Grand Slam misery will make United stronger: Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson insists his decision to field a depleted side in the weekend FA Cup semi-final defeat to Everton will benefit Manchester United’s long-term future.

Ferguson, who said his side will be back to full strength for this week’s Premier League clash with Portsmouth, revealed he took the decision to make more changes than planned when he saw the impact of the Wembley pitch on the Arsenal and Chelsea players in the previous day’s tie.

In all the manager made eight changes from the starting line-up that beat FC Porto four days previously and fielded a side packed with youngsters and fringe players.

But he is adamant he will have all his big names back against Portsmouth on Wednesday including ankle injury victim Wayne Rooney.

He claimed his side’s performance in the 0-0 draw that was eventually decided on penalties gave hope for the future, and is certain the end of United’s quintuple ambitions will not affect their bid to lift the Premier League and the Champions League.

“We had a team picked after Wednesday’s game, but when I saw the pitch yesterday I didn’t want to go into extra-time with our strongest squad,” said the manager.

“We had to take the bold decision of going with the younger ones with energy, confidence and a good temperament.

“This club is built on giving younger players opportunities, they got that today and didn’t disappoint. I’m delighted for them, and the only disappointment is they were in a losing team.

“I’m satisfied with their performance. Everton didn’t make one chance in the game. I couldn’t see Everton scoring, put it that way.

“It’s disappointing when you lose an FA Cup semi-final as we haven’t lost one in my time. But we have to pick them up as we’ve got an important game Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday.

“The good thing is I’ve got no doubt in my mind that the young players can play during the run-in in any game. Marcheda and Danny Wellbeck were outstanding for me.”

Ferguson denied a clean sweep of honours was ever realistically on.

“It was impossible thinking we could do that,” he added.

“In the last few weeks we’ve had a lot of injuries to defenders and I’ve been patching players up. If all our players had been fit you never know, but realistically it’s very difficult.”

While Ferguson was left to contemplate United’s first FA Cup semi-final defeat since 1970, Everton manager David Moyes revelled in the success of guiding the club to a first final since 1995.

Moyes’s side will now face Chelsea in the final and the manager believes this current cup run can provide a springboard for the club’s development after steady progress in recent years.

“For everyone at Everton it’s fantastic and the effort the players put in was tremendous,” Moyes said.

“We’re working towards success at Everton and if we keep doing what we’re doing we won’t be too far away.

“There’s been adversity at Everton. We weren’t fortunate enough to be able to rest our best players. We put out what we had. The players have shown spirit and character in adversity

“This was preparation today for the final. We’ve looked around and prepared ourselves.”

And Moyes added: “We’ve had three top sixes in four years and hopefully there’ll be another one which will guarantee us a place in Europe again.

“It’s the best day of my career so far. It’s the biggest game I’ve been involved in and in the end the team got through and did their job.”