Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he almost lost their FA Cup tie to Southampton for the club. Ferguson conceded he got his tactics all wrong after the 2-1 win.
His introduction of Nani and Ryan Giggs 13 minutes into the second half gave United the impetus and width that had been severely lacking.
First Michael Owen levelled with his first goal since September, before Javier Hernandez ghosted in to wrap up the tie with a quarter of an hour remaining.
While the history books will show a United victory, Ferguson admits his decisions left the side on the back foot from the offset.
"Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves but, in fairness, I maybe meddled with the system somewhat this afternoon," he told MUTV.
"We tried a diamond in the middle of the pitch and, of course, Manchester United are used to playing with width all the time and I think that was a problem for us.
"It wasn't working at all," he added.
"We had some possession of the ball but we never really threatened. We had two or three shots from the edge of the box.
"It was a nothing first half, really, and the goal, if anything, made us play.
"(Southampton) scoring the goal right on half-time motivated us a bit to do better."