Premier League: Ferguson praises United’s spirit

Manager pleased despite draw at Stoke City in Premiership.

STOKE: Sir Alex Ferguson believes his Manchester United team “played like champions” despite seeing their perfect start to the new Premier League campaign end in a 1-1 draw at Stoke City.

Peter Crouch equalised for the home side, his first goal since joining Stoke, cancelling out a first-half goal from Nani as the defending champions dropped points for the first time this season.

However, United still moved to the top of the table and earned praise from Ferguson.

“We had good chances to win the match,” said Ferguson. “There were two parts to it, they keep you under pressure and we dealt with it well.

“It was a good goal from Nani. I was pleased with the performance of the lads. They played like real champions in every sense and battled hard.”

Ferguson lost Wayne Rooney to a hamstring injury and then saw defender Jonny Evans injured in the pre-game warm-up before forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez was lost to injury less than 10 minutes into the game.

“It’s not easy with the changes,” added Ferguson. “With Chicharito you get penetration and speed and that was a loss.”

Ferguson was less gracious about Crouch, however, and claimed that the 6ft 7in forward is a persistent fouler.

“Crouch fouls all the time, he gets huffy but he jumps on top of defenders,” said Ferguson. “He has been doing that for years and referees know that.”

Crouch paid tribute to the attitude displayed by his new club and was understandably happy to have opened his account.

“It’s always nice to get your first goal for a new club and against United it’s really pleasing,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th,  2011.