Liverpool 1 Man Utd 2: We were poor, admits Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted Manchester United were far from their best after the Red Devils edged to victory over 10-man Liverpool at Anfield.

The home side made a bright start to the match, but United were handed the initiative when Jonjo Shelvey was issued with a red card in the 39th minute for a tackle on Jonny Evans.

Steven Gerrard put Liverpool ahead despite the numerical disadvantage, but Rafael’s superb strike and a late Robin van Persie penalty wrapped up three points for the visitors.

“I thought we were poor, to be honest with you,” he said. “I think the last four years we’ve allowed the crowd to get to us a little bit – they give fantastic support to their team and they really dominated the first half.

“Second half they got a great start. With ten men I thought that was a great boost to them because it was something to hold on to, but credit to the players in that respect; the second half we played much, much better, but we were against ten men.

“I think Scholes, Carrick and Giggs’ experience got us through.”

Ferguson was pleased to see United secure their first win at Anfield since 2007, and the Red Devils manager is now hoping his side can taste success on Merseyside on a more frequent basis.

“In the last four years here we haven’t played well,” Ferguson said.

“Today at least we’ve got a result. Hopefully that’s a turning point for us because if you look back over the years we always did really well here.

“I think it was about five, six, seven years in a row we did exceptionally well, but it goes in cycles anyway.

“Before we had that run they had a period in the late ’80s of getting results against us, so it’s maybe our turn to start.”

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