Goals from Robin van Persie and youngster Tom Cleverley gave the hosts a half-time lead and Wayne Rooney added a third before the hour, only for United old boy Fraizer Campbell to pull one back late on for the Black Cats.
“Some of the play was terrific and I don’t know whether we relaxed at 3-0 or whether Sunderland got a grip of the game, but in the last 20 minutes, Sunderland played very well and they could have scored two or three goals,” said Ferguson. “But up to then, some of our play was fantastic and we should have scored a lot of goals. It was possibly some of the best we’ve seen this season. Some of it was very good.”
Ferguson was also boosted by the return of captain Nemanja Vidic, who has missed the last three months with a knee injury.
“He’s a warrior, he’s the captain. He’ll always battle for you, he sticks his head on that ball in the penalty box, and that’s what he’s great at. It will help us in the next few games.”
Rodgers slams Liverpool’s sloppy defending
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers slammed his sloppy defenders after the Reds’ revival ended with a surprise 3-1 defeat against struggling Aston Villa at Anfield.
“We are very disappointed and to be honest I didn’t see that coming as our momentum and confidence coming into the game was probably as high as it’s been,” said Rodgers.
“We were a bit careless. We conceded some poor goals. We weren’t quite at it with our intensity and pressure in the game and they were a threat on the counter-attack and got the goals.
“I thought we were flat. Once that happens, combined with sloppy play and giving the ball away in poor areas, we contrived to concede bad goals.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2012.
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