season, they prised the Premier League trophy from Chelsea’s grasp. Last season he picked up a second league title and a Champions League winners’ medal. This season United have already accumulated three more trophies, with another three possibly to come.

Carrick has become integral to United’s success, more so than any other midfielder at the club.

It is, he says, his finest season in terms of stamping his authority on matches. “I have got more consistent. It is not just setting a high standard but keeping those standards and obviously the longer you are here the more responsibility you feel to influence things more.”

A bit like Keane, however, he is not entirely satisfied. “It’s been a funny season because we haven’t really exploded. There have been games where we have come off the pitch and, yeah, we’ve won, but we’ve actually felt really disappointed. It hasn’t been a happy changing room.

“Over the season you have waves. It is very hard to go through the whole season at the same standard and winning games in the same way. We’ve had spells where everything seemed to go right and spells where we struggled to play great football. It has just been a case of getting the right results.”

The 1-0 defeat of Porto on Wednesday night was a sign, he hopes, that United have come out of the slump that was threatening to derail their season. “We got back to what we do best. We defended well as a team and looked really solid.”

So what of that sudden loss of form? Carrick remembers that 4-1 defeat to Liverpool as “the worst day since I’ve been here” and he doesn’t disagree when it is pointed out to him that Jonny Evans and Vidic have both independently blamed it on complacency. Ferguson has spoken of the players believing their own hype.

“Maybe,” Carrick nods. “We were in an unbelievable position before that Liverpool game. If we had won things would have been a whole lot different [United would have been 10 points clear with a game in hand]. But if it was the case that we’d got complacent then it definitely isn’t now.

“We have had a big wake-up call over the last few weeks and we know there is no more room for error. That is probably a good thing because we are very focused again, determined not to let it slip. It was terrible for us to lose the way we did against Liverpool, but you still have to look at the bigger picture. We lost two games. It was a blip. But we are still in a terrific position.”

It is interesting that he should have worse memories of the thrashing to Liverpool than he does of being on the losing side against Chelsea the last time United reached an FA Cup final, in 2007. Don’t be fooled, though, into thinking this is not a competition that is of great importance to him.

“It is something I have been desperate to win for as long as I can remember,” he says firmly.

“It was always the biggest day of the season when I was growing up – the build-up, everything that surrounded it. I used to spend the whole day in front of the telly. The Champions League and the Premier League are now both huge, but the tradition and history of the FA Cup is still very special.”

It is also the one medal that has eluded the 27-year-old since moving to Old Trafford. “But it’s not just me. There is a mixed bag in the changing room really. Some of the lads have won it a number of times but some haven’t won it once. Wayne [Rooney] hasn’t got one. Rio has missed out for other reasons and is desperate to put that right.

“This is a good chance; it is another semi-final and anything can happen now.” And maybe, just maybe, if Carrick can help United to another trophy at Wembley on 30 May he may hear his name being sung.

• United argued better Wembley atmosphere would help revive competition
• Allocation for this year’s finalists stays at 25,000 each

Manchester United have failed in an attempt to persuade the Football Association to abandon its controversial policy of giving the FA Cup finalists a limited ­allocation of tickets.

The winners of tomorrow’s game between Arsenal and Chelsea and Sunday’s other semi-final, between United and Everton, can expect no more than 25,000 tickets each for the final at Wembley on 30 May. Wembley has a 90,000 capacity; the other 40,000 tickets will be taken by Club Wembley members and distributed to what the FA describe as “the football family” – including county associations, grassroots coaches, schools, referees, charities and football-in-the-community schemes.

The policy means tens of thousands of supporters miss out each year, and it emerged today that United, the 11-time winners, had written to the FA when the new Wembley was being built to ask for a review of the ticketing policy. The letter, written by the club’s secretary, Ken Merrett, put forward United’s view that it would help the competition if there was a better atmosphere at Wembley, with fewer neutral supporters. Dwindling crowds have affected the Cup’s reputation.

Merrett argued it was unfair so many fans could not get tickets even if they had paid to watch their team in earlier rounds. United’s average home gate is three times the proposed allocation for this season’s final, and the suggestion from Old Trafford was that there should be a change in policy so that the “football family” were given complimentary tickets for England matches instead.

