Manchester United news and links

• Alex Ferguson says both players have ‘talent and purpose’
• Gabriel Obertan out for several weeks with ankle injury

Sir Alex Ferguson has said he has no reservations about relying on Javier Hernández and Federico Macheda from the start of next season and believes they will ease the goalscoring burden on Wayne Rooney at Manchester United.

The two young strikers were impressive during United’s 5-2 victory over the MLS All‑Stars on Wednesday, Macheda scoring two early goals and Hernández, this summer’s £7m signing from Chivas Guadalajara, completing the win with an exquisite finish on his debut for the club.

While Ferguson considers streamlining his attack by allowing Danny Welbeck and Mame Biram Diouf to go out on loan next season, the United manager insists the 18-year-old Italian and 22-year-old Mexico international are at the forefront of his plans. With Michael Owen still injured, and Rooney returning to training only this week after a post-World Cup holiday, Macheda and Hernández could be required from the start of United’s attempt to win the league title back from Chelsea.

The United manager said: “They give us the back-up we are going to need. We’ve got a decision on whether to let Welbeck and Diouf go out on loan, although I am starting to think about it again. I need to keep Macheda and I need to keep Hernández, who has just joined the club. That is imperative. There is purpose in the way they play their football. It is not just talent. You don’t play at this club with just talent, you need something else and they have that something else.”

Ferguson described Macheda as “probably the best player going through against the goalkeeper that we have” after the former Lazio youth striker produced a clinical finish against the MLS goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts after just 22 seconds at the Reliant Stadium. The forward has endured a frustrating time with injury since exploding on to the scene with a critical goal against Aston Villa in April 2009 and made only five Premier League appearances last season.

“I had many injuries and was out for almost five months so I couldn’t really show my strengths,” said Macheda. “But this season I hope to have more chances to show what I can do.

“We have seven strikers so if there is one more or one less at the club it doesn’t matter. Every one of them is a challenge to each other. I think this year could be the one for me, I think so because I’m trying to get fit so I can show what I’m capable of doing.

“I just want to stay and grow as a player here. Even if I only play a bit, I will be playing alongside big players and against big teams, so I’m definitely staying here.”

Ferguson, who will be without Gabriel Obertan for several weeks after the French midfielder suffered an ankle injury against the All-Stars, was also effusive in his praise of Hernández, who appeared as a 62nd-minute substitute and will play for both United and his former club Chivas in a friendly in Guadalajara tomorrow.

The United manager said: “The one thing that defenders always worry about is players with speed, players who will get into the space behind them. His goal against the All-Stars gave an indication of that speed. The timing of his run – coming towards the ball and then spinning – shows he’s going to be a threat to defenders, no question about that.

“How the combination with Wayne will work – I think we will need to adjust a little bit because I think they could both be similar types of players. At the moment we will just assess Hernández and try to bring him to a consistent level of form. He has still got little things to do but not a great deal in terms of technique. Once he gets used to our training I think he will be OK.”

MLS All Stars 2-5 Manchester United

Javier Hernández offered a glimpse of the talent that made him the poster-boy for Mexican football and a £7m summer signing for Manchester United with a superb goal on his debut for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, as they beat the MLS All-Stars 5-2. El Chicharito – the Little Pea, as he is known – was on the pitch in Houston for only 28 minutes but displayed an intelligence, understanding and accuracy that augur well for a season that will demand an immediate return from the 22-year-old.

The magnificent 71,000-capacity Reliant Stadium (think the Camp Nou with a roof on) witnessed the finest display of United’s pre-season tour thus far from the most recognisable side Ferguson has fielded. The side contained several of the young players the United manager has championed at every turn in North America but did not lack for experience, with Federico Macheda seizing the opportunity to recapture the imagination and to show Hernández is not the only young United striker with rich potential.

Macheda’s career has stalled since he exploded on to the scene with that crucial, title-defining goal against Aston Villa in April 2009. The 18-year-old made only five Premier League appearances last season due to a succession of injury problems but, unlike Danny Welbeck, is not being considered for a loan spell away from Old Trafford this coming season. His finishing in the opening moments in Houston explained why.

Only 22 seconds had elapsed when Macheda seized on a careless pass across the MLS defence from the right-back, Kevin Alston, and beat the exposed goalkeeper, Donovan Ricketts, with a clinical finish into the bottom corner. In the 12th minute the Italian striker doubled United’s lead when, from Nani’s corner, he was left unmarked on the six-yard line and sent a glancing header beyond the All-Stars keeper.

With Darren Fletcher dominant in central midfield – and striking the crossbar after a neat one-two with Tom Cleverley – United produced a fluid, intelligent display although, and without wishing to introduce a killjoy to proceedings, it should be noted the All-Stars starting line-up was cobbled together from eight different clubs. Several players, including the Landon Donovan, the USA captain who was on the bench, had played in the Concacaf Champions League only 24 hours earlier.

MLS substitute Brian Ching reduced the arrears in the 63rd minute when he lost Rafael easily at the near post and headed David Ferreira’s free-kick past Edwin Van der Sar. United responded with two exquisite goals.

After a foul on the lively Hernández, afforded a rapturous reception when introduced as a 62nd-minute substitute, Darren Gibson swept a glorious free-kick in off the underside of the crossbar from 25 yards. Cleverley then latched on to Fletcher’s flick into the penalty area, lifted the ball over the defender Wilman Conde with his left foot and volleyed past Nick Rimando in the MLS goal with his right.

The 70,728 crowd, a record for a “soccer” fixture at the Reliant Stadium and the fourth highest for an All-Stars game, got the moment the majority craved seven minutes from time when Hernández marked his debut with a fine finish. Peeling off the shoulder of the last defender, the Mexico striker read Fletcher’s ball over the top superbly and, with Rimando advancing, lofted his finish over the goalkeeper. The MLS substitute Dwayne De Rosario reduced the arrears in the 90th minute.

Manchester United (4-1-4-1): Van der Sar; Rafael, Brown, J Evans, Fábio (Scholes, 72); O’Shea; Obertan (Cleverley, 23), Fletcher, Giggs (Gibson, 52), Nani (Hernández, 62); Macheda (Welbeck, 62).

MLS All-Stars (4-1-4-1): Ricketts (Rimando, ht); Alston (De Rosario, ht), Olave (Gonzalez, ht), Marshall (Conde, 63), Pearce (Donovan, 74); Joseph (Davis, 74); Le Toux (Convey, ht), Morales (Moreno, 63), Schelotto (Ferreira, ht), Pappa (Larentowicz, ht); Angel (Ching, ht).

MLS All Stars 2-5 Manchester United

Javier Hernández offered a glimpse of the talent that made him the poster-boy for Mexican football and a £7m summer signing for Manchester United with a superb goal on his debut for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, as they beat the MLS All-Stars 5-2. El Chicharito – the Little Pea, as he is known – was on the pitch in Houston for only 28 minutes but displayed an intelligence, understanding and accuracy that augur well for a season that will demand an immediate return from the 22-year-old.

The magnificent 71,000-capacity Reliant Stadium (think the Camp Nou with a roof on) witnessed the finest display of United’s pre-season tour thus far from the most recognisable side Ferguson has fielded. The side contained several of the young players the United manager has championed at every turn in North America but did not lack for experience, with Federico Macheda seizing the opportunity to recapture the imagination and to show Hernández is not the only young United striker with rich potential.

Macheda’s career has stalled since he exploded on to the scene with that crucial, title-defining goal against Aston Villa in April 2009. The 18-year-old made only five Premier League appearances last season due to a succession of injury problems but, unlike Danny Welbeck, is not being considered for a loan spell away from Old Trafford this coming season. His finishing in the opening moments in Houston explained why.

Only 22 seconds had elapsed when Macheda seized on a careless pass across the MLS defence from the right-back, Kevin Alston, and beat the exposed goalkeeper, Donovan Ricketts, with a clinical finish into the bottom corner. In the 12th minute the Italian striker doubled United’s lead when, from Nani’s corner, he was left unmarked on the six-yard line and sent a glancing header beyond the All-Stars keeper.

With Darren Fletcher dominant in central midfield – and striking the crossbar after a neat one-two with Tom Cleverley – United produced a fluid, intelligent display although, and without wishing to introduce a killjoy to proceedings, it should be noted the All-Stars starting line-up was cobbled together from eight different clubs. Several players, including the Landon Donovan, the USA captain who was on the bench, had played in the Concacaf Champions League only 24 hours earlier.

MLS substitute Brian Ching reduced the arrears in the 63rd minute when he lost Rafael easily at the near post and headed David Ferreira’s free-kick past Edwin Van der Sar. United responded with two exquisite goals.

After a foul on the lively Hernández, afforded a rapturous reception when introduced as a 62nd-minute substitute, Darren Gibson swept a glorious free-kick in off the underside of the crossbar from 25 yards. Cleverley then latched on to Fletcher’s flick into the penalty area, lifted the ball over the defender Wilman Conde with his left foot and volleyed past Nick Rimando in the MLS goal with his right.

The 70,728 crowd, a record for a “soccer” fixture at the Reliant Stadium and the fourth highest for an All-Stars game, got the moment the majority craved seven minutes from time when Hernández marked his debut with a fine finish. Peeling off the shoulder of the last defender, the Mexico striker read Fletcher’s ball over the top superbly and, with Rimando advancing, lofted his finish over the goalkeeper. The MLS substitute Dwayne De Rosario reduced the arrears in the 90th minute.

Manchester United (4-1-4-1): Van der Sar; Rafael, Brown, J Evans, Fábio (Scholes, 72); O’Shea; Obertan (Cleverley, 23), Fletcher, Giggs (Gibson, 52), Nani (Hernández, 62); Macheda (Welbeck, 62).

MLS All-Stars (4-1-4-1): Ricketts (Rimando, ht); Alston (De Rosario, ht), Olave (Gonzalez, ht), Marshall (Conde, 63), Pearce (Donovan, 74); Joseph (Davis, 74); Le Toux (Convey, ht), Morales (Moreno, 63), Schelotto (Ferreira, ht), Pappa (Larentowicz, ht); Angel (Ching, ht).

• Scot says he has not been refused money despite debt
• Manager happy with his squad despite lack of transfers

Sir Alex Ferguson has responded to mounting criticism of the Glazer family with a staunch defence of Manchester United’s owners and a rebuke for supporters opposed to their debt-laden regime.

The United manager’s spending amid a debt level of £716.5m for the year ending 30 June 2009 has attracted fierce protests from fans, evidenced by the popularity of the Green and Gold campaign last season. Ferguson has spent £19m on Chris Smalling and Javier Hernández so far this summer, a sum made to look modest by Manchester City’s latest transfer spree, but the Scot insists he will not compete with the prices paid by his local rivals and that United’s current crop of young talent safeguard the club’s future.

Ferguson has consistently supported the Glazers since their controversial takeover in 2005 but these comments are pointed at a time of unrest among fans over the club’s ownership and ability to attract top talent to Old Trafford. The United manager, who also reiterated that he has no immediate plans to retire, said: “The debt has come through the club being bought out by an owner. You know very well that no matter which business is bought nowadays, it’s usually bought with debt. Because it’s a football club it seems to attract a different type of negative reporting via the media or particularly some of our fans.

“When Manchester United Football Club went plc without doubt it was always going to be bought. Somebody was going to buy it. It was inevitable. It’s unfair that because a particular family like the Glazers have bought it, they should come under criticism when anybody could have bought it.

“I have to say they’ve done their job well. They support myself, the manager, they’ve supported the players. I’ve never been refused when I’ve asked for money for a player, so what can I do other than carry on the way we’re doing it, and the way I’m allowed to carry on? I’ve no complaints.”

The Glazers have also borrowed $570m against shopping malls they own and $95m against their American football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Forbes magazine, however, last week valued United at $1.84bn (£1.18bn), making it the most valuable sporting club in the world, although even those sums will not tempt Ferguson to match City’s spending power, he insists. “The enormous amounts of money they [players] are paid, not just for the transfer fees but for their salaries, I don’t think it rests easy with supporters,” he added. “We’re in such a competitive world now that you’re hamstrung in relation to the borders people will stretch to get the best players.

“Over the years we’ve bought players for quite high amounts like Berbatov, Ferdinand, Verón and Rooney. We try to equate how we’re going to get proper value before we do it. We take a quite good view of it now and say: ‘Let’s look at our own young players. Have they got the ability? How much can we trust them? Do we see a top player in that young player?’

“When I see some of the values now, and you’re talking about players at £40m or £30m-odd, we have to assess our own players first. And we’re not bad, you know. There are some good young players who have come through the system. They understand the club, they’re loyal to the club, and we can build through that.”

The 68-year-old again discounted any thoughts of retirement, presenting his health, “good natural energy” and the pressure of “every day of every year we have the challenge of being at the top” as reasons to continue. Ferguson is adamant that when the time does come to leave the squad he has at his disposal now will ensure his legacy is secure.

“What you have to do is maintain the success of the club and make sure that, no matter when I quit, the club is always in good hands,” he said. “I come back to the point of having young players, that there’s no need for a complete overhaul of the playing squad. The squad I’ve got at the moment, I’ve got probably 12 players all under 21 which is a fantastic average age and the future should be pretty secure with them.

“If I have my health I can carry on. There will be a point when I do quit but I have absolutely no idea when that is. I tried that a few years ago and it was an absolute disaster. Agony. My wife made me change my mind and she was dead right. I think she was soon fed up with me in the house. Now when the times comes I think the club should be okayOK.”

• Hernández will get a hero’s welcome from city’s Mexicans
• Sir Alex Ferguson praises United scouts for identifying ‘bargain’

The perception that this has been an underwhelming summer in the transfer market for Manchester United does not hold in Houston. Their arrival here to face the MLS All-Stars at the Reliant Stadium has generated a hysteria Sir Alex Ferguson would usually associate with the Far East. Or, more accurately, the arrival of Javier Hernández has.

Houston’s significant Mexican population is in awe of El Chicharito (Little Pea), the 22-year-old who agreed a £7m move to Old Trafford before scoring twice for Mexico in the World Cup and who, fitness permitting, will make his United debut tomorrow night. His ascent has been swift but striking.

The forward appeared for the national team for the first time only last September, rose to prominence with 21 goals in 28 games for Chivas Guadalajara in 2009-10, became the first Mexican to sign for United in April and propelled his popularity further with goals against France and Argentina at the World Cup. The 1,000-strong queue that awaited his guest appearance at a store in Houston on Sunday was testament to Hernández’s new-found status.

“I think our scouting people get 10 out of 10 for identifying him before the World Cup,” Ferguson said here. “And, I think if we’d tried to negotiate after the World Cup, it would have been very difficult. I think a lot of teams would have been after him, and he would probably have cost us two or three times as much. So, well done to my scouting department.”

Recent evidence suggests the Glazer family would balk at spending more than £20m on one player, although David Gill today insisted the club can spend heavily if Ferguson sees fit, a line the United chief executive and manager have repeated since the £80m departure of Cristiano Ronaldo last summer. “The money is there if we believe there is a player who can improve what we believe is a very good squad,” Gill said. “In order to improve it a player has to be of a very high quality. Overall, I think Sir Alex is very comfortable with the squad composition. That’s not to say something won’t happen, but I think it is a ‘might’, not a ‘will’. We will see what happens over the next six weeks.”

So far only Hernández and the £12m defender Chris Smalling have improved United’s options for next season and, with respect to the coveted but raw central defender from Fulham, only the Mexico international has brought the intrigue and anticipation supporters crave at this juncture. Ferguson described the striker as “quick, a good finisher and he has two good feet. He’s got a good appetite to play the game.”

Nick Rimando, who played against Hernández for Real Salt Lake and is expected to be in goal for MLS All-Stars tomorrow night, said: “He is a fantastic player, feisty in the 18-yard box. I played against him last year when he was at Chivas. He’s very dynamic, loves to go forward and loves to get the ball over the top.”

Hernández joined the United squad yesterday following a post-World Cup holiday and, having admitted playing with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney only on PlayStation before signing for the club, should get the opportunity for real against the MLS All-Stars.

Ferguson said: “We’d like to use him in part of the game on Wednesday. One, because I know there’s a big Mexican population in Houston, and, secondly, we want to try and integrate him into the team as quickly as possible. But we want to see what he’s been doing physically over the past week because I don’t think it would be wise playing him without any physical preparation for this game.”

