Manchester United defends Alex Ferguson's absence
Manchester United has attacked critics who slammed Alex Ferguson for opting to skip the club’s third-round Carling Cup clash with Scunthorpe United on Wednesday.
The 68-year-old missed only his third game since he took over as boss of the Red Devils 24 years ago, in order to travel to Spain and run the rule over next week’s UEFA Champions League opponents Valencia, who drew 1-1 with Atletico Madrid in La Liga on
the same night.
Assistant manager Mike Phelan, who took charge of the team for their 5-2 victory, told reporters on Thursday that United views the competition as an important one, despite the assertions of several pundits.
He said that, “We put a big value on the Carling Cup. We've never set out to demean the competition. We're holders of the Carling Cup — we've (won it) two years in a row and you can see from the players' attitude that we want to keep hold of it."
'Important to prepare for Valencia'
Phelan added that it was important to properly evaluate Valencia after United failed to beat Scottish Premier League champions, Rangers, in their opening group stage game.
He said that, "It's important we prepare properly for the Valencia game and look at them. The manager chose to go and watch the Valencia game. We need to go there knowing what we're up against. He's the manager and he had to make a decision."
United had to come back from a goal down to beat Football League Championship side Scunthorpe. Michael Owen, who scored two, Darren Gibson, defender Chris Smalling and winger Park Ji-Sung were the difference-makers in a team that was much changed from the
one which beat Liverpool 3-2 on the weekend.
Phelan said that, “Overall it's a great scoreline from our point of view because it was a new team out there put together in a couple of days, and Scunthorpe should take a lot of pride and credit from the game.”
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