Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted his players' confidence has been dented after their slow start to the season.
"I think we lacked a bit of confidence in the early part of the match," he declared. "The players were anxious because the expectations are so high here. We have some new players - [Carlos] Tevez and Nani - and it's not easy for them to come to United and get into the pace of the game when teams are so revved up to play against us. It's going to take them time to settle in."
"We wanted much better opening results," he said. "United now have a mountain to climb right from the beginning. We don't expect to go through a season winning every game, but at the same time we don't want to play catch-up. A few years ago a slow opening would not have mattered so much but the competition is so intense now that a poor start is the last thing we want. We have certainly put ourselves under a lot of pressure and our rivals must be rubbing their hands."
