Manchester United manager,Sir ALEX Ferguson believes his side were lucky to come away with all three points at Anfield following their 2-1 win over Liverpool.

“I thought we were poor. Over the last four years we have allowed the (Anfield) crowd to get at us a little bit,” he added.

“They gave fantastic support to their team and they dominated.

“We played better in the second half but it was against 10 men and Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs’ experience got us through.

“No doubts about the penalty though, it was reckless.

“We haven’t played well here for the past four years and we can do better but at least we got a result. It is a turning point for us.”

Veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs also felt United were far from their best.

‘Over the last three or four years we’ve come here and played a lot better and not got anything - that’s how it goes sometimes,’ Giggs told Sky Sports 1.

‘It’s always tough against a team like Liverpool who keep the ball well.

‘Even if they go down to 10 men they don’t change, they keep the ball, and that’s always tough.’

Giggs admitted, however, that it was his side’s equaliser rather than Shelvey’s dismissal that finally injected some belief into the United players.

‘The crowd got up and we didn’t play well, we didn’t keep the ball well enough, so it was great to see Rafa’s goal go in - that probably lifted us,’ he said.