Fergie - We missed a chance

United boss looking for players to hit top form

Sir Alex Ferguson was disappointed Manchester United did not 'go for the jugular' in the 1-1 draw at Chelsea. United enjoyed a bright start at Stamford Bridge and took the lead on 18 minutes when Park Ji-sung tucked home the rebound after Petr Cech spilled Dimitar Berbatov's shot. Chelsea came back into the game and equalised 10 minutes from time through Salomon Kalou, but Ferguson felt United should have pressed home their early advantage.
"We started the game very, very well," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"I thought we dominated it and we should have been going for the jugular when it was 1-0.

Dropped off pace
"I think we started to drop off the pace a bit in terms of the speed we were playing at originally and that was a bit of a disappointment and allowed them to regroup at half-time.
"They bring on Drogba, who's a big physical force, of course, and they can knock long balls up to him and change the type of game it was.
"I think from our perspective, as far as we're concerned, we've still got players trying to reach that fitness level - Hargreaves, Ronaldo, Ji-sung Park and Gary Neville. It's not easy for them in the heat of the day.
"We started to give the ball away a bit in the second half and that allowed Chelsea to get more into the game.
"I feel that we've missed a good chance. I thought if we'd just had a bit more energy in terms of the players who'd not had enough football we'd have been okay.
" United had seven players booked in the match and Ferguson was reluctant to comment on the performance of referee Mike Riley.
He added: "The thing is that it's all well and good intelligent people saying what's gone on here, but it's difficult to say what you can say about the referee.
"I don't really want to get involved to be honest."

Tough start
Defeat would have left United nine points behind Chelsea, but Ferguson is confident his team will be approaching their best form within the next few weeks.
"That was the theme of the press over the weekend that Chelsea could go nine points clear of us, but we've got a game in hand which is going to be important," continued Ferguson.
"We've had a tough start. We've been away to Anfield, where we threw that game away last week in terms of the goals we lost.
"Portsmouth away, some of the top teams will find it difficult at Portsmouth as we've done over the years.
"It's difficult to say where it places us, I do know by October we'll be okay. Players will have minutes on the clock and the level of our game will go up."

//copy from sky.com