'United players should be angry with themselves' - Alex Ferguson

Alex Ferguson said his Manchester United players should be angry with themselves after they were thrashed 4-1 at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Gaizka Mendieta's early goal was just the start of an inspired performance from the Spaniard as he orchestrated United's worst defeat since they lost by a similar score at Manchester City last March.

"It was a shocking performance starting from the second-minute goal - a shot from 25 yards," Ferguson told Sky TV. "That shouldn't happen in a game of football at our level. It was a bad start and we never really recovered."

England defender Rio Ferdinand had another poor game, outwitted by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for Middlesbrough's second goal and beaten to the byline by Yakubu who crossed for Mendieta to drive in their fourth in the second half.

But there were few United players whose performances will have pleased their manager.

"The players should be angry with themselves and disappointed about their performance because it's important that we have players who play with passion and pride," Ferguson said.

"When you get results like that you expect them to be disappointed and say to themselves, 'that's not acceptable'.

"It was a bad performance and it was compounded by the fact that we lost with terrible goals."

Steve McClaren, once Ferguson's assistant at United, was delighted to have so thoroughly outdone his former boss.

"I just told the players to enjoy it because results like this don't come along that often," he said.

"They deserved it, the players were fantastic and played wonderfully.

"We had to impose our system on theirs and I think we did that in the first 20 minutes today."

United return to Champions League action against Lille this week and Ferguson said he hoped he could pick his side up for that match.

"When you lose a game it's always important to get the players motivated for the next match," he said.

"The beauty of football is that we get the next match... Wednesday.

"We've got a really important game in France. That result can only encourage our opponents so we have to do something about it."

United are sixth in the Premier League table 13 points behind champions Chelsea, who they host at Old Trafford next weekend - a match Ferguson said his team must win.

"Against M'boro was a must-win game and next Sunday is no different," he said. "A lot of people want us to stop Chelsea, but we won't on last Saturday's form.

"Chelsea's form is outstanding and the rest of us are just hoping they slip up."