The Mexican will play one half for his old club, Chivas, and another for United in their pre-season friendly on Friday, agreed as part of his transfer, and his parents and sister are all moving to England to help Hernández settle. His father, Javier Sr, was part of Mexico’s 1986 World Cup squad and as El Chicharo (the pea) is responsible for the family nickname. Hernández’s grandfather, Tomás Balcázar, was part of the Guadalajara team who won eight league titles in 10 years and, at the 1954 World Cup, he also scored against France at the age of 22.

Despite the inability of his compatriots Carlos Vela and Giovanni Dos Santos to impose themselves at Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, the United striker insists he will not arrive at Old Trafford with trepidation.

“I don’t feel pressure, I feel motivation, and it’s an honour [to be United’s first Mexican player] because I want to achieve big things,” Hernández said. “There are millions of people in the world who would do anything to be in my position and have this opportunity. I will always try to enjoy it because sometimes we focus so much on the achievements and our dreams, and maybe we forget to enjoy it.”

• Midfielder had two hours to make up his mind
• ‘I might have gone had Capello asked me himself’

Paul Scholes has revealed he regrets rejecting an England comeback at the World Cup and may have gone to South Africa had Fabio Capello made the offer instead of his No2, Franco Baldini.

The Manchester United midfielder believes the call should have come from Capello and raised further questions over the Italian’s management by saying that he was given only two hours to consider the approach. Scholes and Jamie Carragher were asked to return to the international fold before Capello announced his initial 30-man squad for the World Cup in May, but the former declined on the basis it would be unfair on those players who helped England qualify. One month on from the team’s feeble exit against Germany, Scholes admits he should have accepted the invitation.

“It was difficult. He [Baldini] rang me the day before [the squad announcement],” he said. “I probably just needed a bit more time. I thought after a week, a couple of weeks, that maybe I should have gone. I am not saying I would have made a difference. I don’t look back and think it didn’t go well for England because I didn’t go. I am just saying it was a chance to play in the World Cup and I turned it down. It wasn’t until you start seeing all the build‑up to the tournament and I thought maybe I made the wrong decision. It wasn’t the manager who rang me but Baldini. It was flattering.”

Scholes admits he may have gone had Capello invited him personally. “I don’t know. Maybe it might have meant more,” said the 35-year-old, who retired from international football in 2004 but was given just a few hours to consider whether he wanted to leave his family and spend this summer in South Africa. “I thought it wasn’t much time. That’s why I probably said no, not just because he had given me a couple of hours to think about it but the fact I needed a bit more time to think about it. I had to make a decision in two hours or something. I am not saying it definitely would have been different but I think it might have been. I did not expect it. It wasn’t even on my mind. I got a phone call the day before asking me if I fancied it and saying I had a couple of hours to decide. I don’t know him [Baldini].”

absence of his technique and vision was sorely felt in South Africa as celebrated Premier League midfielders again failed to deliver on the international stage. His understanding with his United colleague Wayne Rooney may also have coaxed an improvement from the England striker.

“I am saying I might have made the wrong decision but I am not saying I would have made a difference,” said Scholes. “With regards to Wayne, I play with him every weekI know what he wants and the rest of the players know what he wants. I am not saying the England players don’t know what he wants because he has been successful with them for the last four to six years. For some reason it did not work out for the team.”

Scholes also rejected the offer of an England recall from Steve McClaren and believes a similar appeal from Capello - or his backroom staff - is unlikely ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Instead, one of the England’s greatest midfielders intends to continue turning the nation’s loss into United’s gain by holding off the growing threat of local rivals Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

“The last thing we want is City above us. It has not happened since I have been here. We will have to see what happens there. They have bought so many players. Whether they can gel together remains to be seen. It is great for the city to have two top teams, but I’d rather them be in the Second Division like they were 10 years ago! There has always been big rivalry between us anyway but even more so with the power they have got.”

• Defender’s new £90,000 a week deal ties him to club until 2014
• ‘It’s not signed but we’ve shaken hands’ says David Gill

Manchester United have ended the uncertainty surrounding Nemanja Vidic’s future by reaching agreement with the Serbia international over a lucrative contract extension. The as yet unsigned deal is expected to keep the 28-year-old at Old Trafford until 2014 and will be worth around £90,000 a week.

Vidic’s future at United has been under a cloud for several months and in June the player’s agent, Paolo Fabbri, claimed the defender would consider his options after the World Cup. Real Madrid and several Italian clubs had been linked with the commanding central defender, a £7m signing from Spartak Moscow in 2006, although the feeling inside Old Trafford was that he was angling to elevate Vidic to being among the highest earners at the club.

That will now be the case once the legalities of Vidic’s new contract are completed. United’s chief executive, David Gill, who claimed the media was responsible for the uncertainty and that the stories “didn’t come out of Nemanja’s camp”, is confident the deal will be signed before the start of the new Premier League season.

Gill said: “We sat down with Nemanja and his adviser at the end of last season and started discussions. They broke up when Nemanja went away to the World Cup, but resumed when Serbia were knocked out and I’m very pleased to confirm that we agreed terms with Nemanja three or four weeks ago on a new long-term deal with the club.

“It’s yet to be signed – the paperwork is now being sorted by our lawyers and being checked by Nemanja’s advisers. He’s still away on holiday but the plan is that when he gets back the papers will be signed. We’ve shaken hands on it and we’re confident it will all be signed and sealed in early August.”

Vidic’s commitment to Old Trafford will come as a major relief to Sir Alex Ferguson, who conceded this week that he was awaiting clarification on the player’s future and could ill afford to lose the experienced defender at a time when Rio Ferdinand is recovering from a serious knee injury. Vidic was given a 28-day holiday by United after the World Cup and is scheduled to make his first appearance of pre-season in Dublin on 4 August. His present contract, worth £70,000 a week, is due to expire in 2012.

Ferguson has already strengthened his central defence this summer with the £12m acquisition of Chris Smalling, who had agreed to the move from Fulham in January. The 20-year-old had made only 11 appearances for Fulham when both United and Arsenal bid for his services in January, a total of 19 before he officially moved to Old Trafford on 1 July, and, three years after his pre-season involved playing for Maidstone United while awaiting his A-level results, Smalling admits the transformation is hard to reconcile.

“It is beginning to sink in after games,” said the defender, who has appeared in United’s two pre-seasonfriendlies against Celtic and Philadelphia Union. “At the minute I’m just playing how I normally do and I don’t feel too much pressure. I’m just enjoying being at a club like this and learning from the players around me.”

Smalling, one of only two summer signings by United so far, along with the £7m Mexico forward Javier Hernández, is confident an education alongside Vidic and Ferdinand will compensate for his lack of experience. “I don’t feel under pressure because there are quite a lot of young players that the manager is bringing through and he has done that regularly over the years,” Smalling added. “I have watched over the years how Rio has progressed into one of the finest and hopefully I can start training with him soon when he returns to fitness and obviously we have Vidic to come back. There are some quality centre-backs to learn my trade from.”

United, meanwhile, have taken the usual step for them of putting 4,000 season tickets on open sale. The chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, Duncan Drasdo, believes their availability is a clear indication of fans’ growing unrest with the ownership of the Glazer family and their willingness to take action over the club’s mountainous debt.

“Ticket demand has collapsed and the Glazers have to take a more realistic view of the value of the club because it is declining,” Drasdo said. “Demand has changed despite the success of the team. People are sick of the way they’ve been treated. The interesting thing is that in the documents the Glazers produced when they were refinancing, they boasted that ticket prices would increase because the demand was so great.”

• Two-year contract extension and £90,000 a week expected
• Serbian centre-half linked with move to Real Madrid

Manchester United are to offer Nemanja Vidic a contract extension that will place him among the highest earners at Old Trafford.

Vidic’s position at United has been in doubt, with his agent indicating the 28-year-old is open to a move to Spain or Italy. Sir Alex Ferguson, speaking after the club’s pre-season friendly against Philadelphia Union yesterday, admitted he could offer no guarantees on the defender’s future. “I can’t clarify it at all,” the United manager said.

Real Madrid are among several clubs linked with the commanding centre-half this year, and Ferguson went only so far as to say “I believe so” when asked if Vidic will still be a Manchester United player next season.

United officials, however, mindful of the damaging repercussions should Vidic leave a club plagued by injuries in defence last season, hope to end the uncertainty by securing the Serb on an extended contract. The former Spartak Moscow defender, signed for £7m by United in 2006, has two years remaining on his £70,000-a-week deal and there is a feeling within Old Trafford that his agent is angling for improved terms.

United usually open negotiations with players entering the final two years of a contract and are expected to offer Vidic a two-year extension and improved terms of around £90,000 a week. Talks on a new £130,000-a-week contract for Wayne Rooney are also planned ahead of the Premier League season, with United confident of reaching a swift agreement with the England striker.

Despite his confidence that United’s young talent can supplement a title challenge and diminish the need for major signings this summer, Ferguson has revealed that Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley will be allowed to join a Premier League club on loan next season. The pair impressed during United’s 1-0 win over Philadelphia Union, in which Gabriel Obertan scored the only goal in a hard-fought contest from Welbeck’s pass, but Ferguson believes their need for playing time necessitates a temporary move from Old Trafford.

On Welbeck, who is wanted by Steve Bruce at Sunderland, the United manager said: “It is a big season for Danny because over the last three seasons he has not had a consistent run of games. We sent him to Preston last year and he only ended up playing eight games and had an operation on his knee.

“One thing about him is that he is still growing so there is weakness in his legs. He is 6ft 2in and just sprouted up in the last year and a half. He needs consistent football so we might put him out on loan again to a Premier League team.”

Cleverley, the highly rated England Under-21 international midfielder, is also available on a loan deal. “Tom is a very talented boy,” Ferguson said. “He is going to be a very, very good footballer but we are considering putting him out on loan to a Premier League club as well.

“He is young and improved tremendously on loan at Watford last season. He got an unfortunate injury towards the end of the season which put him out for quite a long time, but he can play everywhere in midfield and that is a big advantage.”

Philadelphia Union 0-1 Manchester United

Sir Alex Ferguson had said the MLS has made immense strides since Manchester United last visited the United States in 2004 and, as a hard-fought and slightly fortunate win over Philadelphia Union confirmed tonight, his tribute was not merely an attempt to pay lip-service to an American audience. A 76th-minute goal from Gabriel Obertan was all that separated United from a Union side that has only been in existence since 2008.

Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck, two of Ferguson’s principal reasons for confidence in his young players, were paired in attack and demonstrated flashes of the pace and touch required to stake a greater claim next season. Welbeck’s movement was also impressive, although his finishing and the Italian’s decision-making betrayed their inexperience against a well-organised and athletic Philadelphia Union side.

Welbeck went close from 25 yards in the first half and with an audacious shot on the turn at the start of the second. His simplest chance was also one to regret when, having collected Fabio’s cross from the left and stepped inside his marker, the United striker shot straight at Brad Knighton in the Union goal from eight yards.

The first half lacked incident with the exception of two trademark Paul Scholes challenges that demonstrated genuine commitment to the friendly and an acknowledgement that, at the age of 35, he is not about to hone his timing in the tackle. A two-footed swipe at the Union midfielder Fred was followed by a clattering challenge through Eduardo Coudet, giving the referee no option but to show a yellow card.

Of the relative unknowns on display it was Tom Cleverley who showed arguably the greatest development in United’s colours. The England Under-21 international was rewarded for a lively cameo against Celtic in Toronto with a place alongside Scholes in central midfield and delivered an astute performance, particularly in the final third.

Philadelphia went close to taking the lead several times as United’s defence was easily prised apart but, with 14 minutes remaining, they undermined a resilient performance with one misplaced pass in midfield. Welbeck seized on the loose ball and threaded a perfectly weighted pass through three Union defenders into the path of Obertan, who produced a clinical low finish.

Philadelphia Union: Knighton; Fiscal, Arrieta, Califf, Harvey; Le Toux, Coudet, Miglioranzi, Fred; Moreno, Mwanga.

Manchester United: Kuszczak; O’Shea (De Laet, 77), Brown (Smalling, 61), J. Evans, Fabio (Rafael, 61); Obertan, Cleverley (Fletcher, 61), Scholes (C. Evans, 61), Giggs; Welbeck, Macheda (Berbatov, 61).

Attendance: 44,213

• Welshman believes pressure will be on City
• Giggs expects young players to make an impact

Ryan Giggs says Manchester United are unperturbed by the latest influx of expensive signings at Manchester City and that the pressure is on their rivals to at least qualify for the Champions League next season.

While City are on course to break the £100m spending barrier on transfers for the second successive summer under the Abu Dhabi United Group – their tally will reach £77m should Aleksandar Kolarov agree to a £17m move from Lazio – United’s outlay has been modest by comparison.

Sir Alex Ferguson has signed Chris Smalling and Javier Hernández for £12m from Fulham and £7m from Guadalajara respectively, and is banking on the club’s latest batch of young players to improve a team who finished two points behind Chelsea last season.

Giggs believes the disappointment of relinquishing the title and the emergence of young talent will inspire a stronger challenge next term. Although he anticipates increased competition for the four Champions League places, the 36-year-old thinks City have still to discover the consistency required to advance under Roberto Mancini.

“Until we play them I don’t take any notice of what City are doing, like any other team really,” said Giggs, who has extended his Old Trafford contract until the end of this coming season. “If they get a run together, if they get the consistency, they’ll be a force, and no one knows if they’re going to do that.

“It’s a similar scenario to last season really. They’ve got so many talented players that, if they gel as a team, they’ll be a force. If they don’t then obviously it could be a frustrating season for them and they’ll probably get a little bit of stick. But, if they gel as a team, like they proved in games last year, they can beat anyone.”

Giggs also agreed that City’s owners view a top‑four finish as a minimum return for their investment. “I think with the players they’ve acquired over the last two years, that is probably the case.”

As for United’s prospects next season, the Welshman insists there is added motivation inside Old Trafford after Chelsea prevented them winning a fourth successive title. “There is that added hunger when you haven’t won the league the previous season. It’s difficult when you’re defending the title because you’re champions and everyone wants to beat you. But there’s also that determination when you don’t win it, to get it back, which is what we want to do.”

Giggs has echoed Ferguson’s belief that this can be the campaign when United’s new generation imposes itself, adding that there are similarities with the famed group that emerged at Old Trafford in the mid-90s. “Last season we saw a lot of the young players featuring in the first team. Nani had a good season, Antonio [Valencia] had a fantastic debut campaign, Kiko Macheda had a frustrating season with injuries, Chris [Smalling] has come into the squad; so there are a lot of young players who experienced some first-team action last season.

“Hopefully their determination and hunger will see them kick on this season and do even better, because we’re going to need them. The injuries we had in defence last season were unbelievable. We’ve strengthened with the arrival of Chris, and hopefully Rafael and Fabio [da Silva] can get through the season without the niggly injuries they’ve had. Hopefully these young players will get better and better, and I’m sure they will. I see their determination on the training ground. They want to do well, they want to learn, they want to play for United, get in the team and stay in the team. That’s what we were like when we were younger and I see the same desire in these young players.”

United have played only one friendly so far, a 3-1 victory over Celtic in Toronto on Friday, but Dimitar Berbatov’s impressive display has also encouraged Giggs to believe the Bulgarian could finally begin to justify his £30.75m price-tag and reputation next season.

“I thought he was brilliant against Celtic, running the channels, always available. He was by far and away the best player on the pitch,” Giggs said. “That’s what he needed, to get off to a good start, and hopefully he can continue. Sometimes players bed in quicker than others, and he has started the season well.”

A new batch of young talent is being primed by Sir Alex Ferguson to make a big impact in the coming season

For a man of avowed socialist principles, Sir Alex Ferguson is extremely assured at promoting Manchester United as a global brand. The launch of the club’s new £80m sponsorship deal with insurance company Aon, in Chicago on Wednesday, had the 68-year-old playing to the romantics attracted to the Old Trafford story as he outlined the path ahead. “The history of Manchester United is quite simple,” said Ferguson. “It has always been based on young people and that’s where we’re more comfortable. I think our fans are more comfortable too.” Supporters, cynics or a combination of the two might argue that success provides greater comfort. What they can all agree on is that the time for United’s new breed to continue the cycle has arrived.

