Rio Delighted With New Boys

Rio Ferdinand hailed United's summer signings after the 1-0 victory over Tottenham.

The big man produced a quite woeful performance but he was saved by Nani's super strike, slightly deflected on Tevez - so he has reasons to be grateful to the new guys.

He also admitted that it might have been better for our quartet of summer acqusitions to settle into a team that's firing at all cylinders but acknowledged their contribution.

'It is not easy for the new players to slot in, especially when we have so many injuries and the side is a bit fragmented,' said Ferdinand.

'It is better to come into a settled team, although they have still done very well.

'Carlos' movement, his know-how and his nous around the pitch has been very good, while Nani is a young player with huge potential who has now shown us a glimpse of something we hope to see a lot of in the future - goals.'

I will not quote his next comments - they are just too inevitable. He compared Nani to Cristiano Ronaldo. Then he dismissed Spurs' penalty appeal, as all the papers and sensible people did...

However, he did not speak at all about his own display which should be under severe scrutiny. After such a bad start for the team, our number one central defender just cannot be so unfocused, insufficiently determined. His lapses of concentration are alarming and should be ironed out by Fergie.

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