WELL done to Fergie and the Manchester United PR machine - you got just what you wanted.

From the moment they flagged up Big Kev Davies in the press conference before the game, I knew he’d be a marked man, and that’s exactly how it panned out.

To see the lad being asked to explain himself outside the Old Links on the day he was raising £30,000 for local children via his charity was a joke. It was a tackle in a football match, and the last time I checked it was still a contact sport.

You don’t want to see anyone injured, and it’s a shame that Tom Cleverley will be missing for a few weeks, but Kevin went for the ball. Yes, it was a little bit late, but it’s nothing that doesn’t happen to him week in, week out.

We can all shout and moan about being over physical but he’s not going to change his style now, and nor should he. It’s still a man’s game, even though some times I wonder.

It isn’t as if he goes in thigh-high or tries to put people’s careers in jeopardy. These are honest challenges of a player trying to get his side in the game.

And United are rich complaining. They had Roy Keane and that lad was a completely different kind of animal.

Ferguson is a master at this kind of thing and as soon as he drew attention to it, you knew the referee was bound to ask.

Oddly enough, Kev’s tackle on Patrice Evra was worse and actually deserved a yellow. But no-one has mentioned that one.

He made an honest tackle, it unfortunately hurt the lad. He apologised. End of story. Grow up.

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SOMETIMES when you sign a striker, it’s about unleashing him at just the right time.

When Bruce Rioch brought me in from Millwall, he kept me on the bench for six weeks and had me frothing at the mouth to get on from the start. And that worked out quite well.

I get the feeling that Owen is doing something similar with David Ngog.

He scored two goals for the reserves in midweek, so he’s obviously getting his sharpness back, but I wonder whether the boss man will let him wait a little longer before putting him in there.

You certainly don’t pay £4million for someone and not play them, so I’d say it’s only a matter of time.

Who he would replace up front is the question. And while it would be a big story if that man is the captain, there will be bigger ones written this season and I don’t see it as a big deal.

It depends on how we want to play. With Ivan Klasnic and Kev up front, no disrespect, but teams can afford to defend further up the park because they know they are not going to get in behind.

Some teams just can’t cope with Kev but others are more well equipped, and so Ngog might be a better option with that extra bit of pace.

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I DON’T remember that much about the day United beat us 6-0 at Burnden Park, other than the fact I was on the bench.

I can’t recall whether I was injured or just dropped, but I did turn to Alan Stubbs and Mixu Paatelainen at one point and wonder why we were all sat there.

What I do know is that we all knew we’d have to face the fans over the course of the week.

These days, most of the lads go home after training and don’t really interact, but we knew we’d feel the full brunt of the supporters’ embarrassment.

That’s the main problem with a result like we saw on Saturday - those fans have got to go into work on Monday morning and get ribbed by the United fans. And that hurts.

The players have to get it out of their minds straight away. They can’t wait to get back out there. But for the Joe on the street, it takes a lot longer to get out of the system.

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HULL City, Blackpool, Burnley - they all came up to the Premier League playing nice football, but they all ended up getting relegated.

Now Norwich City have done the same, playing an attractive passing style under Paul Lambert, and you wonder whether they will suffer the same fate.

I understand we have only lost once at home to a promoted team in the decade we’ve been back in the Premier League, and that’s a statistic I hope will continue.

Owen won’t be taking Norwich lightly, I know that, but this is one I think we really have to win.

You look at Arsenal and Chelsea coming up and you know anything you get against them will be a bonus.

We’re a good side and there are people a lot worse off than us. No-one should be panicking at all.

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IF we are going to get a result against Norwich, our defending is going to have to improve 100 per cent.

We are shipping goals at the moment because we are not stopping the crosses coming in, and not tracking the runners properly when they do.

At this level you have to concentrate for 90 minutes, nothing less, and I think Owen might be looking at what changes he can make.

He has options - David Wheater, Gretar Steinsson or Dedryck Boyata could play at centre-half - and it wouldn’t surprise me if one or two things were changed at the Reebok on Saturday.