Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has branded Stoke City the "Jolly Green Giants"!

United face a towering Stoke side at Old Trafford today.

And United boss Fergie said: "We have got the Jolly Green Giants coming to play against us. You can get yourself in a tangle about it."

But Ferguson has told his players not to be threatened and that if they stick to their game plan they can cut Stoke down to size.

He said: "You can't make it a terror for yourself. Hopefully we can play our game.

"They are difficult to play with their long throw-ins.

"You know they are going to get a set-piece, you know they are going to get a long throw-in into the box, we know they are going to get long balls up to Peter Crouch, so our preparation is simple - we know what they are going to do.

"Sometimes you play teams and you don't know what they are going to do.

"But with Stoke we know exactly what they are going to do.

"So we will play our game and hopefully it works."