United boss in confident move despite draw with Valencia
By Ben Bradley
Dec 8, 2010 9:43:00 AM
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes his squad can deal with "anything we get" after progressing to the Champions League knockout stages.
Tuesday night's draw with Valencia at Old Trafford rounded off proceedings as Ferguson's men reached the knockout stages for the 14th time in the last 15th seasons.
The draw saw United top their qualifying group to prevent meeting teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid in the next round but potential ties against reigning European champions Inter and Serie A league leaders AC Milan are still available.
"You have to take who you get," Sir Alex told the club's official website, when asked about potential draws.
"I think we’ve got the squad, we can cope with anything we get."
The Reds conceded their first goal of the Champions League against Valencia due to a mistake from Michael Carrick but Ferguson chose to concentrate on topping the group.
"Michael knows better," said Sir Alex.
"It’s just one of these unfortunate things. I thought he had a terrific game apart from that. But it’s always nice to get records.
"Until last week we went 29 games without losing, for instance, and eventually you’re going to lose.
"Tonight we were going for six clean sheets and we didn’t get it, but the important thing is winning the group is more important than a goal record.
"I think we should’ve won the game. We had a lot of chances. Berba could have scored another four or five tonight, but the goalkeeper made some great saves.
"The most important thing was coming first after a game which I thought was quite entertaining. It was a good quality match and I’m quite pleased."
Had United kept a clean sheet last night they would have been the first side in European history to make it through the group stages without conceding a goal.
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