Rio's respect for new signings

Rio Ferdinand is full of admiration for United's new signings after their less than ideal introduction to life at Old Trafford.

The Reds defender says injuries and suspensions to established players have not provided the best platform for Nani and Carlos Tevez, when they would have preferred to slide into a more settled side.

"It isn’t easy for the new signings to slot in, especially when there are a lot of injuries and the side’s a bit fragmented," said Ferdinand.

"It’s been a difficult period for them, but they’ve done well. Carlos’ movement, his know-how and his nous around the pitch have been very, very good.

"Nani’s the young player with huge potential. It’s fantastic for Nani, having come to a big club like United, to hit the target like that.

"In that respect he’s similar to Ronaldo, he can hit the ball so hard that as long as he hits the target he’s got a chance of scoring like he did today.

"Hopefully we're going to see a lot more goals like that in the future."