Manchester United!!! The Dream Team

Ronaldo vs Portsmouth


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Sir Alex Ferguson admits Cristiano Ronaldo fell for Portsmouth's intimidation tactics at Fratton Park after seeing the winger dismissed late on in United's 1-1 draw, but says the Portuguese international has only himself to blame.

Ronaldo was sent off by referee Steve Bennett five minutes from time after a scuffle in the area. Bennett wasted no time in showing Ronaldo a straight red much to Sir Alex's annoyance.

"I've looked at the replay a few times now and there's nothing conclusive - you can't really see anything," he told MUTV. "I believe he was provoked and he fell for it. Steve Bennett sent him off at City [in January 2006] and he will have loved the opportunity to send him off again.

"Cristiano was simply responsible for falling into a trap of intimidation. He was surprised about the decision but really he's only himself to blame. It left us with ten men and now we're going to miss him for three games. It's a big blow."

The United boss urged the 22-year-old winger to have a wider awareness of the approach Portsmouth had taken towards him all evening.

"You get provoked and you have got to have the calmness to just remind yourself you're a better player than these players and that is why they are doing it," he said. "He has fallen into the trap and paid the penalty for it.

"[If you react] you have no recourse. For instance, Paul Scholes last season against Liverpool raised his hands, he didn't touch the player, but he was given three matches for that."

Goals:

Scholes Goal

Benjani Goal

Extras:

Cr7 Redcard

Fergie Post-Match Interview

Alex Ferguson and Nemanja Vidic expect a tough ride at Fratton Park tonight as Manchester United look to register the first three points of the season against Portsmouth.

After a disappointing display against Reading on Sunday, Manchester United must now prove that they are to be taken seriously in their title defence with a convincing performance against Pompey tonight.

The south coast side are notoriously difficult to break down and are a difficult prospect at home. After misfiring against The Royals at the weekend, defender Vidic believes that they must put that game behind them and focus on beating Portsmouth.


"We have dropped two points already and we are disappointed with that," said the Serbia international.


"But we cannot afford to think about it too much. It is a long season, so all we can do is assess where we made the mistakes and try to improve.


"Portsmouth are always a difficult team to play against anyway, so we cannot afford to go into the match still thinking about what happened against Reading."


Vidic's manager, Alex Ferguson is in complete agreement and thinks that Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has strengthened his squad further in the summer, meaning that Pompey will be even more difficult to beat.


"Fratton Park is not an easy place to go to," Ferguson said.


"It means Portsmouth have a big advantage overall in terms of their likely home record.


"Harry has made a few interesting additions too, especially David Nugent, John Utaka and Sulley Muntari, who we have watched quite a bit, and I would expect improvement from them this season."

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United have confirmed that Wayne Rooney will be sidelined for two months after suffering a hairline fracture of his left foot against Reading.

The 21-year-old Reds striker was forced off at half-time after clashing with Michael Duberry shortly before the break whilst stretching to reach Michael Carrick's cross.

The forward was sent for a scan after the match which confirmed the fracture, and an early-season blow for the Reds.

At a press conference to unveil Anderson and the player likely to step in for Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed the hammer blow which will see United lose Rooney until October, but alluded to a slight possibility that Rooney could return sooner than expected.

However, metatarsal injuries, as Wayne is well aware, make it difficult to predict specific comeback dates.

"We're putting it down to two months," confirmed the manager. "But you never know with these kind of fractures, hopefully it will be sooner, but that's the timescale we're putting on it at the moment.

" He should be back in training by that time but I can't put an exact date on when he will be back playing. It is a bad blow, not just for us, but obviously for England as well."

The boss also confirmed that he will not dip into the transfer market to find extra cover, having already added Carlos Tevez to his striking ranks last week.

"That should be it," he added. "We've got a good squad and we have alternatives to compensate for Wayne's loss."