Manchester United were stung by a mosquito at Old Trafford last night as Sir Alex Ferguson, not for the first time in this competition, appeared to bite off more than he could chew. The United manager has claimed that his youngsters are as good as Arsène Wenger’s at Arsenal, but the comparisons seemed far-fetched as a confident Coventry City brushed them aside with a victory that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.

It is the second successive season in which United have bowed out of the Carling Cup at the hands of a Coca-Cola Championship side, but while this defeat may not have been as humbling as the one suffered against Southend United, when Ferguson fielded a much stronger team, it was, nevertheless, a reminder that many of the youngsters the manager rates so highly are still extremely raw.

A youthful Arsenal side dispensed of a strong Newcastle United team on Tuesday evening, and on such evidence, it is hard to dispute that Wenger continues to set the benchmark when it comes to fostering the stars of tomorrow.

A goal in either half from the outstanding Michael Mifsud, the Malta striker aptly nicknamed “The Mosquito”, proved a complete pest and secured Coventry a place in the fourth round.

United have a huge following in Malta, but there were doubtless some split loyalties on the island last night. Mifsud is as popular in his homeland as David Beckham, but after this performance, Coventry supporters will hold him equally close to their hearts and they chanted his name long into the cold night air.

Without Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo to call from the bench — a decision Ferguson will no doubt rue — United simply had no riposte to Coventry’s industry and invention.

An “exceptionally gifted group of young men who are in critical need of a higher grade of football” was how Sir Alex Ferguson had described his supposed starlets in the programme. Nobody would argue with the second half of that statement, but the first seemed highly contentious.

Even allowing for the fact that Ferguson made 11 changes to the team that defeated Chelsea 2-0 at Old Trafford, United resembled a bunch of strangers. A lack of cohesion may have been understandable, but Ferguson will have been dismayed by his team’s inability to retain possession and do the basics right, a prerequisite for anyone wishing to succeed at Old Trafford.

If the likes of Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson, who were making their debuts, could blame nerves, Anderson, Nani and John O’Shea had no such excuse. Nani resorted to shooting from distance while Anderson barely looked like a £20,000 player, let alone one United paid FC Porto a projected £20.4 million in the summer.

Take nothing away from Coventry, though, whose passing was as crisp as their tackles were crunchy. Dowie’s side may have come into this game on the back of a 4-1 thumping by Ipswich Town, but the manner in which they counter-attacked was reminiscent of the best United teams and in the 27th and70th minutes they did so to devastating effect.

Leon Best played in Michael Doyle, who crossed for Mifsud to slide in and score his first at the far post. The former Kaiserslautern forward should have had a second well before he finally claimed it when he sent a deft back-heel bouncing against a post, but he more than made amends when turning Gerard Piqué, exchanging a fortuitous pass with Jay Tabb and lashing the ball into the top corner.

The goal came less than 60 seconds after the otherwise anonymous Dong Fangzhou had a header terrifically saved by Andy Marshall, but Mifsud would have made it a hat-trick in the 82nd minute had he kept his composure when Tomasz Kuszczak spilled Stephen Hughes’s free kick. For United, the kids, it seems, are not all right.

Manchester United (4-4-2): T Kuszczak – P Bardsley (sub: W Brown, 46min), G Piqué, J Evans (sub: M Carrick, 56), D Simpson – L Martin (sub: F Campbell, 46), J O’Shea, Anderson, Nani – Dong Fangzhou, C Eagles. Substitutes not used: T Heaton, A Eckersley. Booked: Piqué.

Coventry City (4-1-2-3): A Marshall – I Osbourne, E Ward, B Turner, G Borrowdale – S Hughes – J Tabb, M Doyle – R Simpson, L Best (sub: D Adebola, 90), M Mifsud. Substitutes not used: D Konstantopoulos, A de Zeeuw, D McNamee, K Thornton.

Referee: M Halsey.

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football