United's manager was particularly aggrieved at the failure to award his team a penalty.

"The stand-side linesman [Beck] didn't give us a thing all day," Ferguson said. "For me it was a poor performance by him. Why he never saw the penalty kick from Wayne Rooney and some other decisions … We remember him well from his time at the Chelsea game when Drogba was three yards offside and he gave onside.

"He had a shocking game. I'm disappointed in his performance, I really am. He had a bad game and we never got anything on that side of the pitch."