As the full ramifications of Roy Carroll's calamitous mistake became apparent, and the coach carrying Milan's victorious players inched away from Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson could be located in one of the stadium's corridors wearing an expression that screamed: "Leave well alone."

He was leaning against a wall, hands in pockets, and empurpled with a rage that had long-time observers thinking back to those days at Aberdeen when it was claimed he sometimes threatened to take a baseball bat to his players.

Back then he was known to his players as "Furious" and even if he has mellowed over the decades, there are still moments when his temper could set off a car alarm.

Here was one of those occasions when there was no disguising the depth of his fury - first and foremost with his players, second with the journalists and finally, not that he would ever admit it, perhaps even with himself.

Had Ferguson not established himself in such a position of strength at Old Trafford he might even have found himself being interrogated about how he could allow England's biggest club to be in a position where their choice of goalkeeper is no longer determined by standards of excellence but by who makes the least high-profile mistakes.

Perhaps the most grating aspect of Carroll's failures in Wednesday's 1-0 defeat, the part that really made Ferguson squirm, was that anyone who has followed the goalkeeper's career will know that he, like Tim Howard before him, has punctuated otherwise reliable displays with dangerous lapses.

Nobody expected Carroll to fumble Clarence Seedorf's shot into Hernan Crespo's path but, then again, nobody was totally surprised either.

The issue here is why Ferguson had not recruited a more capable shot-stopper, either last summer or in January.

The consensus at Old Trafford is that Carroll should regard as a bonus every appearance between now and the end of the season when, despite the financial restraints imposed since Wayne Rooney's arrival for an initial £10 million, rising to £27 million, Ferguson will have no alternative but to trawl the globe for yet another goalkeeper. Carroll, if he has any sense, will swiftly accept the offer of a new contract rather than playing hardball in the hope of convincing that he is worth more.

Of more pressing concern to Ferguson will be whether United's famed powers of recovery can be mustered for the return leg, but one of his favourite sayings - "We always do it the hard way" - is beginning to sound a little hollow.

Granted, Ferguson can cite the 3-2 victory at Juventus in 1999, but there is a conspicuous measure of straw-clutching in his reminiscences. A manager in distress can usually be relied upon to hark back to happier days and float the idea that they can be recreated. A more considered eye would gauge that United's performance in Turin was, by his own judgment, the finest of Ferguson's 18-year reign and that it is unrealistic to expect them to touch such exhilarating heights again.

One certainty is that Ferguson will expect his most penetrative players, notably Ryan Giggs, not to be so subdued, and he will also be able to count on a fully-fit Ruud van Nistelrooy, who will start tomorrow's Premiership game with Portsmouth.

Yet Milan were so ruthlessly efficient, so accomplished in defence and so measured in attack that there is nothing to suggest the rossoneri will succumb to anything bar the possible exception of complacency.

Unfortunately for United, Carlo Ancelotti's team are blessed with men of courage such as Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Cafu and Seedorf, who hardly come across as complacent types.

"We remember what Manchester did to win at Juventus," Seedorf volunteered.

"That showed what they are capable of. So, although we have got a good result, this is not over yet. This result will make United even more determined when they come to the San Siro but we will have even more energy when we play at home."