Merrett is now retired but United’s stance has not altered, and they would still like to see a change regardless of whether they beat Everton on Sunday. The club’s chief executive, David Gill, is also on the FA board, but the organisation has no plans to change its policy, which means both clubs will get approximately 7,000 more tickets for the semi-final than the winners will get in the final itself. United have been allocated 32,041 tickets while Everton have received 31,825.

United and Tottenham received around 31,000 tickets for the Carling Cup final. However, Luton Town were given around 40,000 tickets for the Johnstone Paints Trophy final against Scunthorpe United.

Wayne Rooney, who bruised his foot in the win against Porto and had a scan yesterday, looks likely to miss the semi-final but Michael Carrick, who hurt his ankle, is expected to be involved. Rafael da Silva and Darren Fletcher are available after injury and both are in contention.

“David Moyes is building a big club, the evidence is there,” said Sir Alex Ferguson. “They have a young squad that will get better – the young players he has got allied to the ones he has brought in are all of a good variety. He has done a great job. My problem for Sunday is that we are facing a very hungry team because David has to win a trophy and he is feeling that way.”

• Awards to be given individually in May and June
• Ronaldo and Hamilton up for sportsman of year

The annual Laureus World Sports awards ceremony, sport’s equivalent of the American film industry’s Academy Awards, has been scrapped this year because of the global financial crisis. Staging a full-scale gala would be “inappropriate” in the current economic climate, organisers said. The winners will instead be presented their awards individually, in May and June.

“It seemed to us, with so many people suffering, that this was the wrong time to be staging this event,” Edwin Moses, chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said in a statement. “This is the responsible thing to do.”

Last year’s ceremony was hosted in St Petersburg and was attended by state officials including the then Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and figures from sport and entertainment including the formula one rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, and the actor Dennis Hopper.

Two multiple Beijing Olympic champions, the sprinter Usain Bolt and the swimmer Michael Phelps, head the short list for the Laureus 2009 sportsman of the year award, alongside the 2008 formula one champion, Lewis Hamilton; the world No1 tennis player, Rafael Nadal; the Fifa world footballer of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo; and the MotoGP world champion, Valentino Rossi.

The women’s short list includes the Olympic champion runner Tirunesh Dibaba; the tennis player Venus Williams; the record-breaking pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva; and the golfer Lorena Ochoa.

Nominations for the team of the year include the NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, and Manchester United and Spain. Two golfers, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman, are nominated for the comeback award.

A panel of sports journalists and broadcasters from 112 countries voted for six nominees in each category. The winners will be selected in a secret ballot by 46 iconic sports stars including Jack Nicklaus, John McEnroe and Nadia Comaneci.

Like Oliver Kahn and Bayern Munich, Chelsea’s John Terry and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger crave Champions League fulfilment

If there was a moment last summer when John Terry felt like he could not face getting back on the horse (and it would have been understandable) then he might have found solace from a slice of Bayern Munich folklore passed on from Michael Ballack.

Ten years ago, Bayern lost the Champions League final to Manchester United in a manner even more harrowing than Chelsea’s penalty shoot-out tumble last May in Moscow. The German club did not need to wait an eternity to experience their catharsis. When they reached another final, against Valencia two seasons later, their volcanic determination helped them win the prize. Nobody summed that up better than Oliver Kahn, who zoned himself into an I-am-invincible trance before the penalty shoot-out. In the end, what went around came around for Bayern, and it felt wonderful.

Neither Chelsea nor the other semi-finalists need extra motivation at this tantalising stage of the competition. But everyone at Stamford Bridge appreciates how powerful the impetus to earn some kind of payback for a perceived wrong can be. Terry’s range of facial expressions on the sidelines, as he watched the mayhem of this week’s 4–4 against Liverpool unfold, told that story well enough.

