SOCCER/ ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: ALEX FERGUSON challenged his Manchester United players to "kick on" after a 3-1 defeat of Arsenal yesterday that was comprehensive enough for Arsene Wenger to be unusually critical of his "naive" team.

An angry Wenger, famous for defending his players, accused them of committing “massive individual errors” on a day when Ferguson once again eulogised Wayne Rooney’s contribution.

Rooney was among United’s scorers, with Nani and Park Ji-sung, as the England international registered his 22nd goal of the season. Ferguson described his performance as “unbelievable” and said Arsenal “just could not handle him”.

Wenger accused his players of contributing heavily to their downfall and said it “was more than just Rooney” who had troubled them.

“It’s difficult to accept but easy to explain: we were poor defensively and offensively, cohesion-wise, and delivered an off-the-mark performance completely,” he said.

“That’s why we were well beaten. We gave them too much room and were naive. It’s a massive blow and a massive disappointment. We were never close in our marking, and you do not win big games like that.”

The victory was reminiscent of United’s 3-1 win here in the Champions League semi-final last April, and Ferguson felt it was the best his side had played this season.

“It was a great performance by us,” the United manager said. “I’m really pleased with that. At this time of the year we really need to kick on and I think Wednesday’s result (beating Manchester City in the English League Cup semi-final) really galvanised us. You saw today the players were really ready for the game. They were sharp and good with their passing, and you could see we created a lot of chances.”

Wenger was particularly dismayed that United’s second and third goals stemmed from Arsenal corners, but Ferguson said it had been a deliberate strategy.

“Counter-attacking has always been part of our game, particularly away from home, and we capitalised on those opportunities,” he said. “Arsenal play a lot of good football and get to the edge of your box regularly, but if you can win the ball there and counter-attack quickly you’ll have chances against them.”

Before the match United chief executive David Gill had emphasised Rooney would not be sold despite the club’s financial problems.

“I know that he’s happy,” Ferguson said. “We’ve always known that and you couldn’t meet a better lad. He’s a really down-to-earth boy. He won’t change and it’s refreshing in this day and age when you see the amount of celebrity-type footballers who earn a lot of money. A lot of people do change with success. But I’m pleased to say he hasn’t changed.

“I think he was the key point for us because they just couldn’t handle him. Everything was played towards him, behind him or in front of him, he was on it all the time.”

Gill had confirmed United would offer the striker a new, long-term contract in the summer and, having scored his 100th Premier League goal, Rooney repeated that he did not want to leave the club anyway.

“It’s a great feeling to play in the Premier League and score 100 goals and I’m extremely proud of that,” he said. Hopefully there’s many more to come, but I’m really pleased at the minute. It’s our best performance of the season – we let Arsenal have a bit of possession and then we counter-attacked when we had the chance and we were deadly.”

Ferguson also held up Nani for special acclaim, describing his performance as the best of his two-and-a-half years at the club.

“The boy has come back. He had an injury but has come back freshened up. His last three games have been first class and today was his best.”

The defeat leaves Arsenal five points behind Chelsea at the top of the league, and Wenger said his team needed “something special now to stay in the race”.

But Ferguson believes they cannot be discounted.

“The run-in is always a difficult period. We’ve handled it over the years and I trust my players to handle it again. We need Chelsea to drop points, obviously, and they’ll be saying the same about ourselves.

“Arsenal are not out of it, though. I hope Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge next Sunday and batter them. Batter them! I hope they can get some of these points off them that we hope Chelsea drop.”

Guardian Service