Fergie - We just have to win

Sir Alex Ferguson knows Manchester United can afford no mistakes in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League tie against Marseille.

The two sides played out a turgid goalless draw in the first stage of the last-16 clash at Stade Velodrome on Wednesday night, meaning nothing other than a win is guaranteed to take United into the quarter-finals when they meet their French opponents at Old Trafford.

A similar position did not prove a problem for Ferguson's men back in 2008, when they reached the Champions League final on the back of an equally tight first-leg in their semi-final against Barcelona.

They have, however, lost from such positions, although Ferguson feels the 1998 quarter-final loss to Monaco is too far back to carry any significance.

"That was 13 years ago," retorted the United boss.

"At this stage of the competition, away goals count. And you always worry. At this stage of the season, you are not playing any bad teams.

"But you would have to say, Manchester Unitedat home, we have a good chance.

"All we have to do is win the game. I don't care if it is 10-9."

Ferguson admitted Wednesday night's draw was lacklustre, but was buoyed by Wayne Rooney's display after the forward produced an industrious shift on the left wing.

"He did what we wanted him to do," said Ferguson.

"The way we normally set up, with Nani or Ryan Giggs on the left, gives us more natural width.

"But Wayne worked hard, as he always does. He has great spirit but he was better when we played him through the middle in a 4-4-2 at the end."

Ferguson was also pleased with the manner with which Patrice Evra handled a tricky return to his homeland.

As a former Monaco player, Evra was always likely to be targeted by the Marseille fans.

However, his involvement in the World Cup strike wrangle made him public enemy number one.

"I expected it - and so did Patrice," said Ferguson.

"But he wasn't affected by it and he put in a strong performance. I had no worries about that."

Source: Sky Sports
Date Published: 24 February 2011

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Have your say on Fergie - We just have to win in the United Online forum

The most boring (and hence memorable) game I ever saw was Arsenal away in 1981. Nil nil and I'm not even sure there was a shot on goal, let alone on target. This game was close.

- Raj

Quite pleased with the result. Marseille didnt look up to much and we should beat them fairly convincingly at home. Bit disapointed with the attacking side of our game, but i suppose we had limited options with Giggs, Valencia, Park and Anderson all out. Nothing against Berbatov, but i think we're best away from home with Rooney as the lone front man and two proper wingers supporting him. Smalling by far the biggest positive of the night. I'm sure he'll go through a bad patch and drop a few clangers but in the long term he looks a great prospect and the natural replacement for Rio.

- twoc2002

Credit to Marseille who set up to keep us quiet and did exactly that. The midfield were ineffective because they were being pressed well and because the passing options were closed off by their defence. This is the thing I hate about the away goals rule, it's supposed to discourage negative tactics, but it actually rewards the team that plays at home first if they draw 0-0. Now all they have to do is nick a goal in the away leg (and I wouldn't put it past them) and we need 2. That said I still think we'll get the goals we need to go through, and if we can't beat them then we don't deserve to progress.

- fenwar

That was an awful game. The midfield were poor Michael Carrick offers nothing anymore and Nani was very frustrating tonight. Scholes should have started. Thought we missed Rafael attacking down the right as well. The one big positive was another great performance from Chris Smalling. It's not the best scoreline in the world but it's better then a defeat. We should turn them over in Old Trafford.

- Munsterman

Yawn... less said about that game the better.

- Bragg

Indeed the team does pick itself. Anderson out for 2 months is a massive blow if true. Re. Attacking options from the bench: Hernandez is as they come thankfully; his pre-World Cup signing is proving to be such a good piece of business. Josh King has been nothing short of superb since he came back from his loan spell at Preston but don't think the boss has any plans to play him. So perhaps Obertan will be more at home vs French opposition? Interesting that he did all of the press stuff with Sir Alex today.

- Bragg

I think the team kind of picks itself at the minute so I'd have to go along with exactly the same line-up as that. The worrying thing is that the only attacking option we've really got from the bench is Hernandez (assuming you exclude Obertan, Bebe and Gibson at the moment although all could be useful later in the game to come on against tired legs).

- Dave

This could be a tricky game, not least with several players - Giggs, Park, Valencia, Anderson, Ferdinand, Evans, Owen - all absent. Given the lack of width, I can't see any better options than using Rooney coming in from the left. Squad from: Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Vidic, O'Shea, Brown, Rafael, Fábio, Evra, Smalling, Scholes, Gibson, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Bébé, Obertan, Tunnicliffe, Rooney, Berbatov, Hernández, King. Assuming Rafael is over his concussion (which didn't seem to be the case on Saturday) I'd go with something like: Van Der Sar; Rafael, Vidic, Smalling, Evra; Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick; Nani, Berbatov, Rooney.

- Neil