Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz has slammed the fans who booed manager Alex Ferguson off the pitch after their 2-1 defeat to Blackburn as stupid.
"People have been crying out for us to use a 4-4-2 formation and we played with that system for the first time and lost," he said.
"We played what the public wanted and lost. This is why in football stupidity and imagination have no limits," Queiroz said.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for once came to the rescue of his arch-rival.
"I found the booing appalling. You know I'm not Ferguson's best friend and, of course, like the players we are only as a good as our last game. But what this guy has done for the club, I find it horrendous and nearly unbelievable," Wenger said.
Ferguson has refused to comment on the booing and was backing United's supporters to create a good atmosphere against Benfica when they met in the Champions League yesterday.
"European nights have always been special at Old Trafford," Ferguson said.
"They have always had an extra edge and I am sure the supporters will be great. I don't want to talk about myself. The game is the most important thing and we are doing a good job getting the players back from Saturday's defeat," he said.
Ferguson bore the weight of anger on Saturday as growing criticism over his team's tactics and the surprising omission of Wayne Rooney in the starting line-up led to tempers in the stands boiling over.
The defeat to Rovers left United sixth in the Premiership table, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.
Darren Fletcher has pledged United will turn on the style against Benfica as they look to win over their disgruntled supporters.
"Our objective in every game is to play exciting, attacking football and score two or three goals," he said.
"Every week there is a real determination to show the real Manchester United -- to go forward and create chances and that is what we will be trying to do against Benfica," Fletcher said.
Two of United's three previous encounters with the Portuguese giants have gone down in the annals of club history.
While few expect a repeat of the 5-1 annihilation of the Lisbon side in 1966 which led to George Best being christened "El Beatle" or the extra-time triumph at Wembley two years later which saw United become the first English side to win Europe's most prestigious club competition, the Red Devils support will demand a performance equal to the one which saw their side beat Fenerbahce 6-2 at the same stage of last season's competition.
Wayne Rooney, who scored a hat-trick on his debut that night, is missing through suspension, although, in Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes, Ferguson believes he has two sharp-shooters who can be just as deadly.
Although Scholes has been particularly profligate as he searches for his first goal of a frustrating campaign.
"Paul is one of the best finishers in the game. He just needs a goal to get his season off, he just hasn't managed it yet," Ferguson said.
"Nobody in England is scoring that many goals at the moment, so if we are creating chances, at least we have taken one step forward. Hopefully we can create chances tonight and take a fair share of them. That would give us an outstanding chance of winning the match," he said.
Although Benfica top Group D thanks to their late winner against Lille a fortnight ago, Ronald Koeman's side are only halfway up the Portuguese league and anything other than a home win would only increase the Old Trafford crisis.
Ferguson will assess the fitness of John O'Shea before finalizing his line-up, with rookie full-back Phil Bardsley standing by to replace the Irishman, who limped out of the Blackburn defeat.
Park Ji-Sung is tipped to retain his place in Rooney's absence.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care