Man Utd dumped out of Carling Cup

Sir Alex Ferguson insists United will respond in the right manner after their shock Carling Cup exit at Southend.

Not for the first time in his 20 years at Old Trafford, the manager will have to keep his head while all those around him - in the press, at least - lose theirs. He will shun the inevitable calls for players to be axed, even exiled, and concentrate on preparing his Premiership leaders for the pursuit of a sixth consecutive league win.

"We are disappointed because our club can’t accept being beaten in any kind of competition, even a friendly, because of the expectation level," conceded Sir Alex at Southend. "But I know that tomorrow we can get our togs on and start working again because that’s the name of the game at this club. Not to look back but look forward.

"We’ve had a disappointment but there’ll be no knee-jerk reaction, no mass sackings or suicides I hope, but a lot of recriminations. We’ll get panned in the press but by doing that you’re taking away from the performance that Southend gave. I think we started a bit slack and they got some impetus from that. The goal they scored was incredible, it was fantastic. I don’t think the boy (Fredy Eastwood) will score another one like it in his lifetime. If you’re going to be beaten, it’s better to be beaten by something special. I think it was something special."

Cristiano Ronaldo - described by Sir Alex as "our one player who really did play well tonight" - made several attempts to score a special goal himself, only to be denied by the acrobatics of Southend shot-stopper Darryl Flahavan. "He’s had four or five fantastic strikes at goal and the goalkeeper’s been magnificent. I thought he was the star man, I must say," praised Sir Alex.
"The longer it went on, the more frustrated we became. But towards the last fifteen or twenty minutes, they were just parked at the edge of their box and we found that difficult.

"The result is another great reminder of what football is all about and how it can smack you in the face. There’ll be a few players who are a bit embarrassed and our supporters will be disappointed. But defeat doesn’t do anyone any harm, as long as they can improve from it and learn by it. We’ve had three defeats this season, all one-nils, so there’s not a lot wrong and we’ll be ready for Saturday."

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