Fergie Flabbergasted at Performance

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he was shocked by the manner his team were dumped out of the Carling Cup by Coventry City last night.

"I was absolutely flabbergasted by that performance," said Ferguson.

"I did not expect that at all. I am not interested in giving reasons or mitigating circumstances. It was just a very bad performance."

After spending the last 18 months hailing his emerging talent, Ferguson could scarcely understand what went so badly wrong.

Aside from Nani and Anderson, both of whom were major disappointments, Chris Eagles was also poor, as was Dong Fangzhou, who came closest to scoring for the hosts with a header Coventry keeper Andy Marshall pushed wide just before Mifsud fired home his second.

"We have trumpeted these young lads a lot, so what has happened was a big shock for us all," admitted Ferguson.

"You want to give these boys a chance and we have not had the opportunity to do that.

"The number of Coventry fans who came made it a real cup-tie atmosphere and maybe that was an issue for some of our players because in the first half, we were second to every ball."