• Ferguson: referee’s decision swung league Chelsea’s way
• Manager not planning major summer purchases

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, has said he believes the controversial award of a free-kick against his side in November’s Premier League match at Stamford Bridge ultimately cost United the title.

He has singled out a decision by Martin Atkinson, the referee, to give a free-kick to Chelsea for Darren Fletcher’s challenge on Ashley Cole, although television replays suggested the United midfielder won the ball cleanly, as pivotal to the destiny of the league championship. John Terry headed Chelsea’s winner from that free-kick.

Ferguson advanced his view in the latest edition of the club’s official magazine, Inside United, which is released tomorrow. “Perhaps crucially,” he said, “the decision down at Stamford Bridge was a bad one against us. That has maybe swung the whole title around, if you think about it.

“There are many things you could talk about. But you can’t agonise over these things. “I used to do it but … if you look at all these twists and turns, you can torture yourself. Sometimes you get the breaks, sometimes you don’t. It happens.”

The United manager also said that he had not given up hope of winning the title until half-time in his side’s final match of the season at home to Stoke.

“At half-time I accepted Chelsea were going to be champions,” he said. “We felt it would be difficult for Wigan to get something and when we heard they were down to 10 men, all our hopes evaporated.

“We applaud Chelsea. We know how hard it is to win the title – it’s the hardest league in the world and we’ve won it for the last three years. I congratulate Carlo Ancelotti on a wonderful achievement. He’s a good manager and a good guy.”

However, Ferguson regards being knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich at the quarter-final stage as the biggest disappointment of last season.

“I look at the European Cup as our biggest disappointment. We should have been in the final,” he said. “We were the better team and were fantastic here [at Old Trafford], we just didn’t have the luck on the night and that’s what can happen in football. You need a bit of luck.”

Those United fans wishing for an active summer in the transfer market will not take comfort from Ferguson’s remarks that he expects few changes to his playing staff as they seek to regain the title.

The United chairman, David Gill, has repeatedly indicated that the £80m fee from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid last July is still available fto spend on top players – despite the club’s financial situation. The club’s owners, the Glazer family, have said they are comfortable with United’s debt situation and have pointed out that their assets total £2bn.

However, on possible purchases, Ferguson said: “We’ll look at the structure of this club. It’s a good structure. I think we’ve worked hard over the years at bringing in young players and developing them very well. We’ll have to assess all that and maybe do one or two things.

“In the market today it’s very difficult and the structure of our squad is good in terms of ages, the balance, the numbers and there’s a lot of good young players.Sometimes you have to trust in all the development and I’m going to stick with that – or most of it.”

The Scot is confident United will regain the title in 2010-11, having missed out on four championships in succession last season. “Next season we’ll go again and bring back the title to the best place in the world,” he said. “We’ll come back next year, that’s exactly what Manchester United do.”

Sir Alex FergusonManchester UnitedChelseaPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk

Salomon Kalou was a key man for Chelsea but Carlo Ancelotti may look to Joe Cole to unlock Inter’s defence

Shape

Bereft of left-backs, Carlo Ancelotti decided Florent Malouda would be his best option in that position on two counts: he is left-footed and, given Internazionale’s wingless shape, he would not have to worry about a wide player dribbling towards him. Chelsea started with three front players, with any one of the trio needed to drift wide and close down the opposition full-backs when they looked to build attacks. Chelsea were relying on their wide midfielders, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack, to give them width or, more likely, hoped the full-backs Malouda and Branislav Ivanovic could get forward. With a second leg to come, however, Ancelotti would have planned to keep it tight and snatch an away goal.

Tactics and teamwork

After the shock of Diego Milito’s early goal, Chelsea were not disturbed. They protected Peter Cech well and developed a passing stride. Salomon Kalou, an important figure on the night, held the left side of Chelsea’s front line and, when possession was lost, helped cover Malouda and confront the Inter right-back Maicon. Mikel John Obi kept a close watch on Wesley Sneijder, who was the most forward and the most influential of the Inter midfield diamond. When Chelsea had the ball, Malouda joined the midfield build-up at every opportunity and the visitors’ front three contained José Mourinho’s back four well while also dictating possession. The majority of their shots, however, were coming from a comfortable range for Júlio César in the Inter goal to deal with. As the first half progressed, both Ivanovic and Malouda gained confidence going forward and Chelsea’s narrow midfield was stopping Inter gaining much possession. But they in turn were happy to keep their shape and never got caught out of position. The importance of closing Sneijder down quickly would have been emphasised by Ancelotti at half-time.

Did it succeed?

Overall, Chelsea must be happy with the result they achieved in a difficult theatre. Kalou’s goal was deserved after he had earlier been denied and at that stage Chelsea had created 12 goal attempts compared to Inter’s three. Ivanovic had continued his drives from full-back but Esteban Cambiasso’s goal proved a setback and was a wonderful example of a “knee over the ball” shot. This spurred the canny Mourinho into introducing Mario Balotelli for his ineffective midfielder Thiago Motta. Now Inter mirrored Chelsea’s system of three up front as Balotelli stood wide and attacked Malouda. With Sneijder deeper, however, this helped Chelsea’s midfield to push up the field a bit more. Looking ahead to the return match, Ancelotti may need some of Joe Cole’s trickery to unlock the powerful Inter defence where, last night, Lúcio and Javier Zanetti were superb.

Champions LeagueInternazionaleChelseaDavid Pleatguardian.co.uk