Fergie Praises Reading Approach

Sir Alex Ferguson believes the players' decision-making in front of goal let them down.

I have a sense that it was a hugely important win at Reading - with the most difficult part of the season still ahead us, dropping points here could have been fatal. Fortunately, it did not happen but for United's profligacy, we could have had an easier afternoon.

"By the end we were quite happy to get through it," manutd.com quotes Sir Alex Ferguson.

"Considering the number of opportunities we had, maybe our decision-making in the final third of the field wasn`t at its best. We kept making chances, but you do start to worry when the game goes on and you haven`t scored.

"You worry whether you`re going to get the goal, and it took a lovely flick from Wayne to get us in front. Credit to Reading they kept going at us. They really do make you work."

"It was a really open match. It really needed an early goal, which could have led to a lot of goals in that game. We got the goal at the right time and managed to hold on to get through.

"I wasn`t sure how Reading were going to approach it. When I saw their line-up I knew they were going gung-ho. The opportunities they had, they had a go for it.

"Kitson gave us a lot of problems, but in the main it was down to our own attacking play, which wasn`t at its best today. With a bit more care in the last third we would maybe have scored more."

Well, I quite agree it was end-to-end stuff in the first half but with little quality and few chances. The second half, however, was a completely different story: Reading were working hard, they did not give in but United were well on top for the entire 45 minutes.

Would love to hear of the gaffer's plans regarding the Spurs game - I would certainly give a rest to Ronaldo and Tevez, starting them only on the bench. We'll see.