Two days after the sponsorship soirée, United arrived in Toronto for their first friendly of the pre-season, a 3-1 win over Celtic, and Ferguson’s increasing reliance on youth was evident immediately. A defence with an average age of 20 began the game – excluding 39-year-old goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar – and a forward line containing two teenagers finished it. This is not the date in the football calendar to be making watertight predictions, but the responsibility on young shoulders will not lessen once the task of regaining the Premier League title from Chelsea and reasserting Champions League credentials begins in August.

At the Rogers Centre on Friday night, before a crowd of 39,193 who had paid between $75 (£50) and $150 for the privilege, United’s fresh-faced look was born of necessity. Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson are all missing the tour because of injury, while the six United players involved in the World Cup have been given 28 days off to brood on their various disappointments. New £7m signing Javier Hernández, the 22-year-old Mexico striker who scored against France and Argentina in the tournament, is the exception.

There are multiple factors behind the accelerated youth-training scheme at United, however, and not all sit comfortably at commercial engagements in America. While the wealth of Abu Dhabi allows for another round of extravagant spending at Manchester City, Ferguson – who protests there is plenty of money available at United, but that he sees little value in the market at present – spends modestly by comparison with the game’s elite. Last summer, £20m went on Valencia and Gabriel Obertan, while the outlay 12 months on currently stands at £19m, for Hernández and Chris Smalling. Interest payments on the loans taken out by the Glazer family for their takeover of United, meanwhile, stood at £69m for last year alone.

A radical overhaul is not required of a squad that would have secured an unprecedented fourth Premier League title last season with two more points. The looming threat of time conspiring against a United squad containing 12 players aged 29 or more must be addressed, however, regardless of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes defying nature with every passing campaign. The lengthening injury record of Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville confirms that not every veteran is immune.

Ferguson does not deny the need for his next generation to impose themselves on Old Trafford. “We expect progress. We have a strong belief in their abilities. They will eventually, at some point, be the next Manchester United,” he said of those who featured against Celtic.

“We’re good at bringing young players through like that. Some we have to sign, some we bring through from the academy. The important thing is it gives us a proper spirit at the football club to bring young players through the way we do. So I was pleased with most of them against Celtic. I thought when we changed the back four we were a bit rocky at times, but we got through it. I think there are really good talents in the striking department with young players like [Federico] Macheda, [Danny] Welbeck and Mame Diouf. They are very good talents I’m very hopeful about those and, of course, Hernández joins us in Houston. So that’s a good area of the squad. There is a good future there.”

The dilemma for Ferguson, indeed any manager in his position, is how to give these players a consistent run to develop at a club where pressure for instant success is unrelenting.

Ferguson acknowledges: “We’ve a fine collection of young players who, if you don’t give them an opportunity, are going to stagnate and move to other clubs who’ll get the benefit of the work we’ve done with them. We’ve had experience of that, so we try to that as best we can make the right decisions about these boys’ careers because most of them are very good, talented players.”

What will have encouraged Ferguson against Celtic, and surprised many United observers in the process, was the leadership shown to Welbeck, Diouf, Macheda and Tom Cleverley by Dimitar Berbatov.

“His performance was excellent and what I was pleased about was, among the strikers we have with us at the moment, there is a manner of different combinations,” the United manager said. “I thought he [Berbatov] and Diouf were very good in the first half.

“Diouf has got different talents to Macheda and Welbeck and he penetrates well. He is quick and aggressive, he is an interesting player,and I think that suited Berbatov. In the second half, he produced some fantastic moments and it underlines the one great factor; that class he has. You cannot take that away from him. No matter how many people criticise him, it never comes from inside our camp. We see that class. We know we’ve got the right player.”

Amid the focus on the young, it is still within the considerable abilities of the 29-year-old Bulgarian, who scored the opening goal against Celtic, to bring something new to United next season.

• New deal expected to be worth about £130,000 a week
• Club keen to secure player on long-term contract

Manchester United intend to open contract talks with Wayne Rooney before next month’s start of the Premier League season that would make the England international the highest paid player in the club’s history.

Negotiations over an extension to Rooney’s existing £90,000-a-week deal at Old Trafford, due to expire in 2012, were put on hold while the 24-year-old fought a court case against his former representatives Proactive, who had claimed they were owed £4.3m in commission payments. That case was settled yesterday when Rooney and his wife, Coleen, were ordered to pay Proactive a £90,000 “restitutional remedy”, leaving the way clear for United to secure their prized asset on a new long-term contract.

United’s chief executive, David Gill, thanked by Rooney for appearing as a witness on his behalf during the court case, plans to hold talks with the striker and his agent, Paul Stretford, when he returns from the club’s pre-season commitments in North America and Mexico at the end of this month. United are confident the Croxteth-born striker is happy to continue his trophy-laden career at Old Trafford and hope an agreement can be reached within weeks.

Despite the downturn in spending under the ownership of the Glazer family, United are ready to offer Rooney a lucrative deal that reflects his growing status at Old Trafford. It is believed the new contract will be worth around £130,000-a-week, eclipsing the £120,000-a-week given to Cristiano Ronaldo in April 2007 and taking him above Rio Ferdinand in the list of United’s current top earners.

While Rooney’s long-term future at United may soon be resolved, Sir Alex Ferguson believes the striker will be haunted by the failure to transfer his talent on to the World Cup stage but does not expect the club to suffer as a consequence next season.

The striker is now recuperating on holiday and will miss United’s pre‑season tour, and Ferguson says Rooney, the France captain, Patrice Evra, and the Serbia defender Nemanja Vidic will face a lasting regret over their performances at the World Cup.

Speaking before the opening game of the tour, against Celtic in Toronto tonight, the United manager said: “I don’t expect a hangover. I think there will still be a bit of disappointment in the lad.

“I think all the players coming back from the World Cup who didn’t do well, who didn’t reach their expectations, will feel that they’ve missed something. That’s because the World Cup’s only once every four years. That’s the horrible part of that tournament. We have several players who have come back very, very disappointed. We’ve Patrice Evra for instance, Wayne Rooney of course, and Nemanja Vidic.”

The one plus from the World Cup for last season’s Premier League runners‑up, their manager cites, was the impact of the Mexico forward Javier Hernández, who followed his £7m signing from Guadalajara with two goals in the competition against France and Argentina.

Ferguson added: “I think one player who will come back quite positive because he had a good World Cup was young Javier Hernandez from Mexico. I think he did very well and he surprised a lot of people. So whereas we’ve got some disappointments from players like Wayne, Nemanja and Patrice, I think we’re going to have a positive effect from Javier.”

• United expected to make bid in region of £29m
• Agent claims United also interested in Mario Balotelli

The Internazionale president, Massimo Moratti, has insisted the European champions have no intention of selling Wesley Sneijder despite confirming his club have received an approach from Manchester United for the Holland international.

United are believed to be considering making a bid of around €35m (£29m) for the 26-year-old, who has capped a treble-winning season in Italy with an instrumental role in his country’s progress to the World Cup final.

Sneijder’s agent, Soren Lerby, has confirmed the midfielder will hold talks with Inter directors and the new head coach, Rafael Benítez, after the World Cup with a view to extending his contract in Milan until 2015. The former Ajax player is only 12 months into the five-year contract he signed when moving from Real Madrid for €18m last summer but, such has been his impact on a club that won the Coppa Italia, Seria A title and Champions League in May, that both parties are looking to improve and extend his terms.

Sir Alex Ferguson, however, is prepared to test their resolve with an offer that would give Inter a significant profit. “The interest from Manchester United in Sneijder is real, but I didn’t look into it in an attempt not to fall into temptation,” said Moratti, who has already lost his Champions League-winning coach, José Mourinho, to Real Madrid this summer. “I am following him at the World Cup and I think I will do the same also at Inter for the next years.”

United – along with Manchester City – were also linked with the Inter striker Mario Balotelli today, although the controversial 19-year-old is not believed to be high on Roberto Mancini’s wanted list at Eastlands. Balotelli’s agent, Mino Raiola, said: “Manchester United have called Inter to demonstrate their interest. Now we will think things over. United is one of the most interesting projects in the world, but there are other offers.”

Moratti was quick to dismiss the agent’s claim, however. “This is just the sort of talk that precedes a transfer campaign,” he said. “Mario has not asked to be sold. I don’t understand why I need to make a problem out of this.”

• Defender not expected to be match fit for season opener
• Ferdinand to miss Community Shield and North America tour

Manchester United have insisted Rio Ferdinand remains on schedule with his recovery from knee ligament damage, although the 31-year-old is unlikely to be match fit for the opening game of the new Premier League season.

United estimate Ferdinand will be sidelined for 10 weeks with the injury sustained at England’s World Cup training base in Rustenburg on 4 June, a timeframe that sets the defender’s comeback for 13 August and the club’s opening league game at home to Newcastle United, currently scheduled for Saturday 14 August.

Ferdinand, however, will have missed a significant part of United’s pre-season training programme by the time Newcastle arrive at Old Trafford and his return is more likely to come later that month.

The England captain is making progress with his rehabilitation but will not be included in the United squad that embarks on a two-week tour of North America next week.

He is also expected to miss the Community Shield game against Chelsea on 8 August plus England’s friendly against Hungary three days later, although Chris Smalling’s arrival from Fulham this summer has improved Sir Alex Ferguson’s options in central defence.

• Manchester United centre-back caught striker with elbow
• FA confirms that no further action will be taken

Nemanja Vidic will not face disciplinary action over the incident that left Johan Elmander requiring four stitches to a head wound during Manchester United’s 4-0 win at Bolton Wanderers, the FA has confirmed.

The Serbian defender caught the Bolton striker with a stray elbow but despite the manager Owen Coyle’s assertion that the Swede was felled by “a terrible challenge”, no retrospective punishment will be taken. Martin Atkinson, the match official, dealt with what he deemed to be an accidental collision at the time and so the FA will not take the matter further.

• Rooney did not show up with the injured at Carrington
• Striker had limped away from game against Liverpool

Wayne Rooney should be fit to lead Manchester United’s title challenge at Bolton Wanderers this weekend, despite concerns the striker suffered an injury in the defeat of Liverpool.

The England international limped away from Old Trafford on Sunday having scored his 33rd goal of a remarkable campaign in the 2-1 victory over Rafael Benítez’s team. United have not confirmed the nature of Rooney’s problem but the 24-year-old, who missed the 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers this month with a knee injury, was not among those players who reported for treatment at the club’s Carrington complex today.

Only United’s injured contingent were expected at the training ground, with the rest of the first-team squad given the day off, and Rooney’s non-appearance has eased fears that he aggravated or sustained a problem during a typically hard‑fought clash with Liverpool.

Rooney suffered inflamed tendons in a kneecap following England’s friendly against Egypt on 3 March, when his 86-minute appearance at Wembley prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to suggest the striker’s determination to play had contributed to the injury and subsequent absence at Molineux. Sunday marked the striker’s 45th game this season, with the demands of the Premier League title race, Champions League and a World Cup to come.

Michael Owen, meanwhile, has admitted he has no chance of featuring this season but remains committed to his contract despite the frustrations of his first season in Manchester.

Owen, who suffered a detached hamstring in the Carling Cup final victory over Aston Villa, also revealed he has an option for a third season at United as part of his free transfer from Newcastle United last summer.

The 30-year-old said: “I had the operation two weeks ago, so I’m going to be on crutches for six weeks now. I’m not allowed to do anything on it for six weeks, so I am definitely out for the season. I’m just looking to next season now. And I’ll be back in a United jersey.

“I’ve got another year left on my contract here and have the option of a third as well. I’ve had a great time here and I am really looking forward to being back next season.”

Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand has stressed his side’s enthusiasm for the pressure of the Premier League title chase. “This is probably the best title run-in for years,” said the England captain. “There are three teams in it, which makes it fantastic for the fans and the neutrals to watch.”

It is a “schoolboy error” when a journalist allows a mobile phone to ring in David Moyes’s company, but there was only one loaded question to ask when the roles were reversed and the Everton manager scrambled for the silent button on Saturday. “Was that Rooney?”

Moyes dismissed the query as the joke it was intended to be, but the finest compliment to the Scot is that the Manchester United striker had cause for envy on his latest return to Goodison Park.

Emerging young talent, a balanced team of footballers in the truest sense, impactful substitutions and a resolute, organised defence; all the qualities that inspired Everton to a comfortable ­victory were conspicuously absent from the reigning champions on Merseyside. It was stretching it to extremes to infer Rooney was following up the apology to Moyes for allegations in his autobiography with a request to re-sign for his boyhood club, but the weight of carrying this United team took its toll here.

On Saturday the antagonism towards Rooney was audible, albeit from a minority. Evertonians are moving on, not thanks to the conciliatory noises from their former idol and Moyes towards each other or the passage of time, but because they have reason to look forward. This summer can be a watershed for Everton if they keep their squad intact and add a top-draw forward to share the load with Louis Saha. But this confirmed they are equipped to prey on the champions’ vulnerabilities now. Moyes dressed up his game plan as tactfully as a respectful admirer of Sir Alex Ferguson would, although the team talk he delivered on Friday evening said every­thing about the defensive weaknesses that cost United badly in the title race.

“We had a meeting with the players at the hotel and told them that we were going after Man United and we were going to try and win the game,” said Moyes. “We always go into games with that approach but there was an added emphasis this time. It’s because of where we are rather than anything about United. I think mentally we are in that position. This was the right time for us.”

Just how ordinary United can be when their one world-class forward is subdued, and how weak their central defence is without Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, was apparent at Goodison.

“Well beaten,” was Ferguson’s forthright assessment of United’s first league defeat since December. Patrice Evra, one of the few visiting players to produce, concurred. “Everyone was talking about how tired they were [after the ­Champions League win in Milan] but I don’t want to use that as an excuse. I don’t think we believed enough. The feeling was if we could win here, we could win the title. We didn’t do it, so it is more difficult than we think to win the league.”

Once Moyes had reacted to nullify the threat of Antonio Valencia, the source of Dimitar Berbatov’s opening goal from close range in the 16th minute, Everton’s authority grew around the inspired Leon Osman. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s exquisite curler from 25 yards vindicated his manager’s decision to play the left-footed Russian on the right and the pacy Landon Donovan against the creaking Gary Neville on the opposite flank.

The mood at Goodison and the flow of the contest changed irrevocably. With the exception of a late Rooney free-kick that was bound for the top corner until Sylvain Distin intervened, Everton were rarely endangered and it was left to the young substitutes Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell to provide the polish.

After Donovan and Steven Pienaar had again prised open United’s right flank, leaving Gary Neville to berate Antonio Valencia for ­failing to track the South African’s run, Gosling’s fine knack of being in the right place in the penalty area put Everton ahead. And this time a Tic-Tac advertisement did not spoil his moment.

Rodwell, a potential United transfer target this summer, then sauntered through an empty midfield in injury time, twisted Jonny Evans inside and out, and stroked a superb finish into the far corner. Inside 10 days Everton have beaten United and Chelsea, coming from behind on both occasions to do so. It is hypothetical to ask where Moyes’s team would be but for the injuries that derailed the first half of this season, but on this form they have nobody above them to fear.

Moyes added: “The club is certainly getting closer to the great days they had here in the 80s, but we know that it’s not just about having a good team and good players, you probably need something else now.

“Unfortunately that’s called cash. But we’re going to do it and a lot of people would like to be in Everton’s position right now and they’d also like to have a chairman like Everton have got because look at some other clubs who thought that foreign was all the rage. Now it’s back to booking your holidays at home.”

• Frenchman has regained his form and fitness at Goodison
• ‘He was always injured for us,’ reflects United manager

Sir Alex Ferguson never doubted the ability that cost Manchester United £12.8m plus a fortune in medical bills but must have suspected a Premier League talent had gone for good when cutting his losses with Louis Saha. It illustrates the Frenchman’s rehabilitation that, 15 months on, he is giving Everton more concern over a new contract than his willingness to commit a fragile frame to the cause. Maybe, just maybe, he still has it in him to unearth in Ferguson a rare ounce of regret.

Saha has faced United twice since agreeing a pay-as-you-play deal with David Moyes in August 2008 but tonight marks his first appearance at Old Trafford since Ferguson accepted enough was enough. He will return as the joint-fourth highest goalscorer in the division, only Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba and Darren Bent have scored more, and savouring his most prolific start to a Premier League campaign. The fitness problems that plagued his four-and-a-half years at United have not gone away; he is carrying a calf injury and spent five days during the international break at a private clinic in France for further treatment. But he is willing, able and in demand to play. That is a transformation in itself.

