“The referee apologised to Ferdinand for the offside goal” – Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson has stirred up a bit of controversy, by revealing that Phil Dowd apologised to Rio Ferdinand, for Theo Walcott’s goal which was allowed to stand.

The England forward opened scoring in the second minute of the game, in what appeared to be an offside position, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Ferguson said: “We got caught on the backfoot in the first 20 mins. The referee found it difficult to determine what was a good and bad tackle.

“Podolski [committed] two yellow-card tackles while we were booked for our first tackle. It was unusual for us to get so many bookings – we have a good disciplinary record.

“Walcott was apparently was offside for his goal. The referee apologised to (United centre-back) Rio Ferdinand saying he got it wrong. It wasn’t his fault – it was the linesman’s. It was an uphill fight for us after losing the first goal.”

Robin van Persie, who moved from Arsenal to United last summer, was brought down in the box by Bacary Sagna and tucked away the resulting penalty.

“He’s taken three so far. It takes bottle to take a penalty when the crowd are booing. We have a great spirit of applauding players when they come back to our club. I expected the booing to be honest with you,” the United manager said.

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