AN IRATE ALEX Ferguson labelled Sunday his “worst ever day” in football after seeing his team beaten 6-1 at Old Trafford by neighbours Manchester City.
The champions went behind to a Mario Balotelli goal and lost the services of Jonny Evans to a red card before conceding five more goals in the second half.
“It was our worst ever day,” Ferguson told Sky Sports afterwards. “It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1. That’s challenge for me too.”
Pointing to Evans’ dismissal as a key turning point, he continued: “The sending off was a killer for us.
“We kept attacking when we went 4-1 down and we should have just said: ‘We’ve had our day.’
“I thought with the experience we had with Rio Ferdinand and Patrick Evra we would have realised that. But we just kept attacking. We were so open. Sometimes there has to be common sense about it.”
Ferguson’s counterpart, Roberto Mancini, had some praise for United in defeat, insisting that they cannot to be dismissed at this early stage of the campaign.
“This is important for our confidence but we should appreciate the mentality United have,” the Italian said. “United are too strong for this (to affect them). They know, like me, there are only three points and this is only one game.”
Asked about Balotelli’s day’s work – he scored two goals but was also booked for displaying a t-shirt that read ‘Why always me?’ after netting the first, Mancini added: “If we want to talk about Mario as a football player, I’d put him in the first five players in the world.
“The problem is his age. He is young and he can make mistakes. He’s crazy. But I love him because he’s a good guy.
“I don’t know what happened with the fireworks. The good thing is he was not hurt. But all I know is that he is sleeping at a hotel now.”