“We took a gamble on Louis, undoubtedly,” admitted the Everton manager. “He had been injury-prone but we had a situation where we had to take a gamble because we didn’t have any money to buy a centre-forward. Louis at that time was available and it was a risk, not because of his ability but because of his injuries. We had to decide whether it was an on-going problem at this stage of his career and Louis convinced me that it wasn’t and he’s gone on to prove that. He’s a highly-strung athlete who wants to be at his best, wants to feel his best and because of that sometimes he doesn’t quite make it for games but he’s been very good for us.”

Saha has been among the most consistent performers in an Everton team that, once again, began the season with the strength and balance of a new-born foal. The 31-year-old has nine goals from 14 games in all competitions and has enjoyed a clean bill of health in comparison to many in Moyes’ squad. That productive combination has attracted interest from outside, with Besiktas linked, and Everton intend to open discussions on an extension – Saha signed a two-year contract with the option of a third – in the new year. “I don’t think we are ready to discuss that at the moment” is Moyes’ take on the contract situation.

The Everton manager was less circumspect on the talent at his disposal, however. “I don’t think he’s got anything to prove to United. I think everybody at Manchester United would probably admit that Louis Saha was a match for any player there with the talent and ability he’s got. I’m still relatively young but he’s certainly in the top two maybe three players I’ve worked with. He’s got some unbelievable ability as a football player, incredible.”

Moyes dismissed out of hand the suggestion that United allowed Saha to leave too quickly and the Old Trafford fanzine writers who christened the striker Balsa Man can vouch for Ferguson’s patience. Saha started only 52 league games for United and, had he stayed fit, he would still be at a club that is trying to replace the goals lost when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid.

Ferguson admitted yesterday: “He is more consistently free of injury than he had been at Manchester United. We would not have sold him had he been a regular performer for us. Unfortunately, for Louis and for us, he was always injured. It happens that way sometimes. I remember we took Viv Anderson from Arsenal. I looked at his playing record and he hadn’t missed a game in four years, other than through suspension, but he was never fit at United. Then he left to go to Sheffield Wednesday at the tail-end of his career and he played for two-and-a-half years without injury. Sod’s law.”

Moyes is yet to win at Old Trafford as Everton manager and tonight’s encounter, while an opportunity for Saha to remind his former employers of his prowess, allows Ferguson a first-hand sight of Jack Rodwell, the 18-year-old midfielder he has admired since before he broke into the first team at Goodison Park. It is an added headache for the Everton manager, although he is livid at reports the club have received a bid for the England hopeful from Chelsea.

“We have had nothing, no calls, no inquiries, and there is certainly not a bid on the table. You can check my phones, you can come and sit at my desk and have a look, and there has been nothing,” Moyes said. “He has a five-year contract and he’s very level-headed. There’s no point in me turning round and saying he’s not for sale, because we said that with [Joleon] Lescott and had to sell in the end. But what I can tell you is – 100% – we have had nothing. I don’t doubt he is on other teams’ radars but he’s on ours and we have had nothing and that’s the end of the matter.”

• Ferguson says referee was influenced by Liverpool fans
• Liverpool’s gamble on Fernando Torres pays off

Rafael Benítez savoured “the perfect response” to the worst spell of his Liverpool reign today as victory over Manchester United rescued the Anfield club’s season and prompted another attack on a match official from Sir Alex Ferguson.

The United manager, charged by the Football Association for criticising Alan Wiley’s fitness against Sunderland, claimed home fans had influenced referee Andre Marriner at key moments of Liverpool’s 2-0 triumph. But not even Ferguson could deny that Liverpool merited a result that ended a damaging sequence of four successive defeats and lifted the pressure that had mounted on Benítez.

Defeat left United two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table and Ferguson bemoaning two incidents involving Jamie Carragher, the first when he challenged Michael Carrick inside the Liverpool area and then when he hauled former Anfield striker Michael Owen to the floor but was only booked.

• Kevin McCarra’s report: Liverpool 2-0 Man United
• Paul Hayward: Fernando Torres lifts Anfield gloom
• Read Barry Glendenning’s minute-by-minute report
• Andy Hunter’s player ratings

“It was a disappointing afternoon. It was a disappointing performance,” the United manager said. “Liverpool were the better team, they deserved to win the game, but there were so many controversial things that happened we have to feel aggrieved at some of them. Michael Carrick gets a clear penalty kick as far as I was concerned. Jamie Carragher has gone right over the top of the ball. If it is outside of the box it is a free-kick and maybe a yellow card. But it was inside the box and the referee was only six yards from it. It was a bad decision, I think.

“It is very difficult atmosphere here. There was a wounded animal aspect to the game and it was something we didn’t overcome. I think it affected our players and it affected the referee. Whether he had enough experience or not, I don’t know.

“The most controversial decision was Carragher bringing down Michael Owen. He was clear through. The laws of the game were altered to prevent professional fouls of that nature and if Jamie Carragher goes off, he is their best player and their captain. It would have been a different game. They would have been under pressure.”

Fernando Torres turned the game in the 65th minute with an outstanding finish that will raise fresh questions over Rio Ferdinand, after both Nemanja Vidic and Javier Mascherano had been dismissed, the Serbian for the third successive time in this fixture, before his replacement David Ngog sealed a precious triumph.

Benítez only decided to deploy Torres on the coach journey to the stadium, with the Spaniard still recovering from an adductor strain that kept him out of defeats to Sunderland and Lyon, and was rewarded with the latest rescue act of his tenure.

“We knew that we needed to change, we knew that we needed a little bit of luck and we needed to win,” said the Liverpool manager. “It is a fantastic result, and maybe it was the perfect game because we knew that we had to perform against a good team in front of our own fans. All the players wanted to win. They all showed character and today was the perfect response from them.”

On Torres, who tormented Vidic and Ferdinand once again to score his ninth league goal of the season, Benítez added: “There wasn’t a big difference between the two teams but Torres made the difference with his goal. It was a difficult decision [to start him] because Fernando had not been training like [Steven] Gerrard. I talked with Fernando on the coach on the way here and after this I spoke with my staff and we decided to play him from the beginning. You could see that he was not 100% and you could see that he was not fresh but still sometimes 80% of Fernando can make a difference.”

Liverpool’s victory came after another protest march by thousands of supporters against Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club co-owners who were present at Anfield, and a renewed vote of confidence in Benítez, this time from the managing director Christian Purslow. “Liverpool Football Club is on a long-term journey and that journey is to be the most successful club, firstly in our country and secondly in the world, and you don’t do that by worrying about short-term results,” said Purslow. “You do that by having long-term plans centring on the people and the strategy. Rafa Benítez is absolutely central to that plan.”

After the game Gary Neville and Jonny Evans were involved in an altercation with Liverpool stewards who prevented them from warming down in front of the United fans. The pair eventually trained at the other end of the pitch.

LIVERPOOL

JOSE REINA

Given more trouble by the “Yanks Out” beach balls that rained down from the Kop before kick-off than United, although had to remain alert as a sweeper. 6

GLEN JOHNSON

Clearly under orders to limit his forward forays with United fielding a two-man attack and defence more solid as a result. 7

JAMIE CARRAGHER

Lucky to escape a red card for hauling down his old mate Michael Owen but otherwise a display to silence the critics, dominant in the air and thunderous in the tackle. Man of the match. 8

DANIEL AGGER

Brought more composure and intelligence to the back-line than Skrtel has of late, the Dane’s awareness was the source of Berbatov’s frustration. 7

EMILIANO INSUA

Two early mistakes affected the young Argentinian’s confidence. Improved against Valencia as the game wore on but his distribution was often found wanting. 5

YOSSI BENAYOUN

Space was at a premium for the flair players in this game, but the Israeli left an indelible mark with the pass for Torres’s opener. Too elaborate at times, though. 7

JAVIER MASCHERANO

Beginning to recapture form after a poor start, and protected his defence diligently compared to the United midfield until his dismissal in stoppage time. 7

LUCAS LEIVA

Made his mark swiftly on the midfield scrap. Worked tirelessly in support of his defence and creatively, as illustrated by his part in Ngog’s winner. 8

FABIO AURELIO

His inclusion showed Benítez’s first task was to consolidate and stop the rot. Covered well for Insúa and his accurate deliveries unnerved United. 7

DIRK KUYT

Fully committed but lacked finesse in front of goal. Wasted two great chances to give Liverpool a first-half lead but his work-rate fuelled United’s defensive unease. 6

FERNANDO TORRES

Distracted at times, theatrical in part and not fully fit, yet still provided the game’s decisive moment with an outstanding finish. You get what you pay for. 8

LIVERPOOL SUBS: Ngog for Torres, 81; Skrtel for Benayoun, 90

MANCHESTER UNITED

EDWIN VAN DER SAR

A superb double-save from Aurélio and Kuyt showed why he is the only United keeper Ferguson can trust. Only beaten by a wonderful finish and a breakaway goal. 7

JOHN O’SHEA

Verbally and with the ball, the Irishman had no rapport with Valencia on the United right and an opportunity against Insúa was lost. 5

RIO FERDINAND

Not quick or strong enough to prevent Torres from scoring, but his biggest crime was taking no responsibility and leaving it all to Vidic throughout. 5

NEMANJA VIDIC

Another tortuous afternoon for the Serb against Liverpool. His third successive red card in this fixture followed a dominant aerial display, but several narrow escapes on the floor. 6

PATRICE EVRA

Compromised as a result of the game’s first yellow card, the French full-back was rarely seen in the final third but snuffed out several dangerous Liverpool counters. 6

ANTONIO VALENCIA

Suggested he would be United’s key threat with a strong, direct opening but, with Insúa under severe pressure, he disappeared from view. Lacked belief. 6

PAUL SCHOLES

His refusal to yield to Lucas and Mascherano made for a compelling midfield contest. Intelligent and clean in the tackle, honestly, before tiring. 7

MICHAEL CARRICK

The least effective of the four central midfielders on display. Never had the time he needs to dictate the flow of the game. 6

RYAN GIGGS

“Giggs 10, Gerrard 0″ read one banner in the United end in reference to league titles won, but the Welshman was isolated on the margins until moving into the middle late on. 6

DIMITAR BERBATOV

Days like this make you wonder what on earth compelled Ferguson to spend £32m on the Bulgarian. Completely ineffective, poor first touch and inevitably withdrawn. 4

WAYNE ROONEY

So starved of possession at times it seemed like last season’s Champions League final revisited. Worked hard but no joy against Carragher. 6

MANCHESTER UNITED SUBS: Owen for Berbatov, 74; Nani for Scholes, 74

• Manchester United fans plan to wear Eric Cantona masks
• Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett will attend Anfield match

Manchester United supporters have a trick up their sleeves for tomorrow’s visit to Liverpool that does not involve hidden beach balls. Twelve years after the Kop proclaimed “Au revoir Cantona, come back when you’ve won 18″, their hated rivals and now equals as English champions intend to accept that invitation by donning Eric Cantona masks at Anfield. Should Liverpool fall to a fifth consecutive defeat for the first time since September 1953, Rafael Benítez may need one of his own.

A defining moment is upon Liverpool and their manager, and how Sir Alex Ferguson would love to be the man to send both into freefall. While United followers are torn between trying to smuggle beach balls or face masks past Liverpool stewards under instruction to confiscate inflatables, the dilemma facing the home support is of far greater significance.

Thousands of Liverpool fans are expected to demand regime change before kick-off in the latest protest march against the divided ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. For the first time since he replaced Gérard Houllier as Liverpool manager in 2004, and certainly since it emerged the Americans had saddled the club with serious debts while offering the Spaniard’s job to Jürgen Klinsmann, Benítez is no longer immune to criticism from within.

This week, comprising a defeat at Sunderland wrought by an official Liverpool beach ball and a stoppage-time defeat to Lyon in the Champions League, has been “different”, according to Benítez. He is not yet fighting for survival at a club that could not afford a pay-off in excess of £20m, nor has the Madrileño lost the majority of the Anfield support or dressing room. But Benítez is battling to preserve a reputation that was always liable to be the first victim of the dysfunctional regime he works under, and he will not alter his view that his way is the only way forward.

“People have asked about the bigger picture and I have the big picture,” said the Liverpool manager, who spent Thursday relaxing with his young family before settling down to watch United games on DVD. “I think it will be better in the future. How can we do this? First we need to win some games to change the mood on the pitch. After we have to keep doing things in the right way. I have some ideas and I think it can be better.”

Hicks and Gillett will be in attendance tomorrow and asked whether it was fair that the manager should be the subject of such scrutiny, Benítez replied: “The only way to change things at this club is to concentrate on what I can control. What can I control now? I can work with the players, analyse what has gone wrong and try to do the right things on the pitch. I cannot talk about other things because they have no influence on the game. I have to concentrate on what I can do with the players. I will not use the [stalled plans to build a new] stadium now as an excuse. We know there is a massive difference in the money [generated at Anfield and Old Trafford] but we have better fans. So I am pleased.”

Tomorrow marks Benítez’s 200th league game as Liverpool manager and at any other time, against any other opponent and arguably at any other club it would be a moment for a proud declaration, not fear that the bicentennial could mark the unravelling of a regime.

Only Kenny Dalglish can boast a better win percentage after 200 league games than the Spaniard, who is level with Bob Paisley on 113 victories and will move ahead of the three-times European Cup- winning legend should Liverpool pull off another of their dramatic recoveries against the champions. For added perspective, Arsène Wenger won 110 of his first 200 at Arsenal while a pre-knighted Alex Ferguson is way back on 87. “The numbers are not bad,” reflected Benítez. “Maybe some people don’t see the big picture but we have to prepare for the game. We cannot change the vision of some people.”

What undermines Benítez in comparison with his illustrious Anfield forebears is league championships won in that period. Dalglish had collected three inside those 200 matches and Paisley two.

But they both inherited teams whose last league championship was 12 months previously, not 14 years, as Benítez did, although he still somehow made European champions of Djimi Traoré, Harry Kewell, Milan Baros, Josemi, Antonio Núñez and Igor Biscan by the end of his first season.

The protection afforded by that remarkable Champions League victory of 2005 has been threatened by a start to a season that brought exalted expectations, but has so far witnessed mediocrity in Europe and the Premier League. Defeat to United would leave Liverpool 10 points behind their Old Trafford rivals and sick at the thought it may be Ferguson, not Benítez, who gets to 19 titles first.

“It’s an important game because it’s United but also because of our position,” admitted the Liverpool manager, who will give fitness tests to Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson today but is expected to be without his captain tomorrow. “We know we have to win and then we will be four points behind. We have to think about the positives. If we beat United, after everyone talking about Liverpool for the last two weeks, we will be just four points behind.

“We need to do the right things at the right moment, it doesn’t matter whether that’s on or off the pitch. At this moment the right thing is to prepare for this game because, 11 against 11, we can beat anyone.”

Benítez has sought advice from his coaches, Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino, as he attempts to resurrect Liverpool’s season, as well as “friends who played football with you in the past”. Wisely, he has paid less attention to the airwaves or the column inches that have called for his head. “The supporters are important but you have too many,” insisted Benítez. “There are 60 million managers in England so you cannot listen to everyone. It is important to know which people can give you advice but I can guarantee you that in the last two days the fans have been very supportive and positive. I was in a big store the other day and four or five came up and no one asked me about substitutions against Lyon. They just told me to beat United.”

Gillett shrewdly kept the wolves from the door after the Lyon defeat by assuring Benítez that his job was safe. Arguably the words that mattered most to the Spaniard, however, came yesterday from Dalglish, brought back to the club in the summer in a dual role as ambassador and youth academy adviser and the last Liverpool manager to preside over a run of four successive defeats.

“Everyone within the upper echelons of this club has no doubt whatsoever about Rafa – I know that for a fact,” insisted the Liverpool legend. “Everybody at Liverpool Football Club knows Rafa is the right man to get the club through this. No one is pumped up and panicking in any way, shape or form. Everyone is being as helpful and supportive as they possibly can be to the manager.

“Everybody is hurting – everybody wants the same thing – to get a victory on the board. The best way to do that is to stick together and have nobody pointing fingers or going round corners and having sneaky conversations. Yes there’s criticism, but there’s no way Liverpool Football Club and the majority of people would want Rafa to go anywhere.”

