Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he held lengthy talks with Carlos Tevez after choosing to leave him out of last night's 1-0 victory over Sunderland.

Tevez might have expected to start having scored four against Blackburn on Wednesday.

"I had a long chat with Carlos," said the United chief.

"If the performance had not been as good against Manchester City last week he would have played. But I couldn't get him on quickly enough in the second-half.

"He brought energy to the front part of the pitch. It was a really good half hour."