Out of this World! Fergie says United thrill the planet

GLOBAL GATHERING ... fans are flocking from around the world to see Man Utd

ALEX FERGUSON believes the world is tuning in to watch his Manchester United entertainers.

His team’s 20 league matches so far have produced 78 goals — almost four per game.

Their cup games have also been high scoring with eight ties yielding a further 27 goals.

That makes a grand total of 105 in the first part of the season.

While it might not always be good for a 71-year-old’s heart, Fergie thinks supporters around the globe are enjoying watching a series of high-scoring thrillers.

The veteran boss, who takes his team to Wigan today, said: “We’re getting goals, no doubt about that. The fans are enjoying it.

“I think in terms of a worldwide audience they will be turning their TVs on whether they’re in America, Australia, to see another 4-3.

“We’ve been forced to up the ante all the time because we’re losing goals.

“We’re stretching ourselves all the time. In fairness to the players, they want to win. The history of the club is like that.

“I don’t think it’s anything to do with last year in particular.

“Giving the goals away is forcing them to get their fingers out. In fairness, we’ve been brilliant at it. The attacking play the other night was fantastic. The chances we created were fantastic, involving seven or eight players all the time.”

While Ferguson has been tearing his hair out about the goals they are conceding, he has no plans to sacrifice their attacking flair to try to shut the back door.

The Scot added: “We’re a team that goes forward. We always go forward so there are holes left and we are getting punished for that more than ever.

“We’ve lost 28 goals already. There was one season when Peter Schmeichel was in goal we came to the last game of the season and we’d conceded a lot fewer than that “He lost a goal in the last game and he was going crazy. We’ve lost 28 now before we’ve even reached New Year.

“But if we stop giving goals away then we’ve got a great chance this season. We’ve got plenty of goals up front.”

Ferguson expects a quiet month on the transfer front having recently welcomed back skipper Nemanja Vidic and summer signing Shinji Kagawa from long-term injury.

He added: “If we get them all fit, you have to think we’ve got a good squad.

“The issue is we’ve had a few injuries but that’s why you need a big squad.

“The squad is probably around 26. To the 18 that played the other night you add Kagawa, Rooney, Welbeck, Young, Jones, Anderson, Nani, you’re starting to get beyond that 25.”

United round off their festive fixtures with the trip to Wigan, who beat Villa 3-0 at the weekend - hoping to maintain their seven-point lead.

Ferguson needs no reminding what happened at the DW Stadium in April as the wheels suddenly started to come off their title charge with a 1-0 defeat.

He said: “It will be a hard game on Tuesday. It’s difficult there and Wigan had a great result on Saturday. Hopefully we can freshen up again.

“Possibly Jones and Rafael will be ready. We also rested Javier Hernandez, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.”

Giggs warning

RYAN GIGGS admits Manchester United’s defeat at Wigan in April was a big factor in last season’s amazing title collapse.

And he warns the leaders they could come unstuck at the DW Stadium again if they turn in a similar performance.

United started the Wigan game eight points in front of Manchester City with only six games to play.

Giggs recalled: “Last season when we went there we didn’t play well. It was tough, especially when you consider our good record there and it undoubtedly contributed to us losing the title.

“Wigan are a tough team to play. They play with a different system from what we’re used to and they play it well.”