Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson blames Paul Scholes' 'red mist' for FA Cup semi sending off
Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Paul Scholes had another of his "red-mist moments" after the midfielder was sent off in Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final defeat against Manchester City.
Costly errors: Alex Ferguson bemoaned individual mistakes for Manchester United's FA Cup semi final defeat Photo: REUTERS
By Telegraph staff and agencies 11:48AM BST 17 Apr 2011
Scholes was dismissed for a thigh-high lunge on Pablo Zabaleta as United tried to fight their way back into Saturday's clash at Wembley. The red card proved costly, with City holding on to win 1-0 to end their arch-rivals' treble bid and reach their first cup final for 30 years.
United manager Ferguson insisted Scholes' sending off "didn't kill the game" because the 10 men piled on the pressure in the closing stages.
The Scot said: "We've seen over his career Paul has had unbelievable moments – he's one of the greatest players this club has ever had. But he has his red-mist moments – he caught the boy on the thigh."
Ferguson blamed the defeat on the slack defending which led to Yaya Toure's winner, as well as two misses from Dimitar Berbatov.
"The first 15 minutes after half-time cost us the game," Ferguson said. "Slack moments. Edwin (van der Sar) had a bad kick out and Michael Carrick couldn't hold it and it was a goal.
"From then on, they were defending apart from a couple of counter-attacks. It's disappointing as we should've been ahead in the first half as we were the better team.
"The chances that Dimitar missed – there was a great save by the goalkeeper but the second chance, from under the bar, if he'd have scored there, I had a feeling whoever scored first would win the match."
Ferguson challenged his players, who had won their previous seven matches, to bounce back in Tuesday night's Premier League game at Newcastle.
"It's a major game on Tuesday up at Newcastle," he told MUTV. "We're getting recovered to get ready for the game on Tuesday. It doesn't matter when you play, you know you've got to recover and get on a winning streak again."
United defender Nemanja Vidic echoed his manager's sentiments that all focus must now turn to Tuesday's league match.
The Serbia defender said: "We lost a moment's concentration and conceded a goal in the process. Then when you go down to 10 men it difficult to get many chances against City.
"In the first half we played some good football. We had two or three chances but didn't take them. Then in the second half when we lost a goal, it was difficult to take. Obviously when you are playing with 10 men you are chasing the game.
"We have to think about the next game against Newcastle especially after losing the semi-final to City. It will be a very important game for us.
"We still have many games to play. Obviously the next one is the most important one. We have to play the best we can and win that game."
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