Rio defends Ferguson's decision to ring changes

The result was made even worse by a serious injury to winger Antonio Valencia.

The 25-year-old was due to have an operation on a suspected fractured and dislocated ankle today and is expected to be out for the rest of the season.

Even so, much of the focus after the match was on Ferguson's controversial selection policy after he fielded almost an entirely different team to the one that conceded two late goals at Everton to draw 3-3 last weekend.

Only Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher survived from the XI that started at Goodison Park, with big names such as Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes, Nani and Nemanja Vidic not even in the squad. And although Ferguson opted to play beleaguered star Wayne Rooney, the striker produced a subdued performance in a match of few chances at Old Trafford.

But Ferdinand, who played his first game since recovering from a knee injury that saw him sent home early from the World Cup, refused to blame his manager.

"It's a squad game and the manager wants to give players minutes on the pitch," he said. "A lot of players haven't played many games this season, myself included.

"The manager changes his team most weeks - maybe not as many as 10 but he does make a lot of changes. It was never a problem then, so you wouldn't say it would be a problem now.

"We didn't play the way we wanted but we didn't concede and we didn't lose the game so hopefully we can still qualify."

Ferdinand declared himself fit to face Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday and winger Ryan Giggs believes the defender's return has come at the perfect time.

"Rio has been out for a long time, it was great for him to get the minutes. He didn't have a lot to do but what he did, he made look easy," said the Welshman.

"Even though we are only three or four games in to the season, it's a big game now for us on Sunday."