Ferguson stunned by Coventry defeat

Manager Alex Ferguson was left "shocked and flabbergasted" by his Manchester United side who lost 2-0 to Coventry City in the League Cup on Wednesday.

The Scot fielded a young team against the Championship side at Old Trafford, giving eight players their first start of the season. But the youngsters never played well against Iain Dowie's men who won with two goals from Maltese striker Michael Mifsud after 27 and 70 minutes in front of a stunned 74,000 crowd.

"You take it on the chin," Ferguson told Manchester United's in-house TV channel MUTV. "That was an absolutely flabbergasting performance, I didn't expect that. I'm not interested in giving reasons, it was just a bad performance.

"We have shown great hope in the young players. It's a big shock to us all."

The Scot made 11 changes to the side that had the better of Chelsea at the weekend, with the likes of Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson handed their senior debuts.

Despite the defeat, Ferguson said he did not regret giving so many youngsters a chance. "You have got to do that," he said. "It wasn't a surprise to look at the team tonight and see that we had made changes. These players have to have games. But this was a shock for us tonight."

Coventry manager Dowie was delighted, however, as his side ended a run of three matches without a win.

"They deserve an enormous amount of credit and all the plaudits for the result," he told the club's website (www.ccfc.premiumtv.co.uk).

"Our display was full of heart and desire, but we didn't come to shut up shop - we passed well, created chances and put pressure on United," he added.

"They may have made changes but in Anderson, Nani, Michael Carrick, John O'Shea, Wes Brown and the rest they had tremendous players who cause you 100 problems in 100 different ways."

Dowie urged his side to take their performance into tomorrow's league tie against Charlton.

"I knew I would get a response after Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Ipswich, and the team deserve to be applauded. Now we want to take this into the league, starting with Saturday's tie against Charlton, because that's what our bread and butter is."