Really bad, i think the guy from the guardian is saying what im trying to say:
Though Ferguson may not have been expecting defeat he surely knows by now that United have no automatic right to success, especially with a team of reserves. When his best team went a goal down to Benfica within three minutes in the recent Champions League game, Ferguson said he was not expecting that either. It was an own goal, you see, and the manager's argument was that you just don't expect that sort of bad luck to befall you so early in an important game.
In the circumstances United did well to recover and take the lead. Fair enough, though they only managed to hold that lead for a couple more minutes. And while Phil Jones may have been unfortunate to put through his own goal there was nothing unlucky or freakish about the way Benfica sliced through United with their first attack of the game, advancing directly through midfield and finding a way straight into the penalty area despite the presence of both Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick as a supposed defensive shield in front of the back four. Ferguson did not say whether he was surprised by that. Not many regular spectators seemed to be. "What do you expect?" was a common reaction in discussions afterwards.
While it is refreshing to hear Ferguson hold his hands up and admit he got it wrong, there are several points arising from that apology that should not be overlooked in the general reaction of surprise. Firstly, what counts as a real Manchester United performance these days? Ferguson's team went into the Carling Cup quarter-final on the back of two other games at Old Trafford, both of which ended in disappointing draws after the home side had taken the lead. United's record in the last half-dozen home games, in fact, consists of just one league win, by a single goal against Sunderland, and a Champions League victory against the Group C whipping boys Otelul Galati. Those other four results in full? United 1 City 6, United 2 Benfica 2, United 1 Newcastle 1, and United 1 Crystal Palace 2 (aet).
You will note that some of those underwhelming scorelines were achieved by United's first-choice team, the one that features Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Javier Hernández and others, so what did Ferguson really expect when he sent out Federico Macheda, Darron Gibson, Mame Biram Diouf et al against a pumped-up outfit looking for a giantkilling result? He evidently did not expect such a flat, lifeless performance, yet looking at the rows of empty seats in the Old Trafford stands on Wednesday night, it was clear that considerable numbers of supporters had read the script in advance. There are all sorts of financial complications to United's unloved and iniquitous ticketing arrangements for cup matches, so it cannot be automatically assumed that fans have started to vote with their feet, they are far more likely to have voted with their pockets instead. Nevertheless, it no longer seems to be true that Carling Cup games are occasions for the priced-out, disenfranchised United supporter to get a look in.
The present United are not so scintillating that fans will fork out over the odds instead of watching them on the telly. Kenny Dalglish warned Liverpool supporters to think carefully before committing themselves to the expense of a trip to Chelsea to watch a weakened team, a strategy that may have lulled the London side into a false sense of security because Liverpool ended up winning. Ferguson used to be the master of that sort of reverse psychology, but it is doubtful whether he has the strength in reserve at the moment to pull it off. Liverpool did not play like a weakened team at Chelsea, partly because in the end Dalglish only made four changes and partly because Craig Bellamy is exactly the sort of player you would choose to come into such a situation. Who was Ferguson hoping would bring all his experience to bear to help the kids out against Palace? Jonny Evans? Dimitar Berbatov? On current form even United's strongest side would struggle against opponents as hard-working and enthusiastic as Palace, so when Ferguson makes wholesale changes people know not to anticipate fireworks.
A lack of fireworks indeed.
And heres one for Tom84 or anyone else, this policy of playing reserve players in the Carling cup, it definitely hasnt work in terms of winning cups. The otherside of the argument is that its a great opportunity to bed in the reserves and give them some big game time. However, i was wracking my brains earlier. Can anyone point out a player who has come through our youth/reserves played in the carling cup and now is a first team regular? Outside of the irregular Cleverly and Wellbeck - who actually got more experience being out on loan, i cant think of many/ANY players who came through in the last 5-8 years? and are still first teamers. We basically just bought new first team players after another. So how well does this youth policy actually work out?
Cough Vidic should have been sent off :cough) 
How bad were we?