• Co-owner says Benítez is ‘as good as there is in the business’
• Paying up manager’s contract would cost over £20m

George Gillett last night responded to growing pressure on Rafael Benítez by assuring the Liverpool manager that he retains the unequivocal support of the club’s American owners.

Benítez is experiencing the most fraught on-field period of his six seasons in charge of Liverpool after a run of four successive defeats, the club’s first since 1987, left them seven points behind Manchester United in the Premier League and under serious threat of elimination from the Champions League group stage.

Gillett was at Anfield on Tuesday as Lyon inflicted a stoppage-time defeat on Liverpool and faced angry remonstrations from several fans after César Delgado’s winner. His co-owner, Tom Hicks, is expected to run a similar gauntlet on Sunday when Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions arrive at Anfield. Despite the despondency around Liverpool and the first serious stirrings of discontent towards Benítez among the club’s support, Gillett, who once sought to replace the Spaniard with Jürgen Klinsmann, insists there is no question of the manager’s position being under threat.

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• David Conn on the cost of failure for Liverpool

Asked if his support for Benítez remained intact, Gillett said: “Absolutely. We have just entered into a long-term agreement with Rafa. Our family is extraordinarily pleased with him, we think he is absolutely as good as there is in the business and I am sure the Hicks [family] feel the same way. We just extended his contract.”

Benítez signed an improved contract in March that committed him to Liverpool until 2014 and, though Gillett insists his backing is based purely on coaching ability, it would cost the club over £20m to pay up the remaining four and a half years of the manager’s deal. Hicks and Gillett are also unlikely to risk fresh instability at Anfield at a time when they are independently seeking to attract new investors.

“I think the run of results disappoints everybody,” Gillett added. “Certainly, it disappoints the fans and it disappoints Rafa. I know he is disappointed. We are all disappointed but we are in this together. I think we all saw the same thing [that Benítez looked downbeat following the Lyon defeat] but that’s not something I am going to comment on publicly.”

Gillett claimed he and Hicks are allowing for improvement through “being supportive. Which I am and which Tom is.” He refused, though, to indicate whether new investment is on its way to assist Benítez in the January transfer window. “I don’t think that is something I am prepared to comment on at the moment,” the Liverpool co-owner said.

Benítez’s preparations for the United game have also been undermined by a succession of injuries to key players, with Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera all missing the Lyon game through groin and hamstring problems and Steven Gerrard limping out after 25 minutes having aggravated an adductor strain. All four will continue to receive intensive treatment ahead of Sunday with Gerrard and Riera the main doubts.

“I think I will be all right for Sunday,” said Johnson. “We haven’t tested it today, just soft tissue work and massage, but it seems a lot freer than it did.” The England defender added: “I think Nando [Torres] might be all right for Sunday but I am not too sure about Stevie.”

There was one important injury breakthrough for Benítez last night, however, when Alberto Aquilani made his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt since his £20m summer move from Roma. The Italian midfielder, signed to compensate for the loss of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, has not made a senior start as a result of ankle surgery in May. He last made a competitive appearance for Roma in March.

Aquilani came off the bench for Liverpool’s reserves in the 75th minute of their 2–0 win against Sunderland reserves at Prenton Park, but is unlikely to feature on Sunday. The midfielder’s rehabilitation may continue with a first senior appearance next week when Liverpool face Arsenal in the Carling Cup fourth round.

• Manager’s explanation of remarks due to FA by Friday
• Referee’s union calls for Uefa-style match-day ban

Sir Alex Ferguson is to offer a second apology over his controversial comments about Alan Wiley’s fitness, this time to the Football Association, in an attempt to avoid a misconduct charge.

Manchester United’s manager has until Friday to explain to the FA the personal attack on Wiley that followed his team’s draw with Sunderland on 3 October, when he publicly questioned the official’s fitness for Premier League games.

Ferguson sought to defuse the subsequent furore at the weekend when he issued an apology on the club’s website for “any personal embarrassment” his remarks may have caused Wiley and he is expected to offer a similar but more detailed apology – again stopping short of an unreserved one – in his submission to the FA. A letter is understood to have been drafted by United for his approval on return from a holiday in New York.

The FA will not be swayed by Ferguson’s initial apology and will only decide whether to charge him once it has received his written explanation for the outburst. It is expected that the United manager will be charged, particularly as the governing body wrote to every Premier League manager at the start of the season to instruct them not to comment about match officials.

The initial apology was dismissed as “half-hearted” by the professionals’ union, Prospect, today. The union has called for Ferguson to be severely sanctioned for his comments with a charge of defamation also under consideration. The FA has declined to comment on the demands or the Scot’s apology, and insists its response will come only after its Disciplinary and Governance Unit has considered Ferguson’s explanation.

“I think it’s a half-hearted apology at best really, and it probably exacerbates the position, rather than resolving it,” Alan Leighton, the national secretary of Prospect, said. “He clearly hasn’t retracted the statement about Alan being unfit so it’s not an apology for the main offence caused, and then he widens it to question the fitness of other referees, so he seems to be opening another can of worms which I don’t think is very helpful at all.

“Referees are very fit. They have sports scientists who test them regularly throughout the season. They don’t just pass a fitness test at the start of the season. Their body fats and BMI are regularly monitored, there are get-togethers every two or three weeks where they are put through extensive training and testing.”

Ferguson is facing a possible fine or touchline ban for comments that reportedly led Wiley to consider his future in the game. Prospect, however, believes the United manager should be banned from having any contact with his players on match-days.

Leighton added: “I think the punishment should be a Uefa-type coaching ban, which is rather more than a touchline ban. Referees always accept decisions are going to be pored over. They have no problem with legitimate criticism. What’s problematic is when the integrity and key components of refereeing are being questioned in a totally unwarranted and unfounded way, and we will defend our members when they are.”

Ferguson is said to be furious at what he sees as both a media witch-hunt against him and a campaign by the refereeing fraternity to strike at him. Official ProZone statics showed that Wiley ran further than all but four United players in the match against Sunderland.

Wiley is set to take charge of Wigan’s high-profile game at home to Manchester City on Sunday, in a sign of backing from the referees’ manager, Keith Hackett.

• Craig Bellamy, Gary Neville escape FA censure
• ‘Players must use their emotion’ says Eastlands manager

Mark Hughes has insisted he has no intention of demanding restraint from Manchester City’s volatile players after Craig Bellamy, along with Gary Neville and Manchester United, escaped with a warning from the Football Association for his contribution to Sunday’s explosive derby at Old Trafford.

Bellamy had been under threat of a three-match ban for striking a pitch invader towards the end of United’s controversial 4-3 victory, and Neville also risked an improper conduct charge for goading City supporters following Michael Owen’s 96th-minute winner. Both, however, received warnings as to their future conduct instead.

“In relation to Craig Bellamy the match referee has confirmed that he would not have sent the player off had he seen the incident with the fan at the time,” confirmed the FA. “Craig Bellamy will be contacted by the FA and warned as to his future conduct. Gary Neville has been reminded of his responsibilities following his actions after Manchester United’s final goal deep into injury time.”

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Neville’s slap on the wrist comes despite the United club captain receiving a £5,000 fine and an identical warning for taunting Liverpool fans in 2006. United also escaped a charge of failing to control their supporters after the City substitute Javier Garrido was struck on the head by a coin as he headed down the tunnel at half-time. The FA statement added: “The FA fully expects the club to use all available means to identify and deal with the culprit appropriately and, along with the fan who entered the field of play, look to issue bans on attending future matches.”

The FA’s decision on Bellamy represents a major relief to Hughes, who last week lost Emmanuel Adebayor to a three-match ban for violent conduct against a former Arsenal colleague, Robin van Persie. Despite the successive incidents, however, the City manager sees no reason to order his players to improve their behaviour.

“You can’t take emotion out of football or any sport for that matter because that is fundamental to what you are trying to create,” insisted Hughes. “That passion from the players’ point of view is fundamental to how they develop as a top player. Every player who plays for Manchester City has passion but there will be varying degrees of it, because all players and personalities are different. You have to have it.”

Hughes also issued a staunch defence of Bellamy’s actions in the Manchester derby and believes the FA had to take the pitch invasion into account. “The guy should not have been on the pitch,” he added. “Craig went over to tell him to get off the pitch as quickly as he could, the guy made an aggressive move towards him and Craig has instinctively put his hand up in a defensive manner and pushed the lad away. That is the top and bottom of it and I think people will see that for what it is.”

The City manager would not elaborate on Neville’s provocative celebrations in front of the City supporters, despite accusing his former team-mate of behaving “like a lunatic” immediately after the derby. He will, however, demand a similar punishment for Adebayor after the Togo international was charged with improper conduct for running at Arsenal supporters following his goal at Eastlands on 12 September. “There is a lot of hysteria surrounding everything we do at the moment,” Hughes said. “All we ask is that if we have to answer to the FA [regarding Adebayor’s celebrations] then we will be looking for that balance.”

Hughes was content with Sir Alex Ferguson’s post-match description of City as a “noisy neighbour” or, to be more precise, the idea that the United manager is more venomous in his criticism of his local rivals now that he perceives them as a genuine threat.

“In terms of the amount of noise our fans made on Sunday you could possibly say we are a noisy neighbour, although I don’t think we made as much noise as is being made out,” added the City manager. “If that is people’s perception [of Ferguson’s agenda] then yes, we are quite comfortable with that. After our performance against Arsenal and the character we showed at Old Trafford, they know we are not going to go away. We are going to have an influence on who wins the Premier League in the seasons to come.”

• ‘Van der Sar is the right guy for the team at the moment’
• Sir Alex Ferguson criticises Ben Foster’s effort against Arsenal

Peter Schmeichel has claimed Ben Foster’s attempt to oust Edwin van der Sar at Old Trafford will be on hold as soon as the Dutch veteran regains fitness, with the England hopeful’s form under scrutiny even before his high-profile mistakes in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The Manchester United goalkeeper was punished twice in the 4-3 victory, first when caught in possession by Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry’s equaliser and then when Craig Bellamy evaded his suspect positioning to score City’s 90th-minute leveller.

Schmeichel, United’s former goalkeeping great, has been equivocal in his support for Foster and insists the player Sir Alex Ferguson championed as England’s No1 at the next World Cup will be dropped once Van der Sar recovers from a broken finger. “He’s getting a good run of games now but I’m sure Edwin will be back in when he’s fit because the manager knows he’s the right guy for the team at the moment,” said the Dane. “Ben will have to make the most of his chances but what he has done so far has been promising.”

Foster’s performance in United’s previous home game, the 2-1 defeat of Arsenal, came in for some rare public criticism by Ferguson, when the United manager queried the merits of Andrey Arshavin’s long-range opener. “I thought Ben Foster could have done better,” wrote Ferguson in his programme notes on Sunday. “With the way a ball swerves these days it was difficult, but saving it was not beyond Ben’s capabilities.”

The 38-year-old Van der Sar has been on the sidelines since breaking a finger and a bone in his left hand while saving a penalty against Bayern Munich in a pre-season tournament. He is expected to be available for the home game against Bolton Wanderers on 17 October. Tomasz Kuszczak, meanwhile, is expected to receive a run-out against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carling Cup tomorrow night.

Owen Hargreaves is due back in training tomorrow having undergone surgery in the US on tendinitis in both knees. Ferguson has stated he expects the England midfielder to be available for United’s final three group games in the Champions League, meaning he will return against CSKA Moscow on 3 November if that estimate proves correct, although Hargreaves will not be rushed given he last appeared for United at Chelsea on 21 September last year.

• Defender targets United return against Spurs next month
• Ferguson tells Anderson to up his game or leave

Rio Ferdinand has said his recovery from a thigh injury is ahead of schedule with the Manchester United and England defender hoping to return to action inside three weeks.

While Ferdinand will miss England’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia on 9 September, he is targeting United’s match three days later at Premier League leaders Tottenham for a comeback.

The 30-year-old Ferdinand sustained a slight thigh muscle tear during training ahead of the Premier League opener against Birmingham City.

“It’s improving, I’m a bit ahead of schedule,” Ferdinand said. “I’ve been training really hard the last few days. I’m not where I want to be obviously on the pitch, but in a couple of weeks I’ll be back on the pitch playing again. Hopefully the match after the internationals I will be fit so that’s what I’ll be aiming for.”

His manager Sir Alex Ferguson hopes that another England defender Wes Brown may return for Saturday’s meeting with Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Ferguson, meanwhile, has told his midfielder Anderson that he must raise his game or risk being off-loaded as a £19m failure. The Brazilian midfielder has made just one league appearance for the champions this season, in the defeat at Burnley last week, and was reportedly involved in an argument with the United manager after being left out of the squad that faced Chelsea in the Community Shield. Both Anderson and Nani, who joined United from Porto and Sporting Lisbon respectively in 2007, were told this summer that more was expected of them following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid, and only Nani has responded positively so far.

Anderson’s performance in last season’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona is believed to have increased Ferguson’s concerns over his credentials as an eventual successor to Paul Scholes in the heart of the United midfield. Despite suggestions the Brazilian could be sold before next week’s transfer deadline Ferguson is understood to want to give Anderson this season to prove his worth at Old Trafford.

• Foster is ‘one of the best’ keepers in England, says Ferguson
• Manchester United close to signing Bordeaux’s Gabriel Obertan

Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed the injury-prone Ben Foster will succeed Edwin van der Sar as first-choice goalkeeper at Manchester United and is close to making the Bordeaux winger Gabriel Obertan his third summer signing in a £3m deal.

Foster has made only 10 senior appearances for United since arriving from Stoke City in July 2005, having spent two seasons on loan at Watford and also enduring several fitness problems, but today signed a new four-year contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2013.

The deal represents relief for a keeper who is 26 and missed last season’s Champions League final with a ruptured ligament in his right thumb, and it gives him a chance to press his credentials at United ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

The twice-capped England international also missed last month’s World Cup qualifiers due to surgery on his thumb and he remains keen to secure a place in Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa.

Van der Sar is contracted for one more season at Old Trafford, and the United manager claimed there is no pressure to find a proven replacement for the veteran Dutchman next year. “We are delighted Ben has signed a four-year deal,” said Ferguson. “Ben is seen as one of the best young keepers in England and we genuinely see him as a successor to Edwin.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, has agreed a deal with Bordeaux for the 20-year-old Obertan. The France Under-21 international has also been coveted by Chelsea, Arsenal, Milan and Internazionale.

Obertan, who can operate in midfield or across the forward line, underwent a medical today and will become United’s third arrival this summer following the £16m capture of Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic and the shock free transfer of the former Liverpool forward Michael Owen. He has agreed a four year-contract.

Ferguson’s friendship with the Bordeaux coach and former United defender Laurent Blanc may have influenced United as the preferred destination for Obertan, who, despite being named most valuable player at the Toulon International youth tournament last month, remains unproven in France. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Lorient, where he scored once in 15 appearances.

Blanc said he was “surprised” by United’s move for Obertan. “It is an unexpected chance for him to play with one of the best clubs in the world. Manchester United have been tracking him for a long time. They certainly hope to advance him, something that Bordeaux and Lorient have failed to do. He has the potential. But he must overcome psychological and mental challenges so he can express his true value.”

• United embark on four-game Asian tour next week
• Bordeaux say United favourites to sign winger Obertan

Michael Owen officially started work as a Manchester United player today when the 29-year-old trained with the Premier League champions for the first time since his shock free transfer from Newcastle United.

The former Liverpool striker was introduced to his new team-mates at Carrington before taking part in the opening session of the club’s pre-season training programme, which involved gym work plus a 30-minute run. It will be later this week, however, before Owen is reunited with his former England strike partner Wayne Rooney who, along with several players involved in World Cup qualifiers at the end of last season, has been given an extended break by the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. Luis Antonio Valencia, United’s recent £16m purchase from Wigan Athletic, is on holiday in his native Ecuador but is expected to be officially unveiled alongside Owen before United embark on a four-game tour of east Asia next week.

The Bordeaux president, Jean-Louis Triaud, has claimed United are favourites to sign his club’s highly rated winger, Gabriel Obertan. The 20-year-old is regarded as one of the finest young prospects in France and has been linked in recent seasons with a move to Chelsea, Internazionale, Milan and Arsenal, as well as United. Ferguson is known to be keen on the winger and Triaud admits the Premier League champions are close to completing a deal. “It’s actually a great possibility,” the Bordeaux president told L’Equipe. “United want him and we would be delighted to see Gabriel develop in such a club. We will make it official when the moment comes.”

