{"id":21709,"date":"2011-12-26T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-26T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/sir-alex-ferguson-hails-manchester-united-squad-for-overcoming-injury-crisis-to-hammer-wigan\/"},"modified":"2011-12-26T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-26T18:18:00","slug":"sir-alex-ferguson-hails-manchester-united-squad-for-overcoming-injury-crisis-to-hammer-wigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/26\/sir-alex-ferguson-hails-manchester-united-squad-for-overcoming-injury-crisis-to-hammer-wigan\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Alex Ferguson hails Manchester United squad for overcoming injury crisis to hammer Wigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United<\/a> manager Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a> has praised his side for overcoming an injury crisis to beat Wigan<\/a> 5-0 in their Premier League<\/a> Boxing Day encounter.<\/p>\n

A hat-trick for Dimitar Berbatov and goals from Park Ji-Sung and Antonio Valencia sealed the victory for the Red Devils, who fielded a makeshift back four, including the Ecuadorian, Michael Carrick and, later, young substitute Zeki Fryers.<\/p>\n

“The result pleases me considering the fact that we had 10 players missing today,” a delighted Ferguson told Sky Sports News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“We certainly had to [show strength in depth] today. We had to stand up and be counted because it\u2019s built up over these past few days.<\/p>\n

“Chris Smalling and Phil Jones went down with illness and then Rio [Ferdinand] felt his back in training yesterday. I thought he [Ferdinand] may have been able to play \u2013 he wanted to play \u2013 but those three were missing within a matter of hours, so that was a bad blow.<\/p>\n

“We had to start thinking about the best way to formulate a back four. I was tempted to play Rafael da Silva at right-back, but bearing in mind height was a factor as well as experience, so we stood by Antonio Valencia as our man.”<\/p>\n

Centre-back Jonny Evans was withdrawn at the break by Ferguson, requiring Patrice Evra to fill in alongside Carrick in the middle, a move which the Scot admitted had concerned him.<\/p>\n

“Evans was taken off at half-time which, if we hadn\u2019t closed the game, I would have worried about, having to play a back four that\u2019s never in its life played together, so I\u2019m very pleased that we got a result like that,” he added.<\/p>\n

One of the match’s major talking points was the first-half sending-off of Wigan forward Conor Sammon when the score was only 1-0, with referee Phil Dowd having judged that the striker had elbowed Carrick when jostling to win the ball.<\/p>\n

Ferguson offered some sympathy to the Latics man and conceded that the dismissal may have been harsh on the Irish striker.<\/p>\n

“Well, he\u2019s a big, aggressive lad and he threw a hand. I don\u2019t think it was intentional \u2013 I think he\u2019s caught him with a hand in the face rather than an elbow,” said the veteran manager.<\/p>\n

“I think that with challenges like that, you\u2019re taking a little bit of a risk, but it was a bit harsh \u2013 I have to say it was a bit harsh.<\/p>\n

“Fortunately, Michael Carrick didn\u2019t make a meal of it, which is good.”<\/p>\n

The win, coupled with Manchester City’s 0-0 draw with West Brom, saw United catch up to their local rivals’ points tally at the top of the league.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has praised his side for overcoming an injury crisis to beat Wigan 5-0 in their Premier League Boxing Day encounter. 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