Ferguson Makes Case for the Defence to Take Attention From Rooney

Sir Alex Ferguson is notoriously sensitive to anyone questioning his players but, equally, the Manchester United manager has never appreciated too much praise being heaped on one individual. Ferguson has become increasingly irritated over the last few weeks by the amount of attention Wayne Rooney has received and made it clear, at his weekly press conference yesterday, that there were to be no questions about the Premier League's in-form player.

"You've spoken a lot about Wayne recently and I'm not talking about him any more," Ferguson told reporters. "It's his birthday today - happy birthday, Wayne, good luck. He's playing fantastic. I'm seeing great performances and goal-scoring. And that's it, right? I'm here to discuss Manchester United, not one player. You want a headline, I want a team performance."

Rooney, who was 23 yesterday, is in the most prolific form of his life, scoring nine goals in his last seven games to reach 99 career goals, with the opportunity to make it 100 against his old club, Everton, today. Ferguson, however, was unimpressed when it was put to him that people wanted to read a good-news story. "Well let them get the Beano or the Dandy, or some Agatha Christie novels. There's plenty of reading material out there, Jesus Christ!"

Immovable as always, Ferguson preferred to talk about the resurgence in form that has seen United win their last six games and not concede a league goal since the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on September 21. In that period, United have risen to fifth, six points behind Chelsea but with a game in hand, and Ferguson said he was "delighted" the damage was not worse given their early-season problems with form and injuries as well as an anomaly he has spotted in the fixture list. "We've got the top eight teams from last season away from home in the first half of the campaign. And they say the league isn't handicapped?"

Chelsea's impressive form has established them as the bookmakers' favorites to win the title, but Ferguson believes there is another reason. "I think it's because we've got the World Championship in Japan, when we're away for 10 days [in December]," he said. "Coming back from that is going to be a test for us. That's where the title will be decided for us - how we handle that."

United are preparing to send Owen Hargreaves back to a specialist for an update on his knee injury. The 27-year-old England midfielder has been restricted to three first-team appearances this season and Ferguson expects to send him back to his specialist in Leicester for a further examination. "There is no doubt he is having some pain," said the manager. "The specialist is happy with it and Owen is young enough to recover. It is frustrating, though. It is such a tender bit at the front of the knee but I think he will be OK."

The Everton manager, David Moyes, meanwhile, showed that there was no hangover from the highly-publicized libel battle he fought with Rooney last year over comments the striker made about his management, preferring to focus on the player's recent form. "I think everyone knows how good Wayne is and his best years are still to come," he said.

Despite his team's poor start this season, Moyes feels they have "nothing to lose" today. "I think there will be more pressure on them to win," he said.