Obertan spent the second half of last season on loan at Lorient and is a regular in the France Under-21 side, scoring against England Under-21s in March. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award at last month’s Toulon international youth tournament.

• Argentine rejects Manchester United’s five-year offer
• Chelsea and Manchester City will battle for his signature

Roman Abramovich has sanctioned a lucrative offer for Carlos Tevez as Chelsea attempt to beat Manchester City to the signature of the Argentina international and flex their financial prowess for new manager Carlo Ancelotti. Tevez’s future became a straight fight between Eastlands and Stamford Bridge yesterday when it was confirmed he had rejected a £25.5m move to Manchester United and would be following Cristiano Ronaldo out of Old Trafford.

City remain favourites to sign Tevez on an estimated £150,000 a week but have yet to finalise an agreement with Kia Joorabchian, the head of the ­consortium who own the 25-year-old’s economic rights. City are also acutely aware of Chelsea’s determination to provide Ancelotti with marquee signings this summer.

Chelsea have missed out on several stellar names in the past year, including Kaka and Robinho, who joined City for a British record £32.5m transfer fee last summer having been close to ­moving to Stamford Bridge. Glen Johnson and Franck Ribery, two targets for this close season, are expected to join Liverpool and Real Madrid respectively. Tevez, therefore, has emerged as a test of ­Chelsea’s pulling power under Abramovich.

United yesterday announced that Tevez had rejected their offer of a permanent five-year contract following a further round of talks between Joorabchian and David Gill, the club’s chief executive, on Friday night.

The deal would have been worth £110,000 a week, placing the striker alongside Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov as the club’s highest earners. United set a deadline of midnight on Friday, having finally agreed to pay the option price on 3 June, only for ­Joorabchian to announce last night: “I think it was a little bit too late and there wasn’t enough time for Carlos to think about it.”

Old Trafford officials, however, believe 16 days was sufficient time for Tevez to decide whether to remain with a club he has known for two years and claim Joorabchian told Gill the player would be leaving on Friday. “The Club agreed to pay the option price of £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract,” announced United. “Disappointingly, however, his advisers informed the club that he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United.”

Despite their initial reluctance to meet the option price agreed when Tevez joined the club on loan in 2007 the Argentinian’s exit represents a significant setback for Sir Alex Ferguson, who rang the forward frequently during his holiday in the south of France in an attempt to convince him to stay. With Ronaldo expected to complete his world record £80m transfer to Real Madrid next week, Tevez’s decision means United have lost the source of 40 of their 119 goals in all competitions last season. United will now intensify efforts to entice the Lyon forward Karim ­Benzema to Old Trafford.

Joorabchian blamed procrastination by United for the player’s departure. “I think Carlos is a little bit sad,” he said. “He’s enjoyed two great years at the club. They’ve won two Premier League titles, one Champions League title, one Carling Cup in his time but they didn’t really give him any offers. Over the duration of two years there was a lot of talk about signing him but we never actually got to the point of actually receiving any offers for him.

If it was, let’s say, Wayne Rooney’s contract finishing six months before, or Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract finishing six months before, would they have tried to secure their services a bit sooner? He has that little bit of a feeling that maybe he wasn’t the most wanted person at United. Rightly or wrongly, that’s how he feels.”

• City ready to move for Tevez if United fail to agree deal
• Eto’o to be sold unless he signs an extension with Barcelona

Mark Hughes has confirmed Manchester City are ready to move for Carlos Tevez should Manchester United fail to agree a permanent £25.5m deal for the Argentina striker, with the world’s wealthiest club also keen to exploit uncertainty surrounding Samuel Eto’o’s future at Barcelona.

Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights, held a two-hour meeting yesterday with the United chief executive, David Gill, aware that City are waiting in the wings should he decide to invite rival offers for the 25-year-old. The talks were described as “cordial” and ended with Joorabchian returning to London to consider United’s long-awaited offer. The club had previously asked Joorabchian to reduce the £25.5m fee that was agreed when the Argentinian moved to Old ­Trafford on loan in 2007, a request that left the striker, according to a representative, feeling “humiliated”.

Joorabchian will now put United’s proposal to Tevez before informing Gill whether they have a deal, although a final decision is not expected until after Argentina’s forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia on Saturday and Ecuador next Wednesday. The striker is currently in Argentina preparing for Saturday’s game in Buenos Aires and is known to want to remain in England, and preferably the north-west, if the United deal collapses.

City will lead a host of clubs keen to sign Tevez should the opportunity arise and Hughes, has revealed his club is ready to follow their surprise capture of Gareth Barry with the Old Trafford forward. “Carlos Tevez is a good player. If good players become available then obviously every manager is interested,” he said.

Hughes’ wealthy employers are also believed to be interested in luring the European champion Eto’o to Eastlands, with the Cameroon striker yesterday given an ultimatum by the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, to end his contractual stand-off with Barcelona. Eto’o enters the final 12 months of his current deal this summer and is likely to be sold if an extension cannot be agreed. The Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, said: “Samuel has a contract and we’re very happy with him. We want him to continue with us and for him to retire in the Barça shirt. But the market is very dynamic and there could be surprises. He’s a wanted man and we know he’ll receive offers.” Everton defender Joleon Lescott is another target for City, although Goodison Park officials will resist any bid for the England international.

City have shown they will not be held to ransom despite their resources by rejecting Daniel Sturridge’s demands for approximately £70,000 a week to sign a new contract at City. The 19-year-old forward is out of contract this summer and expected to join Chelsea for a compensation fee.

“We have offered Daniel a deal that we think is at the level he should be at,” said Hughes. “He is in a strong position because he is in the last year of his contract. He is keeping his options open, which he has done for quite some time, we just have to wait and see. Obviously I have made my intentions very clear to him I would like him to stay but it may be out of our hands.”

Barry’s arrival in a £12m, £100,000-a-week deal from Aston Villa is expected to hasten Elano’s exit from City, with the Brazilian midfielder currently talking up a move to join Jose Mourinho at Internazionale. The 27-year-old’s popularity with supporters at Eastlands is in contrast to his standing under Hughes, who views Elano as a disruptive influence in the City dressing room and used him mainly as a substitute until the latter stages of last season. “There are ongoing negotiations and I hope the Inter directors will go right to the end,” Elano told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I want to wear the Inter shirt.” City are looking to recoup the £8m fee paid to Shakhtar Donetsk for Elano in 2007.

Hughes, meanwhile, is deliberating whether to allow goalkeeper Joe Hart to leave City for a season-long loan next season. Hart was first choice at City until Shay Given arrived from Newcastle United in February and, with aspirations of playing in next summer’s World Cup, the England Under-21 international is anxious to remain in Fabio Capello’s thinking for South Africa. Newly-promoted Birmingham City are among those believed to be interested in taking Hart on loan.

“Joe is frustrated and obviously wants to play,” confirmed the City manager. “We will look at his situation in the coming weeks and it might be to both Joe’s and the club’s benefit if he did go out on loan. He’d be playing on a regular basis and, given his ability, he would no doubt improve his standing in the game and help his development.”

Meanwhile Manchester United confirmed that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-a-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several global companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom. However, Aon, despite its profits plummeting during the recession, are expected to be announced as United’s new shirt sponsor for 2010-11 today.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

• Aon Corp agree four-year deal to replace AIG
• Agreement is football’s most lucrative shirt sponsorship

Manchester United confirmed today that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-per-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.

United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

• Spaniard is expected to have around £30m to spend
• Transfer budget control removes well-worn excuse

Rafael Benítez has prepared for his first summer in full control of Liverpool’s transfer budget by admitting he has no margin for error with the major signings he requires to overhaul Manchester United next season.

The Liverpool manager intends to fine-tune rather than overhaul his squad following a season in which the Anfield club emerged as the strongest challengers to United’s recent supremacy in the Premier League. Established talent such as the Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry will be a priority but, having taken that route and failed with Robbie Keane last summer, Benítez admits there are no guarantees of success and that his main acquisitions will be exposed to far greater scrutiny than they receive at Old Trafford.

“If you spend big money on one player and he’s not successful for you, it’s worse for us than it is for United,” the Liverpool manager said. “If they make one or two mistakes, because of the difference in money they can spend £40m-£50m on other players. That’s why I am so proud of our team this year, because we are closer than before with the same problems, the same differences between the teams but money is the most important thing.”

Benítez will have between £20m and £30m to spend this summer plus whatever he can raise through player sales, as has been roughly the case throughout his Anfield tenure. This pre-season will see the Liverpool manager assume far greater control for his recruitment under the terms of his new five-year contract, which allows him to set the valuations on players he signs and sells. He still requires the blessing of the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for major purchases.

Transfer fees and player contracts were previously under the domain of Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, who will relinquish his post at the end of this season and may not be replaced for several months. Liverpool’s owners have appointed a firm of head-hunters to identify Parry’s successor only in the last few weeks and, unless the candidate is an internal appointment – and the commercial director Ian Ayre is in the running – the process of interviews and notice periods could leave the position unfilled until next season.

All of which leaves Benítez with more responsibility for this summer’s transfers than he has enjoyed at Anfield before but, despite the need to sell to satisfy all his squad needs and the salutary lesson of Keane, the Liverpool manager is confident that he can ease the burden on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres next season.

Benítez, who made a potential £3.5m loss in six months on Keane and will encounter the Tottenham Hotspur striker in the season’s finale at Anfield on Sunday, added: “If you have more money you can sign players with more quality, like United have. It doesn’t matter if they play Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez or Ronaldo. They can play with two and rest two but keep the same level.

“We’ve been talking of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the whole season. We have good players in the squad but the experience of fighting for titles and the quality of players makes a difference. Sometimes that means money and it is easier if you have it. If not, you have to work harder and I do have a lot of confidence that we can improve.”

The Liverpool manager has also paid tribute to the performances of the goalkeeper José Reina this season, who could draw level with Edwin van der Sar on 21 clean sheets should he thwart Spurs on Sunday and the Dutchman, as anticipated, misses United’s trip to Hull City. “In England people talked about Petr Cech and now Van der Sar but Pepe for three or four years now has been at a really good level,” said Benítez. “This consistency makes him a top-class goalkeeper. I would say he is one of the best keepers in the world now.”

• Summer sales set to break up Steve Bruce’s side
• Scharner admits he wants to move

Steve Bruce’s rebuilding work at Wigan Athletic could be more extensive than he feared this summer after Antonio Valencia’s agent claimed Real Madrid had made their first move to sign the winger and Paul Scharner declared a desire to leave the JJB Stadium.

Wigan’s manager had his hopes of qualifying for Europe undermined in January by the departures of Emile Heskey, Wilson Palacios and Ryan Taylor and is resigned to losing Valencia at the end of this season.

Diego Herrera, the winger’s agent, said: “Wigan revealed last week that there has been an offer from Real Madrid but they haven’t told me any details about it. I don’t know how much the offer is and I haven’t yet talked to anyone from Madrid about details of a contract, so I don’t know how long they would want him for. Wigan have not confirmed anything to me about Manchester United’s interest.

“I know there are other clubs interested but as far as I know there’s nothing official. I have yet to sit down with Antonio and see what he wants.

“We’ve not yet talked about which club he would prefer. Honestly I think it’s really difficult that he remains at Wigan. I would anticipate that he leaves this summer. We have to see what will happen in the next few weeks. We’re not in any rush.”

The threat of Scharner’s departure, however, will be of major concern to Bruce as the fine Wigan team he established continues to unravel. “I feel this summer is the time for me to make the next step in my career,” said Scharner, the versatile Austrian who has attracted widespread interest since joining the club for £2m from Brann in 2006. “I’m looking towards getting a regular starting place in the Austria national side. My absolute aim would be to play in the Champions League.”

Wigan will at least have money to spend this summer, having banked over £15m from the January sales of Heskey and Palacios to Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, and will be keen to encourage an auction for Valencia given the interest from Madrid and possibly Manchester United. But Bruce has confirmed that he will not turn Amr Zaki’s loan spell into a permanent deal following a dramatic dip in the Egyptian striker’s form and discipline in the second half of the season. He is also yet to make a decision on Mido, Zaki’s fellow Egyptian who is now in the final week of his loan move from Middlesbrough.

• ‘We’ve shown we can challenge for title next season’
• Liverpool’s 13 away victories equals club record set in 1905

Dirk Kuyt has admitted Liverpool’s home form undermined their title challenge even before they defeated Manchester United in March and that Rafael Benítez’s team “were not quite good enough” to stop their fierce rivals drawing level on 18 league championships this season.

Liverpool have dropped only two points from a possible 30 since losing to Middlesbrough in February to deliver their strongest title challenge of the Premier League era and elevate expectations for next season. Their one slip in that sequence was the 4-4 draw with Arsenal at Anfield, but Kuyt believes the six stalemates at home before then – against the likes of Stoke City, Hull City and Manchester City – had left Benítez’s men with an insurmountable task ahead of their 4-1 victory at Old Trafford on 14 March.

“It’s a shame that the season is ending now,” said the Dutch international, whose goal at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday ensured his highest return – 15 – as a Liverpool player. “The performances we have shown in the last couple of months have been very good. If the season had gone on for another month then maybe we could have been even closer to United. The problem was when we went into the game against United the gap was basically 10 points [seven points plus a game in hand]. We beat them and pushed them really, really hard but that was a very big gap for us to try and make up. If the gap had been closer then, the run-in might have been even more interesting but United won all their games anyway.”

Liverpool’s victory at The Hawthorns was their 13th away from home in the league this season, equalling a club record set in 1905. “That shows the strength of the team,” added Kuyt. “We’ve done really well away from home. I think the only area in which we can blame ourselves is that we have drawn too many games at home but, having said that, we haven’t lost a home game in the league this season.

“People might look back to the defeat at Middlesbrough, but the season always has moments like that. United dropped some points, we scored some last-minute goals, United did the same, but you get what you deserve and we weren’t quite good enough. But we’ve shown that we can challenge for the title next season and push harder than we have done this time.”

Liverpool, meanwhile, have announced that José Segura will be the new technical director at their youth academy as Benítez continues his overhaul of the club. The Liverpool manager has greater control at youth level under the terms of his five-year contract extension and recently brought Piet Hamberg’s spell as academy director to a close. Segura, 48, was formerly the technical director of Barcelona’s successful youth academy and has been available since leaving Olympiakos, whose first team he led to a league and cup double last season.

Benítez said: “There’s a lot to do at the academy but we’ve worked hard to bring in the best people and José is a great appointment. He’s worked with some of the top young talent in Spain and knows the challenges faced in bringing through players to the first team set-up.”

• ‘It just means United have more points,’ says Liverpool manager
• Benítez says Ferguson benefited from greater resources

Rafael Benítez has confronted the unpalatable prospect of Manchester United equalling Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles by refusing to recognise the ­champions-elect as the finest team in the country. In a begrudging assessment of his fiercest rivals, he also claimed Sir Alex Ferguson is on course for a third successive Premier League crown thanks only to the financial advantage he enjoys over Liverpool.

There was an element of pragmatism in Benítez’s modest appraisal of United yesterday, with Liverpool able to take the title race to the final day should Arsenal triumph at Old Trafford this afternoon and West Bromwich Albion be defeated at The Hawthorns tomorrow. His refusal to concede defeat was secondary to a refusal to offer any credit to Ferguson, however, following a campaign that has fractured the once respectful relationship between the managers at Anfield and Old Trafford.

Liverpool will become the first team to lose only two matches and not win the title should they remain undefeated for the rest of the season and United gain the point they require. Asked if the best team always wins the league, Benítez responded: “It just means they have more points.

“If United win the league it means they will have more points, clearly, but there are some very good teams in different positions in the table. It depends on the time of the season. I don’t think I ever said we were playing the best out of everyone, maybe just at certain moments. I do have a lot of respect for the other teams, but to say who is the best at one moment is not easy.”

The Liverpool manager added: “There are a lot of good teams in the Premier League. Without putting them in any order, I’d say Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal are the best. This year we have shown we are improving and that we are a better team than before. We can still get better but we are in this position because we are winning a lot, have played good football, scored a lot of goals and not conceded many. Eighty points is good, 86 could be much better, and we will try to get there and see what happens. If United have more points, it only means they have more points, that’s all, nothing else.”

