Sir Alex Ferguson was left shocked after Jermaine Beckford's first-half winner for Leeds sent Manchester United crashing out of the FA Cup at the third-round stage for the first time since 1984.
Sir Alex Ferguson was left shocked after Jermaine Beckford's first-half winner for Leeds sent Manchester United crashing out of the FA Cup at the third-round stage for the first time since 1984.
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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reacts during his team's 1-0 defeat in the FA Cupu00a0 pics/getty images |
Beckford raced onto the end of Jonathan Howson's long ball to nudge it past United keeper Tomasz Kuszczak, and Leeds held their lead well, with Beckford missing a golden chance to add to his tally late on.
Ferguson said: "I am shocked by the performance because our preparation for the game was very good. But we never got going. The quality of the passing and whole performance was bad."
Ferguson excused only substitute Antonio Valencia from criticism and he did reserve praise for the visitors, who battled from the first whistle to claim their first win at Old Trafford since Brian Flynn's goal clinched victory in 1981.
Ferguson could offer up no excuse, or explanation, for his side's defeat.
However, having declared he would rely on many of the younger players involved for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Manchester City on Wednesday, the Scot has had an immediate change of heart.
"We have a semi-final on Wednesday night and a lot of these players won't be playing," said Ferguson.
"You have to view that performance in its right light," he added.
"Leeds had far bigger appetite than us. Human beings can always surprise you but we didn't expect that today. We spoke about Beckford's pace up front and we were caught napping," Ferguson said.
