Nigel Clough hailed Manchester United as an unstoppable force last night after they demolished his Derby side to remain on course for an unprecedented haul of five trophies.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s (above) team were in ruthless mood, swatting aside their Championship opponents to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they will face a trip to Fulham or Swansea.
And Clough said United – who are in the hunt for the Premier League, Champions League, Carling Cup and FA Cup to add to their FIFA Club World Cup triumph – have what it takes to make a clean sweep. "If anyone can, United can," said Clough.
"They could have played Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool today and put four goals past them. They were that good.
"We’ve now played them three times this season and that’s the best they’ve been against us. They’ve got so many good players to choose from and you simply can’t plan to play against them."
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First-half goals from Nani and Darron Gibson, and two after the break from Cristiano Ronaldo and Danny Welbeck gave United a comfortable winning margin over Derby, who scored through defender Miles Addison.
United boss Fergie claimed his reshuffled personnel had shown the formidable strength in depth of the squad at his disposal. "We’ve been saying for some weeks now how important our squad is at this stage of the season," he said. "Particularly with all the injuries we’ve had.
"Our squad has been getting us through games and it proved itself again today. I made some changes with Wednesday’s league game against Fulham in mind and I was delighted with the way we played.
"You always want a home tie in the FA Cup, but we haven’t managed that. I watched Swansea play on Saturday and I thought they did really well against Fulham. I don’t think that tie is finished.
"We’re one step away from a semi-final place, so that’s a big incentive for all of our players. Darron Gibson did really well for us. He’s played his way into the Carling Cup Final team with that performance. He’s played in every round, so he deserves it."
United were denied a second goal through a bizarre delayed offside decision. Ronaldo put the ball into the net but was ruled offside after the ref’s assistant changed his mind.
"The linesman created his own confusion because he took so long, until after the goal had been scored, to say it was offside," said Ferguson.
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