Benítez insisted the only difference this season between Liverpool and United, whom they have beaten home and away, lies not on the pitch but on the balance sheet, with Old Trafford’s greater resources providing Ferguson with a deeper and more experienced squad.

“For me, United have a bigger squad with top-class players, but always they spend more than we can spend,” said the Liverpool manager. “If they make mistakes they can use different players, but the level of the two teams is more or less the same. Maybe we have to bring in some young players without the experience at this level, and that could be the difference. United are a top side that is spending big money every year on improving its squad and that is the main difference between them and the other teams.”

While Benítez takes pride in Liverpool’s creditable pursuit of United, the club’s Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso has insisted the season cannot be classed a success should it end without a trophy. “In terms of the Premier League it has been better than it has before but if you don’t win anything you can’t consider it to be a good season,” said Alonso, who is likely to be the subject of several transfer enquiries this summer.

“We have to be disappointed with ourselves, try to be critics and try to analyse the things that we haven’t done properly. Of course you also have to think that we have made progress in the Premier League and we have to keep working on this basis, but you also know that success means winning trophies for Liverpool. It’s very painful to look back and think of the draws that we had and the two defeats we have had also.”

Benítez again revisited a disallowed goal in the opening minutes of the home game against Stoke City as an example of the fine margins that have worked against Liverpool this season. “It’s only natural to think where would we be if we had managed to get another good result?” admitted Alonso. “But then all the teams in the Premier League can say the same thing.”

• Tevez inspires comeback victory against Wigan
• Joorabchian denies Manchester United have made offer

Sir Alex Ferguson revived Carlos Tevez’s prospects of staying at Manchester United last night after the Argentinian proved the catalyst in a comeback that left the Old Trafford club on the brink of the Premier League title.

Tevez equalised three minutes after his introduction against Wigan Athletic as United came from behind to triumph through Michael Carrick’s 86th-minute winner at the JJB Stadium. Ferguson, who now requires one point against Arsenal or Hull City to secure a record-equalling 18th league championship, claimed United had made a contract offer to Tevez before kick-off and were making progress on a permanent £22m deal for the striker, despite the 15-goal forward declaring last Sunday his intention to leave.

Ferguson’s revelations were immediately denied by the player’s representative, Kia Joorabchian, who confirmed talks had taken place with the United chief executive, David Gill, but discounted the offer of a contract.

The United manager, however, said: “The situation has not affected Carlos at all. He is a fantastic little player and he knows I want him to stay. I had another chat with him today about it and David Gill also had some more meetings today and I’m sure it has progressed further. The situation has never changed. The problem is we are not negotiating with a football club. The terms we have offered Carlos are very good, so we’ll see.”

A spokesman for Joorabchian then issued a statement that read: “It is true David Gill came to see Mr Joorabchian and they had a cordial meeting. It is categorically untrue that Manchester United made an offer to try to persuade Carlos Tevez to stay at the club. In 2007 Manchester United agreed a two-year loan deal for Carlos Tevez and at the same time agreed the terms that would make the transfer permanent. They have not taken up that option.”

As for events at the JJB, Ferguson believed United had shown their championship credentials in recovering from Hugo Rodallega’s opening goal for Wigan and staging a recovery to keep ahead of Liverpool in the title race. “We had to show the resolve of champions against a very determined Wigan side,” he said. “This was a really tough hurdle but we got there with a fantastic second-half performance. We were determined, we never gave in, kept going and got a little bit of luck in the second half, but we were fantastic.”

Ferguson added: “We were the better side and I thought we should have had a penalty too but we weren’t getting anything from the referee tonight but we’ve done it ourselves with a fantastic goal by Michael Carrick and a fantastic performance. We will aim to win against Arsenal now. I don’t listen to the criticism they’ve had recently. We know what a good team they are.”

While Cristiano Ronaldo’s petulance again raised his manager’s ire, United’s other dissenting star made a more positive impact

It was the most patronising of put-downs from Sir Alex Ferguson and the fact it was directed at a Manchester United player merely embellished the insult. “Fans love a trier,” said the Scot of Carlos Tevez following the Argentine’s cupped-ear ­celebration against Manchester City on Sunday, as the debate continued whether he is worth the £22m United must pay to make him a permanent employee this summer. Even Ferguson may learn to love Tevez after this, however.

There are triers in the sense of talentless workaholics and triers of the patience such as Cristiano Ronaldo, who responded to the diva-strop he threw when substituted in the Manchester derby with another theatrical, self-interested display against Wigan Athletic. And there are triers like Tevez who, with an exquisite back-heeled flick only three minutes after entering a desperate predicament for United at the JJB Stadium, may well have rescued the club’s record-equalling 18th league championship.

Make no mistake about it, the ­Premier League leaders were threatening to extend yet another reprieve to Liverpool in this fine title race when Tevez replaced Anderson in the 58th minute. Struggling to offer service to their three-pronged attack, running short on ideas and appearing increasingly anxious against a robust Wigan defence, the visit of Arsenal to Old Trafford on Saturday was taking the shape of an ordeal rather than a chance for celebration. Wigan had been “on easy street” since reaching 41 points against Hull City in March, according to their manager, Steve Bruce, but they took United down a dark alley until Tevez commenced their latest fightback with a touch of ingenuity.

It was instructive that, for once, Ronaldo was on the receiving end of Ferguson’s ire. Like Tevez, he too had challenged his manager’s authority against City and here he invited censure from the Scot with two wild finishes that invited scorn from the touchline. Ronaldo glanced back at Ferguson following his first shot over, and was met with a ­withering rebuke.

Wigan’s own exhilarating manicured winger, Antonio Valencia, has been touted as a possible replacement for Ronaldo if the Portuguese international is party to a pre-arranged agreement to finally take him off to Real Madrid this summer. “It is an inevitable that he will be leaving now,” admitted Steve Bruce beforehand, with Real and Bayern Munich allegedly among his suitors. The JJB Stadium to Old ­Trafford would appear a transfer based on an agent’s optimistic imagination.

Valencia has been a fine acquisition for Wigan since Paul Jewell returned from a scouting mission to the 2006 World Cup and identified the Ecuador international as one of the few affordable unknowns in Germany. The former Latics manager was present to witness a productive display from his purchase, one that stretched a surprisingly fragile United defence, though whether it would qualify as a successful audition to fill the huge vacuum at Old Trafford should Ronaldo depart is questionable.

The 23-year-old has the pace and ­distribution that would appeal to ­Ferguson, and would hardly break the bank at around £15m-£18m, but not the versatility or finishing skills of his would-be predecessor. That much was emphasised glaringly in the second minute when, clean through following a slip by the suspect Jonny Evans, he chipped abysmally wide of Edwin van der Sar’s goal under pressure from Nemanja Vidic. However, at least he would spare United from the guaranteed histrionics of Ronaldo, who prompted withering looks from his own team-mates, Wayne Rooney chief among them, by carping at any misplaced pass or referee Rob Styles’ refusal to grant his every wish.

With United struggling to find their feet on the wet surface – a problem that rarely afflicted their opponents – they could ill-afford Ronaldo to lose his head too. The World Player of the Year was fortunate not to be booked for twice shooting on goal long after the whistle had gone for offside, while one slip when in possession prompted a reckless pursuit of any Wigan player in the vicinity and ended with a slight tap on Michael Brown. It was a first-half performance that must have prompted despair in the visiting ­dug-out.

An added headache for Ferguson was the latest show of vulnerability in the one area of the team he does not rotate, the United defence. Not for the first time, Vidic lost his commanding aura and perceptiveness without Rio Ferdinand alongside to guide him. There was some justification for the Serbian losing his footing when Hugo Rodallega put Wigan ahead with a goal that sent tremors along the M58 into Liverpool, but losing the aerial challenge to the Colombian spread dismay throughout the United ranks. It was Evans, however, frequently dragged out of position and providing insufficient cover for Vidic, who offered Bruce and Rafael Benítez greater optimism on the night.

Vidic appeared to have little confidence in his defensive partner and to be distracted by the extra workload he took upon himself as a result. Wigan’s five-man midfield, exemplary in workrate and closing down the supply to Ronaldo, Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, only had one outlet in Rodallega yet capitalised on the uncertainty in the visiting rearguard whenever the opportunity arose. It required the introduction of Tevez to turn the tide so convincingly towards the title.

• Life after Manchester United is a ’step down’
• Tevez and Ronaldo would find it hard to adjust

Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic manager, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez they would be making a huge mistake by leaving a Manchester United team that may continue to dominate at home and abroad under Sir Alex Ferguson for several years.

The ex-United captain, who left Old Trafford for Birmingham City after nine successful years in 1996, intends to interrupt Ferguson’s pursuit of a third successive Premier League title tonight when the leaders visit the JJB Stadium. The Champions League holders and finalists require four points from their remaining three league games to secure the championship, yet doubts persist over the futures of Ronaldo and Tevez at the club. Tevez openly challenged the United hierarchy to finalise his permanent transfer to Old Trafford on Sunday while the Portuguese newspaper Record, a paper with close links to Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes, yesterday reinforced the idea that Real Madrid have a deal in place with the United winger for this summer.

Bruce believes both will be jeopardising their future prospects by quitting Old Trafford now. “Once you leave Old Trafford you find it very difficult. It’s a step down,” he said. “Not many have gone on to do well elsewhere and that applies whether you have been a reserve, a kid or have been in the first team for 10 years. It is very, very difficult to adjust.

“The modern player must accept that to be involved at the top – especially when they have been involved in five competitions and can win four this season – you don’t have to play 60 games a year like we did. It takes about 18 games to win the Champions League so you need a squad of players capable of handling big games.”

The Wigan manager denied Ferguson would be concerned with Ronaldo’s diva strop when substituted against Manchester City on Sunday. “It won’t bother him a jot,” he said. “The kid was desperate to stay on the field and that’s refreshing. I’ve had a few who have been desperate to come off”

Bruce believes his former manager will remain at the Old Trafford helm for the foreseeable future regardless of what he achieves this season. “With the team he has got he will want to finish above Liverpool in terms of league titles and, while Real Madrid may be out of reach in the Champions League with their nine titles, he will want to be up there with the likes of Ajax, Bayern Munich and Liverpool. I don’t think he has any intention of quitting at all. He will be looking at that team and thinking ‘Why should I?’”

Bruce’s chairman Dave Whelan, meanwhile, has reiterated his call for club debts to become a percentage of takeover and believes there is a growing momentum within the game – and even within the Premier League – to prevent the likes of the Glazers at United and Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool from loading borrowing on to a club rather than their personal finances.

Whelan, speaking at the launch of Wigan’s new two-year sponsorship deal with the online gaming company 188BET, said: “The lads at Manchester United and Liverpool have bought the football club and put the debt in the name of the club. The debt should be in their name and that’s what wrong and that is what has to change. We must have some control on debt.

“I have constantly argued at Premier League meetings that we should only be allowed to have 20% or 25% of our turnover in debt. You could give the likes of United three or four years to put their house in order. Everyone knows in their hearts that it has to happen. Richard Scudamore [the chief executive of the Premier League] and others know in their hearts that it has to happen. It will come, there is no doubt about it. It is a matter of when. The government and Europe is looking into it now but it should be the Premier League who guide us. I don’t want the politicians involved. Whenever politicians intervene everything gets cocked up and we’d all be claiming expenses that we are not entitled to.”

• It’s a step down to leave Manchester United, says Bruce
• Wigan manager tells pair to accept rotation policy

The Wigan Athletic manager, Steve Bruce, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez they would be making a huge mistake by leaving a Manchester United team that may dominate at home and in Europe for years.

Bruce, who intends to interrupt Sir Alex Ferguson’s pursuit of a third successive Premier League title tonight when the leaders visit the JJB Stadium, believes both will jeopardise their prospects by quitting Old Trafford.

‘Once you leave Old Trafford you find it very difficult. It’s a step down,’ he said. ‘Not many have gone on to do well elsewhere and that applies whether you have been a reserve or have been in the first team for 10 years. It is very, very difficult to adjust.

‘The modern player must accept that to be involved at the top – especially when they have been involved in five competitions and can win four this season – you don’t have to play 60 games a year like we did.

‘It takes about 18 games to win the Champions League so you need a squad of players capable of handling the big games.’

• United submit report over midfielder’s sending-off at Arsenal
• Chelsea-Barcelona furore may hinder Alex Ferguson’s case

Manchester United have asked Uefa to consider whether the Italian referee Roberto Rosetti erred with the red card that will suspend Darren Fletcher from their Champions League final against Barcelona on 27 May.

United submitted a report to European football’s governing body yesterday in a final attempt to overturn the midfielder’s controversial dismissal against Arsenal in the semi-final second leg. The move follows advice given to Sir Alex Ferguson by the Uefa general secretary, David Taylor, as they left the Emirates stadium together on Tuesday night and represents their only chance of freeing Fletcher to play in Rome. The report does not urge the organisation to consider Fletcher’s case on compassionate grounds, contrary to reports.

The Old Trafford club accept there are no formal grounds to appeal the 25-year-old’s dismissal, given for a professional foul on Cesc Fábregas when replays showed the Scotland international had played the ball first, and their faint hope of overturning the decision has not been helped by the controversy surrounding Tom Henning Ovrebo’s subsequent performance in the Chelsea-Barcelona tie at Stamford Bridge. The Norwegian referee has been hounded since refusing Chelsea four penalty appeals and Uefa may not be inclined to accept that both their appointments for the semi-finals were culpable of major mistakes.

United, nevertheless, are duty-bound to pursue Fletcher’s case and their report outlines the club’s version of the challenge on Fábregas and asks Uefa whether it believes Rosetti made the correct call. “The ref may take the view a mistake has been made and include that in his report but that wouldn’t be in any way decisive,” said Taylor. “It’s an entirely discretionary thing, whether or not the [disciplinary] committee feels there is reason to intervene. That’s the position. Strictly speaking there’s no appeal process but representation can be made and looked at.”

The Uefa general secretary added: “I have spoken with Alex Ferguson personally on this – as fate would have it we shared a car after the match. We were rather thrown together but had an interesting discussion. I tried to give Alex as much advice as I could with regards to the procedure in these circumstances.”

• Defensive mistakes led to draw with Arsenal
• Point gained in 4–4 thriller could yet prove vital

The Liverpool striker, Dirk Kuyt, has conceded his team require “a bit of a miracle” to pip Manchester United to the Premier League title as a consequence of last night’s remarkable 4–4 draw with Arsenal.

United could move three points clear of Rafael Benítez’s team with victory over Portsmouth at Old Trafford tonight, one of two games in hand for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, after Liverpool’s classic – yet costly – encounter with Arsène Wenger’s side at Anfield. Kuyt has echoed Benítez’s defiant warning to United that Liverpool will fight until the final day of the season to claim the club’s first league championship since 1990 and to prevent United drawing level with their record of 18 titles. But the Dutch international admitted Liverpool’s task appears formidable after dropping two points and with just five matches to go.

“It is harder after last night because we knew before the game that we needed to win to keep the pressure on,” said Kuyt. “But at least we got a draw and didn’t lose and we have to keep fighting until the very end.

“We have to hope for a bit of a miracle now because it has become more difficult than it already was, but in the last couple of weeks you have seen a team that has not given up and we will never give up. So let’s hope that a miracle can happen but we have to make sure we win our own remaining games and then we will see what happens.”

Wenger promised Liverpool after the game that Arsenal would show the same commitment at Old Trafford in the league on 16 May as they did at Anfield. That approach, believes Kuyt, is inherent throughout the Premier League and the reason the title is not a foregone conclusion for United or Liverpool.

“I am sure that all the teams will show passion and give their best like Arsenal did because that is what happens in the Premier League,” added the striker. “Like I said, we need a miracle but stranger things have happened in football and our mission is not to give up. It will be difficult but as long as we keep winning our own games then maybe they will struggle. They have two games in hand so they could take a six-point lead at the top so they will have to lose twice but that can happen. The point we took is an important one because otherwise we could have ended up seven points behind and that would have made it almost impossible.”

Kuyt is under no illusions, however, as to the improvements that have to be made in the Liverpool defence for Benítez’s team to capitalise on any slips United make in the final weeks. All four of Andrey Arshavin’s goals for Arsenal on Tuesday came from uncharacteristic errors by Liverpool, a fact that left their manager incandescent afterwards. And Kuyt admitted: “We played a good game and we only made four mistakes in the 90 minutes but they cost us two points. All of their goals came from our own mistakes and this is something we have to change but we need to keep our focus on our next game.”

