Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has explained why he hooked Anderson at halftime of last night's dismal Rome defeat.

Ferguson added a second striker at half-time, with Carlos Tevez replacing the ineffective Anderson.

Reflecting on that decision, the Scot said: "I brought on Tevez simply because I took the gamble of playing two through (the middle).

"Ryan Giggs, in the first half, provided something and some parts of his game were good but what we needed was someone to be there all the time.

"But they defended quite well. We had plenty of time and we had some half-chances which we maybe should have done better with."