Watch out, Rafa: He’s ‘disturbed’ says cock-a-hoop Man United boss Ferguson

Watch out, Rafa: He’s ‘disturbed’ says cock-a-hoop Man United boss Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson described title rival Rafael Benitez as 'disturbed' and 'ridiculous' after seeing his Manchester United team close the gap at the top of the Barclays Premier League with a 3-0 dismantling of Chelsea.

Goals from Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov gave United a deserved victory yesterday over a disjointed and dispirited Chelsea side.
If United beat Wigan at home on Wednesday and then win at Bolton on Saturday, they will leapfrog Liverpool and go top of the table for the first time this season.

Flying high: Jonny Evans (left) joins scorer Nemanja Vidic in celebration
Benitez's team play Merseyside rivals Everton a week tonight. Afterwards, Ferguson took the opportunity to respond to Friday's remarkable attack from Benitez, who had suggested that his rival considered himself above the law.

Ferguson said: 'I think you have to cut through the venom of what he said - and there was a lot of venom there - and hopefully he will reflect and understand that what he was saying was ridiculous.

'There was an angry man there. He is disturbed for some reason or another.' Benitez suggested on Friday that he was presenting 'facts' against Ferguson when he suggested that the United manager was allowed to get away with repeated verbal attacks on referees.

But Ferguson added: 'They are not facts. But I am not going into it. We should concentrate on chasing the leaders, who are Liverpool. We have games in hand and we must use them.'
With United now within a point of Chelsea and five behind Liverpool - with two games in hand on both - Ferguson said: 'We have some tough games coming up as Wigan are in great form and Bolton is always a tough place to go but I said January was going to be an important month and it is looking that way now.

'We have all the main teams to play at home now and we need to win those games. There are some hard games to come and it will be a big test for us.'
Referring to the victory over Chelsea, Ferguson went on: 'These games are normally so tight and it is usually hard to pick a winner. But the first goal made a difference and Chelsea had to chase it after that.
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Well done: Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson applauds his side's win
'Chelsea had a lot of good possession but they did not really get a clear chance. We defended the 18-yard line very well. We had some very good chances and Petr Cech made three very good saves.'

Chelsea were left to rue a game that slipped away from them once Vidic scored from a corner in added time at the end of the first half. United went on to dominate after the break as Chelsea failed to respond to the challenge.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was downbeat afterwards and warned his players that they must decide whether they want to mount a serious title challenge or accept failure.
Scolari said: 'This could do very big damage to us. We were thinking about winning this game. Now we need to think about the result and think about what has happened with some players.
'We need to change some things in the future. If we play like this three or four more times then, sure, we will not win it. But now, for me and the players, it's time to think about the future.
'We either lose everything or we are men and we improve. That's the only way. Maybe I am not the man for this and maybe the players are not the men for this.'

While Ferguson can claim to have pulled off a tactical coup by fielding Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher in the centre of midfield, Scolari was left asking himself why he chose Didier Drogba up front ahead of the Barclays Premier League's top scorer Nicolas Anelka.

The Chelsea coach also has to work out how to change a run of games that has seen his team take just one point from four matches against United, Arsenal and Liverpool this season.
One drawback for United was the late withdrawal of defender Rio Ferdinand, who trained all week but woke yesterday with a back spasm. Ferguson said: 'It's a big problem for us. This has been going on for a while now. We'll send him to a specialist for a scan.'