Goal.com

12-Mar-2013 3:20:00 PM

The 34-year-old defender assures fans that the defeat to Real Madrid and draw against Chelsea will not be the start of a "wobble" for the club and they will react strongly

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand insists that the club will return stronger than ever after a disappointing week of results.

The Red Devils were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid on March 5 before letting a two-goal lead slip against Chelsea on Sunday to force a FA Cup quarter-final replay but the experienced centre-back assures fans that the team will not falter, with the Premier League leaders still holding a 12-point advantage at the top of the table.

"This is not the beginning of a wobble," Ferdinand vowed to reporters. "We can't allow the last week to hang over us and that won't happen. We will go into training this week and start working towards the weekend. Cup competitions are totally different from the league. We know where we are at and what we have to do.

"During a season in England, you know you are going to come under pressure at certain times. It is a hard gruelling season. We have to be able to deal with that. We have the squad to do it. I am sure the manager will shake things up in the next game and make sure we are fresh and ready to go and win the game."

Ferdinand felt the team reacted well to the defeat to los Blancos with their first-half performance against the Blues - scoring twice in the opening 11 minutes - however conceded that fatigue and a loss of concentration played a major part in them eventually drawing the game.

"I feel the way we started shows the character we have in this squad. We put the Real Madrid game to bed," the defender added.

"It was a tough pill to swallow the other night. We dusted ourselves down and in the first-half showed that we have moved on from it mentally. We played some fantastic stuff but also we were a little careless at times and we will have to learn from that.

"Maybe in the second we tired a little bit and along with a bit careless at times we put ourselves under more pressure but we wouldn't use the Madrid game as an excuse at all.

"We should have had that game out of the way in the first half. We should have been three or four up, then the game would have been dead and buried and we wouldn't be here talking about David de Gea making a great save at the end."