• Sir Alex Ferguson says he does not understand Rafael Benítez
• Sammy Lee describes the whole episode as ’sad’

Sir Alex Ferguson has said he is unrepentant over his calculated attack on Rafael Benítez despite the Manchester United manager, and his Liverpool adversary, attempting to draw a line under their bitter fall-out yesterday. claims that he is arrogant, lacks humility and showed “absolute contempt” against Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers at Anfield 10 days ago, a match Liverpool won 4-0.

Ferguson did not further the spat yesterday, although neither did he back down on his complaint that Benítez had gestured that Blackburn were beaten as soon as Liverpool scored their second goal last weekend. The overwhelming evidence from Anfield that day was that the Spaniard had merely gestured to Xabi Alonso over the free-kick routine that produced Fernando Torres’ second goal. “I made my point about it. I don’t understand why he did it,” he said. “I don’t want to go on about it anymore. I made my point. There is no point carrying it on. It’s plain for everybody to see now. I have made my issue about it.” As for Liverpool’s explanation about the that Benítez gesture, the Scot added: “They are hurt by it.

Lee launched a staunch defence of Benitez’s character in his manager’s absence and revealed how the now delicate topic of the gesture was not even raised by Allardyce when they had a drink after Rovers’ 4-0 defeat. “I think the whole thing is quite sad really, I really do,” said Allardyce’s successor as Bolton manager. “We all knew what the gesture was about on the day. Any gestures that are made from the side of the pitch are only ever intended for our players only, no-one else. I was surprised by what was said. I had a drink with Sam after the match and nothing was said about it. We had a good working relationship so I am sure if he felt that strongly about it he would have said something to me.”

The Liverpool assistant manager added: “This is not Britain’s Got Talent; you don’t win anything for being popular, but our manager is not arrogant. He is astute, learned, educated and his attention to detail is fantastic. We are all a bit sensitive to criticism but he knows what he is doing, why he is doing it and who he is gesticulating at!”

Liverpool will again be without their captain, Steven Gerrard, tonight as the midfielder recovers from the adductor strain he aggravated ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea.

• Midfielder’s last penalty was in 2004, for Millwall
• Kenwright praises Moyes for transforming Everton

Tim Cahill has promised to make amends for his penalty miss in the FA Cup semi-final by inspiring Everton to their first ­trophy for 14 years against Chelsea at Wembley next month.

The Australia international was the only Everton player to miss in their shoot-out victory over Manchester United on Sunday but was spared any lasting anxiety by Tim Howard’s saves from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand, plus Phil Jagielka’s decisive kick. Cahill had not taken a penalty at club level since firing a similar effort high over West Ham’s goal when playing for Millwall in 2004. But Cahill, who featured for Millwall against United in the 2004 final, is adamant he will redeem himself when he confronts Guus Hiddink, his former Australia, and now Chelsea, manager, on 30 May.

“It’s so disheartening when you miss a penalty but when you play with so many great players, you know they will get you out of it,” said the midfielder. “I have been a long time at Everton and am someone who calls themselves a Blue. I’m very passionate about the club. I felt confident when I stepped up to take the penalty but sometimes things go wrong. Mentally I feel fine now but hopefully when it comes around to the Cup final, I’ll score the ­winner and make up for it.”

Everton arrived at Wembley with Rafael Benítez’s “small club” accusation put back into the public domain by Sir Alex Ferguson, but Cahill denied the FA Cup is an opportunity to step out of Liverpool’s shadow. “We’re not bothered what Liverpool do. This is all about us,” he said. “We don’t worry what they’re doing. They’re a great team but we’re only bothered about Everton and what we do.”

Meanwhile Everton’s chairman, Bill Kenwright, has praised David Moyes for transforming the club. “When David arrived I never looked at the first game of the season, I looked at the last to see who we had to beat to avoid the R [relegation] word. We’ve had Wayne Rooney leaving and no money every season – but now we’re up there and I think you can truly say we are a top-six club again.”

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)

• 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.”

• 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.”

• Anfield man downbeat over title chances
• Force is still with United, he says

Xabi Alonso has admitted a Champions League exit holds no positives for Liverpool in their quest to win the Premier League and that Rafael Benítez’s team face a formidable challenge to wrestle the title from Manchester United.

While Benítez took a manager’s prerogative and extolled the virtues of a remarkable quarter-final tie at Chelsea on Tuesday evening, claiming Liverpool’s second-leg recovery had restored pride and renewed belief ahead of the title run-in, his compatriot could not identify any advantages in the 7-5 aggregate defeat.

The Premier League, the club’s priority all season, now stands as Liverpool’s only hope of a trophy but even though they are only a point behind United and in superior form to Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions, Alonso admits the impetus remains at Old Trafford.

“It is going to be very difficult to win the league but we have to have a go and try to win all our games,” said the Spain international, whose side’s next fixture is at home to Arsenal on Tuesday. Ferguson triggered another riposte from Benítez with his suggestion that United’s main Premier League rivals will be the losers in the Liverpool-Chelsea Champions League encounter, owing to the increased preparation time between each league game, but even that fact offered little consolation for Alonso.

“You never know what the impact might be,” he continued. “Logically, we should have more time to rest now but sometimes you prefer to keep playing games. It can help you to keep playing. We are not happy because we are out of the Champions League.”

Stamford Bridge did at least provide evidence of Liverpool’s defiance against the odds, not that any more was required from Benítez’s team. In many respects their position in the Premier League is similar to the predicament that confronted the Anfield club prior to the second leg in west London, having arrived with a 3-1 deficit and the weight of Champions League history against them. Ajax remain the only side to have overturned a first-leg home defeat in the Champions League yet Alonso, for all his acute frustration against Chelsea, believes Liverpool’s character guarantees they will also take United to the limit in the coming weeks.

“Character is a big part of this team. We keep fighting when in difficult situations and we showed that against Chelsea,” he said. “We don’t do it to show anything to people, we do it because we want to show ourselves, we want to keep alive and have chances to win things. We tried to get over a very difficult situation at Stamford Bridge but we lost the tie at Anfield. I believed we would go through against Chelsea, absolutely. After the great first half we played we had reasons to believe.

“We can take pride in our performance. Everyone kept fighting to the end. At certain moments things were difficult, especially after going 3–2 [down], but we scored two more goals and with 10 minutes left we had a good chance to go through if we scored another goal. But there were chances for both sides and in the end we were not able to go through and we are very disappointed.”

Benítez claimed Liverpool’s four goals at Stamford Bridge, having also scored four against United and Real Madrid plus five against Aston Villa in recent weeks, should ensure there is no shortage of confidence for the remaining six games of the season. Liverpool have now scored 25 in the past eight matches in all competitions, compared to only nine in the previous eight. “We are in a good moment in the Premier League and we have to try and keep that moment,” Alonso added. “It is good to score so many goals, but against Chelsea we conceded a lot as well.”

The Liverpool goalkeeper, José Reina, has taken responsibility for allowing Didier Drogba’s faint touch to sneak inside his near post and effectively turn the second leg in Chelsea’s favour on Tuesday. “It was bad positioning by me,” he admitted. “I was too in the middle of the goal. I should have been closer to the near post. It was my mistake. I have to recognise it. That’s the life of a goalkeeper.”

Reina, however, believes that Liverpool will not be distracted from the challenge of trying to win the club’s first league championship since 1990. “There are six games remaining and we have to win them all,” he said. “It’s in United’s hands. We must try to win them and wait. We will never give up. We are Liverpool. That’s our character and the way we are. We will continue to fight until the end.”

• Ferguson ‘talks too much’, says Liverpool manager
• Spaniard respects Chelsea more with Mourinho gone

Rafael Benítez reopened his feuds with Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho yesterday when he accused the Manchester United manager of being scared of Liverpool and claimed to have more respect for Chelsea now that Mourinho has left.

The Liverpool manager was in combative mood ahead of tonight’s Champions League quarter-final with Chelsea. He confirmed that his dislike of Mourinho survives by alleging that the Portuguese’s style is bad for the game and that his successors, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink, have repaired the club’s reputation.

Yet Benítez’s major criticism was reserved for Ferguson, who he believes is feeling the pressure of Liverpool’s resurgence in the Premier League. Ferguson had again irked Benítez by suggesting the biggest threat to United’s domestic crown this season will come from the loser of the Liverpool-Chelsea quarter-final.

But Benítez said: “Clearly one of us, Chelsea or Liverpool, will be focused on the league after this game. United will have a problem with that. It will be worse for them. [Ferguson] will be supporting Liverpool because we are the biggest threat now. If we continue in the competition we may be tired but if we are not in it he knows we will be a threat.

“If Chelsea are not in the competition they will be a threat [in the Premier League]. So he will lose anyway. We have to concentrate on our team but he likes to talk too much about other teams. It is not mind games; he is a little bit scared. Clearly you can see they are not playing well and so they feel the pressure.”

Benítez blames Ferguson for the breakdown in their relationship, despite having launched a detailed attack on his Old Trafford counterpart in January. “I had a very good relationship with him,” Benítez said, emphasising the past tense before explaining that “something changed”.

“Maybe it was because we started winning,” the Spaniard continued. “He wrote to me after Istanbul [where Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005] and was very polite, saying well done and talking about the tactics. He was very good. I think I wrote to him after Moscow [when United won the European title last year]. Normally we write to say congratulations, and I think I did.”

Benítez then suggested the antipathy that exists between Liverpool and Chelsea is solely down to Mourinho. “Scolari was doing a very good job, Avram Grant was doing a very good job, Guus Hiddink is a great manager and Mourinho is a good manager, but each one decides how to approach the games and I like the styles of Grant, Scolari and Hiddink,” Benítez said. “Their styles are right for the game … Chelsea is a fantastic club. It was before and it is now.”

• We are contenders again, says Benítez
• Ferdinand: Defeat will make us more focused

Rafael Benítez and Sir Alex Ferguson shared only a brief handshake at Old Trafford but the Liverpool manager believes the impact of their encounter will linger at Manchester United. While Rio Ferdinand claimed Saturday’s emphatic defeat would remove any complacency from the champions, Benítez insisted Liverpool’s resurgent form could take United to the wire in their pursuit of a record-equalling 18th league title.

Ferguson refused to share his thoughts on United’s humbling with Sky television after the game on Saturday, apparently in protest at kicking off at 12.45pm at the end of a Champions League week. His team captain, however, sought to accentuate the positives as United shipped four league goals at Old Trafford for the first time since 1992 and lost a 12-game winning run at home in the Premier League in spectacular fashion.

“Losing any game is disappointing, but losing to your big rivals is even worse and the scoreline compounds that,” said Ferdinand. “But we have to turn this into a positive. This game will have torn out any sub-conscious complacency. We now have time to dust ourselves down and get our minds on the game against Fulham next week.”

The victory concluded a momentous week for Liverpool who, having recorded a 5-0 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night, registered four more goals against the reigning champions. Liverpool remain four points adrift of United having played a game more but Benítez believes current form can sustain their challenge until the season’s end.

“At least now we are in a position where we can try and put them under pressure if we continue to win games,” said the Liverpool manager. “The mentality of our club is to win, to win everything and I think United have the same mentality. So how can you win? I think in modern football the money makes a massive difference and you could see that in their substitutes. Tell me the value of these players? The money is a massive difference and if you have these [resources] sometimes it’s easier.

“They have four or five players on their own who can change games and we have one or two. If you cannot spend big money on players you have to work hard as a team. This is the mentality we have now. If we can add some good players in the future we will improve and maybe we can get closer.”

Benítez denied there is any “bad blood” with Ferguson following his detailed attack on the United manager in January, and suggested he has irritated the Scot by returning Liverpool to title contention first and foremost. “I don’t have any problems with him. I respect him, I think he is a great manager but I have to defend my club,” said the Spaniard, following his 100th league win in 181 games as Liverpool manager and his first at Old Trafford. “I can guarantee you that I was calm and I am calm. He’s a fantastic manager with a very good team and we will try to improve and be as close as possible. Hopefully he will see Liverpool as a new contender. That will be good.”

Benítez made no grand boasts about this season’s title following Liverpool’s biggest win at Old Trafford since November 1936, and there was regret among his players at their failure to produce such form against the lesser lights of the Premier League.

“The problem is we have dropped a lot of very important points at home,” said Javier Mascherano, the Argentine who made amends for last season’s red card at Old Trafford with a dominant midfield display. “We have spoken about this in the dressing room. When you lose points at Anfield to Hull and Man City and other teams like that then you have to be disappointed, but even more so now that we have gone to Old Trafford and won so well. All we can do now is keep going. There are still nine games to go and we need to win every single one to have a chance of catching United.

“I don’t know if we can win the league. We don’t need to think about the title race right now, we just need to keep this form going. It would be wrong of us to start talking about being in the title race again. United still have a good lead over us and we need to keep winning. If United don’t lose then it will be really difficult to catch them but we need to win all our games. We have to take it step by step.”

• Manager on verge of century of league wins
• Only Dalglish and Paisley will head Spaniard

Rafael Benítez will replace Bill Shankly as the third fastest Liverpool manager to reach 100 league wins should he triumph in forthcoming games against Aston Villa, Fulham or, as the last hopes of a title ­challenge demand, at Manchester United this afternoon. It is an impressive feat by any standards, but remarkable given how often the Spaniard has stood accused of sending his team ambling out of the blocks.

There was, also remarkably, a tinge of regret amid the euphoria of Liverpool’s 4–0 destruction of Real Madrid on Tuesday. Here was a team that lost the initiative in the title race through too many sterile draws at Anfield tearing into the Spanish giants with intensity and imagination. And from the word go, not having fallen behind or with only a Steven Gerrard miracle to save them. The good news for Liverpool supporters who crave more of the same in the Premier League is that Benítez has promised an ­identical ­mental approach at Old Trafford. The issue, however, is his insistence that it has been present all season – even in the damaging, pedestrian draws against Hull City and Stoke City. The performance against Real was not Benítez instructing his ­players to express themselves, therefore, but a glorious illustration of his two-game plan coming to fruition.

“We played against a top side and Real Madrid are a team that historically always attacks, so this game was different,” he explained. “We started the game really well and because we scored two early goals everything changed for them. They needed to attack and we had more space. We’ve done the same against a lot of teams but the difference is other teams put 10 men behind the ball.

“Real Madrid had to attack and they were not expecting our intensity. Other teams come to Anfield and wait and see if they can score from a free-kick or corner. It is not a frustration for me. It is something we need to analyse. We have to score first against teams more often because then the game will change and there are more spaces, like against Sunderland.”

Benítez has 99 victories from his 180 league games in charge of Liverpool, while Kenny Dalglish reached his ton in 167 games, Bob Paisley in 179 and Shankly in 184. It will take an improvement in ­Liverpool’s playing staff, their manager suggested, for him to join his illustrious forebears in bringing the title back to ­Liverpool. “We know the situation we face at Anfield but how can you penetrate it? You have to be very precise,” Benítez added. “It’s not just a question of determination and high tempo. You can keep your high tempo if you can keep your space and pass the ball. If you don’t have the space you have to make sure you don’t give the ball away. It’s not the same situation. At Old Trafford we will try to play with the same intensity and determination. It will be different without our supporters behind us but we will try to start the game in the same way.”

For others, the explanation for ­Liverpool’s contrasting Champions League and Premier League form is not as straightforward as Benítez’s philosophy or the quality of his personnel. There is a revealing passage in Jamie Carragher’s autobiography that suggests Benítez’s differing prowess at home and abroad is reflected in the psychology of the entire club. “As a side we have been accused of failing to reproduce our European form in the league but the allegation is fairer applied to the whole club,” wrote ­Carragher, whose 114 European appearances for Liverpool is a club record.

“If most English sides had to endure the Anfield European atmosphere we’d probably blow them away and we must all take responsibility for that. It is up to us players to get the crowd going as much as it’s up to the Kop to perform every week. There seems to be a different mindset on and off the pitch. The Kop has had 20 years heading to league games with a feeling of trepidation, having seen us struggle so often, yet the same fans have supreme confidence and self-belief whenever they watch us in Europe based largely on Rafa’s recent success. We also benefit from our knowledge of the European game.”

How to break that cycle when Liverpool enter the unknown whenever they lead the Premier League down the final straight, as Sir Alex Ferguson provocatively observed, remains Benítez’s outstanding challenge at Anfield.