Ferguson defends de Gea error

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said new goalkeeper David de Gea ‘should have done better’ in their win over West Brom on Sunday.

The 20-year-old let a straightforward Shane Long shot squirm under his body on his league debut at the Hawthorns and, after conceding twice to Manchester City in last week’s Community Shield, Ferguson believes his number one still has a long way to go.

“David should have done better. I think he’s lost a bit of concentration there, but welcome to English football because he took a battering in the second half,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.

“He should have been protected more by the referee – he wasn’t – and on this occasion he has to withstand it. It’s a good experience for him.”

“My recollection of goalkeepers coming from Europe is there’s a learning process, it’s a different game.”

“Peter Schmeichel was the same when he came (from Denmark), Wimbledon in his first away game on a Wednesday night and they gave him a torrid time.”

“But Peter came on to become the greatest goalkeeper of all time possibly. The boy is 20 years of age, you suspect a learning process to be in operation at the moment and he’ll see it through.”

When asked how he will help de Gea get over his errors, Ferguson responded: “(I’ll) just pat him on the head.”

United took the lead through Wayne Rooney before Long’s equaliser, but won it late on through a Steven Reid own goal.

It was an Ashley Young run down the left which resulted in the Reid own goal, and Ferguson was full of praise for his 18-million-pound summer signing from Aston Villa.

“Yes, he’s got good composure on the ball, not just crossing but his interplay with the rest of the players,” Ferguson added.

“He made a goal for Wayne (Rooney) from a good pass and he was a threat all the time.”

“He had a few crosses blocked, but when he decided to go the opposite way and go towards the by-line he was an instant threat.”

“The first 25 minutes I thought we were superb, moving the ball was great, the interplay, the speed of play was great.”

“Then for some reason we started to slow the build-up to a level where we lost the momentum, then we lost a goal.”

Ferguson reserved special praise for goalscorer Rooney, who notched his first goal of the season.

“He’s looking great, he was fantastic today, he was all over the place,” he said.

West Brom manager Hodgson was disappointed that his team did not share the points against the Premier League champions after coming back from a goal behind.

“It’s hard for me to swallow my disappointment and frustration after seeing a very good 1-1 turn into a 1-2,” Hodgson said.

“They (United) started like a house on fire with three or four corners and the ball whizzing into our box but we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, got ourselves back into the game and the second half performance was good.”

“Before the (second United) goal, we were looking quite good value. Had the game finished 1-1, I don’t think we would have had to make any apologies.”

“If we could dismiss that first 15-minute period, after that it was a pretty even game. I can be quite happy that we have done well against the champions of England and, in many peoples’ eyes, the future champions of England.”