The four remaining contenders all have completely different impulses propelling them towards Rome. For United, as defending champions, it is all about the desire to add to the legend by retaining the trophy – something no team has managed since Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan almost two decades ago. Let’s not forget the tournament was a completely different animal back then, a straight knock-out that involved nine matches from start to finish. For the record, four of those games en route to Milan’s successful defence in 1990 were against the champions of Finland (HJK Helskinki) and Belgium (Mechelen). It took five tough matches to win it.

For Barcelona, as recent winners themselves who don’t have the desperation of Chelsea or Arsenal, it is more about conclusive proof for themselves and the rest of the world that they are the bees knees of football right now. There is also the small matter of catching up on Real Madrid’s total of nine European Cups. If Barca do triumph, they will still be only a third of the way towards the benchmark their foes remind them of as often as possible.

Arsenal are happily playing the role of plucky outsiders. For the vast majority of the current squad, this European odyssey has pumped up their self-esteem. In a sense they should feel the least pressure. But one man from north London needs his catharsis perhaps even more than Terry does or Kahn did. Somewhere at home, perhaps in the back of the sock drawer or hidden behind some more meaningful trinkets, Arsène Wenger has runners-up medals from each of the three traditional European competitions. For all his successes, can you imagine a more severe memento of a life in coaching than that?

With slightly different quirks of fortune in his three finals, Arsenal’s manager might have been able to share the pedestal upon which Giovanni Trapattoni and Udo Lattek leapt, courtesy of that rare European hat-trick.

Instead he has been heartbroken, first when a Monaco team spearheaded by George Weah lost the 1992 Cup Winners’ Cup final to Werder Bremen, then when the Arsenal of Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp lost a miserable Uefa Cup final to Galatasaray on penalties in 2000, and most recently in the 2006 Champions League, when Thierry Henry and company (minus the dismissed Jens Lehmann for most of the match) led Barcelona until faltering late on.

These semi-finals are flavoured by four very different dynamics. So who wants it the most? Whose desire is strongest? And might that make an all-important difference when these excellent teams rendezvous in a couple of weeks’ time? Some of us round here are unashamedly counting down the days to find out.

• Spaniard’s behaviour ‘beyond the pale’
• Gesture after Torres goal was ‘humiliating’

Sir Alex Ferguson has renewed hostilities with Rafael Benítez, accusing the Liverpool manager of “arrogance” and showing “contempt” in his dealings with fellow Premier League managers.

First, the Manchester United manager lambasted the Spaniard for his description of Everton, United’s FA Cup semi-final opponents at Wembley on Sunday, as a “small club”, before rounding on him for the attitude he showed in dismissing Blackburn last weekend, once Liverpool had scored a second goal at Anfield. Blackburn’s manager, Sam Allardyce, later added stringent criticism of his own.

Ferguson said: “Everton are a big club, not a small one which Benitez arrogantly said. But arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt, which is what he showed Sam Allardyce last weekend. When Liverpool scored their second goal he signalled as if the game was ­finished. I do not think Sam deserved that. Sam has worked so hard for the LMA [League Managers Association] and he’s had a weakened team. I just thought it showed contempt.

“In my experience no Liverpool manager has ever done that. It was beyond the pale.”

Allardyce has reviewed footage of Benítez’s gesture, which followed Liverpool’s second goal in their 4-0 victory. Although Benítez is well-known for his hand signals from the technical area, Allardyce insists that his opposite number’s gesticulations following ­Fernando Torres’s 33rd-minute header were directed towards him and his team.

Allardyce’s understanding is that Benítez crossed his arms over dismissively, as if to suggest “that’s it, game over, job done”. Allardyce also believes that Benítez showed a lack of respect by not showing up in his own office for a post-match drink.

“I think if everybody has a look back at his gestures you will see them as pretty dismissive to me and the Blackburn ­Rovers team as a whole,” said Allardyce. “I was hugely disappointed by those gestures. I think they were disrespectful and quite humiliating. Having looked at them again this week, I think I’m right and ­everybody will see why I’m complaining.

“The feeling was that he had written us off. It was open arms and then a ­crossover of the arms as if to suggest that was it. I admit it was a hard game, a difficult game for us, and we were well beaten by an outstanding Liverpool side. But in terms of respect, you don’t expect those sort of things to happen in a game of football. I was very, very upset by it.

