The boss of Manchester United Ferguson pleased by players' focus

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Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with the professional manner with which his side overcame Wigan, claiming it would have been easy to lose focus after Chelsea drew with Reading. The Blues passed up the chance to overtake United after twice squandering leads against the Royals, but the boss was happy to see his side concentrating only on their own performance. Sir Alex told MUTV: "There was a lot of elation when we heard the result from the Chelsea match but I don't think we're going to get carried away, certainly the players won't. "They didn't get carried away in their performance, they maintained their work ethic and kept the passing going. There was nobody trying to overdo it and there was no showboating and that's a good sign. "It could have been easy, with it being Christmas time and a record Old Trafford crowd, for some of them think it would be easy. But they earned the result today by working." Seeing Jose Mourinho's side drop two unexpected points, married to United's shock defeat at West Ham earlier this month, reinforced Sir Alex's belief that football still boasts a great unpredictability. "We didn't expect that (Chelsea's result) today but it is the nature of football," he admitted. "Nobody expected us to lose against West Ham, with the control of the game and the possession we had, but we did. "And it just tells you that football can knock you in the head and turn the tables on you all the time. What's going to win the league is a consistency, and if we can maintain the consistency we've shown over the first half of the season we'll have a marvellous chance." Sir Alex's desire to rotate his squad during the hectic festive schedule allowed Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs an extended Christmas holiday. Louis Saha was an unused substitute while Cristiano Ronaldo played just 45 minutes, and the Boss was happy for his squad's fringe players to shine through. "It's important for these players to feel part of things, and feel that they're making a contribution," he said. "Also, as I said before the Everton game when we made some changes, when we need these players on important occasions we need them to have some minutes on the clock. "We made a few changes, but that freshness helped us at some points in the match. I think we'll have one or two changes again."