The Battle Of Goodison Park

Sir Alex Ferguson admits United did not play well and that they had to fight very hard for the win at Goodison Park.

Nemanja Vidic's 83rd minute header got the points for the Red Devils but Everton put up a real fight, despite rarely troubling Edwin van der Sar.

'It was a great result,' Sir Alex told MUTV. 'A lot of teams will drop points here. It was a real battle. It looked to me like it was going to be a draw, but then we got a lifeline with Nemanja's goal.

'It wasn't a great performance, but it was a good, decent performance. The whole team worked very hard, and it's maybe difficult sometimes coming back off the international break.

'We all know that we've not got our strongest side out, but in that situation you all get together. It was a good strong team effort today, and we defended right.

'They had a chance at 1-0 when Edwin's made a terrific save, and Rio Ferdinand's made a fantastic block from the follow-up. That's determined defending, and that's the kind of defending you need to win the title.

'If we can do that, and once we've got all our top players back and got the consistency of our performance, we'll be alright.'

Of course, Wiley's performance did not go unnoticed, particularly after he booked Scholes for... well, for no reason whatsoever (throwing the ball away... ridiculous really). He, unlike me, thinks the foul on Ronaldo was outside the box but I can be convinced by video evidence.

'When Scholesy got his booking, he didn't handle the ball. The referee's view is blocked, he's heard the crowd and given a yellow card, which is ridiculous,' said Fergie.

'Carlos has seen the video and said Ronaldo was definitely tripped, but it was outside the box. To get a yellow card if you've been fouled is ridiculous. And of course you can't rescind a yellow card, only a red card, that's the unfortunate thing.

'The referee's really just satisfied the crowd. He thought it was going to be a penalty kick, and that's why he's booked him. It gets him out of jail, and it was a terrible decision.'

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