Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has taken a swipe at Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers over his treatment of Andy Carroll. Ferguson suggests ­inexperience ­compounded ­Liverpool's plight when Brendan Rodgers allowed Carroll to leave before signing a replacement.

"They were after Clint ­Dempsey, that didn't work out, and they had done the deal for ­Carroll," Fergie said. "Maybe it was ­something they did not expect.

"With the ­manager being young, maybe he expected the deal to go through and then it was not there and he had lost a player, too."