Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, rounded on his team and their supporters after the lacklustre 1-0 home victory over Birmingham City at Old Trafford.

“The crowd were dead,” Ferguson remarked, having seen United victorious courtesy of the one piece of exceptional play in the match, a passing move between Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo which ended with the former West Ham United striker scoring the decisive goal, “it was like a funeral out there.”

A far-from happy Ferguson, in remarks reminiscent of former captain Roy Keane's attack on the prawn sandwich brigade, or corporate hospitality fans at Old Trafford, added: “It was the quietest I have heard here for some time and the atmosphere today did not help us.

“There have been periods like that in the past. Some years ago, when we were dominant, the crowd came to be entertained.

“Sometimes we need them to get behind us. They can help produce the right performance but we did not get that today.”

Instead, the flat atmosphere only induced more sloppiness from United ranks, which would have proved costly if Mikael Forssell had found the target with two late chances.

“It only takes a second to score and we made it difficult for ourselves. it was a careless performance,” added the United manager. “Our finishing was shoddy and by being as careless as as we did, we could have been embarrassed.”

Ferguson admitted Tevez’s strike was the one bright spot on an otherwise disappointing day, although his team do remain two points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

“It was a marvellous goal and I think Carlos will go on to get 20 now,” said the Scot, who celebrated his 66th birthday yesterday.

Ferguson, though, confirmed that an injury would likely sideline Tevez from next weekend’s FA Cup third round tie with Aston Villa.

“It was a bad tackle and the longer the game went on, the worse the injury got,” said Ferguson. “In the end, we had to bring Carlos off. We will assess him tomorrow to see what the damage is but he is doubtful for Saturday now.”