Sir Alex Ferguson blamed his own meddling as the reason Manchester United struggled to beat Southampton.
United boss holds hands up but happy with result
Sir Alex Ferguson blamed his own meddling as the reason Manchester United struggled to beat Southampton in the FA Cup fourth round.
United found it difficult to get going in the first half as Ferguson deviated from his usual formation to match his men up against the League One Saints.
It took second-half goals from Michael Owen and Javier Hernandez to complete a 2-1 comeback, removing the need for a troublesome replay for the Red Devils.
Ferguson has won the FA Cup on five occasions, yet was willing to admit his part in another stuttering but ultimately successful United performance.
"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. 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."