“The game is hard enough as it is without a fellow manager doing what seemed to be an undermining gesture. I then waited to have a word with him after the game in his room, but as usual and unfortunately, he didn’t turn up.

“Not explaining himself by not turning up in his office really shows what he is like. The only people I saw were [Liverpool head coach] Sammy Lee and a few of the staff, but he never showed his face. That was just as disappointing as the gesture, and it typifies the man.”

Allardyce has made no attempt to contact Benítez to try to clarify the matter. “Why should I?” he asked. “If he can’t come into his own room and have a drink with his fellow manager, why would I want to pick up the phone and speak to him?

“I gave him the opportunity by being courteous enough after being beaten 4-0 to go and have a drink in his room. There was no need for those sorts of gestures, and my opinion as to whether I’m right is obviously going to be speculated upon by other people, but I think I’m right.

“He would have had the opportunity to have explained himself if he had turned up in his room, but [he] didn’t, so that’s why I’m talking about it today. It’s in the past now and I’ll move on, but I just want to make everybody aware of what I consider to be a lack of respect for me, the Blackburn Rovers players and the football club as a whole.”

Asked if the issue would act as motivation for Blackburn’s crucial relegation match at Stoke tomorrow, Allardyce said: “It doesn’t matter what Rafa Benítez does or doesn’t do. In the end, in terms of us wanting to stay in the Premier League, that is what we’ve been after from day one.

“What I expect is a little more respect from a fellow manager.”

Sir Alex Ferguson uses Manchester United’s FA Cup semi-final clash with Everton to renew his war of words with Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.

GARY Neville and Rafael da Silva are fit after recent injury problems and part of United’s squad for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Everton.


Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he will make changes from the team which defeated Porto on Wednesday night, with Paul Scholes, Park Ji-sung and Carlos Tevez among those expected to start at Wembley.

GARY Neville and Rafael da Silva are fit after recent injury problems and part of United’s squad for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Everton.


Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he will make changes from the team which defeated Porto on Wednesday night, with Paul Scholes, Park Ji-sung and Carlos Tevez among those expected to start at Wembley.

• Dismissing Everton as ’small club’ labelled ‘arrogant’
• ‘Contempt’ for Blackburn’s Allardyce also criticised

The Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has accused Liverpool’s Rafael Benítez of “arrogance” and showing “contempt” in his dealings with fellow Premier League managers. Benítez has been in combative mood recently, on several occasions criticising Ferguson directly. Now, ahead of United’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley on Sunday, Ferguson has hit back with a withering assessment of Benitez’s conduct.

First, he lambasted the Spaniard for his description of Everton as a “small club”, before rounding on him for the attitude he showed in dismissing Blackburn last weekend once Liverpool had scored their second goal at Anfield.

“Everton are a big club, not a small one which Benitez arrogantly said,” said Ferguson. “But arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt, which is what he showed [the Blackburn manager] Sam Allardyce last weekend.

“When Liverpool scored their second goal he signalled as if the game was ­finished. I do not think Sam deserved that. Sam has worked so hard for the LMA [League Managers Association] and he’s had a weakened team. I just thought it showed contempt.

“In my experience no Liverpool manager has ever done that. It was beyond the pale.”

WES Brown is set to make his reserve team comeback at Preston on Monday.


Apart from a brief return to duty at the end on January, Brown has been sidelined since November following an ankle operation.

WES Brown is set to make his reserve team comeback at Preston on Monday.


Apart from a brief return to duty at the end on January, Brown has been sidelined since November following an ankle operation.

SIR Alex Ferguson has accused Rafael Benitez of “arrogance” and showing “contempt” in his dealings with fellow Premier League managers.


The Liverpool chief has been in combative mood recently, on several occasions launching verbal volleys at Ferguson.

SIR Alex Ferguson has accused Rafael Benitez of “arrogance” and showing “contempt” in his dealings with fellow Premier League managers.


The Liverpool chief has been in combative mood recently, on several occasions launching verbal volleys at Ferguson.