Brown warns United's youngsters

Wes Brown fired a warning to Manchester United's latest crop of youngsters yesterday, claiming they may have blown their big chance of impressing Sir Alex Ferguson.

The United manager traditionally uses the Carling Cup as a vehicle for ushering up-and-coming prospects into first-team action and seeing whether they have a temperament to match their potential.

But Brown fears the likes of Kieran Richardson, David Jones, Kieran Lee and Ryan Shawcross may have let a golden opportunity slip by after an unconvincing extra-time win at Crewe and embarrassing defeat at Southend.

England defender Brown captained a United line-up numbering Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gabriel Heinze among 10 full internationals and was as dismayed as anyone at their inability to score against the Championship's bottom side.

He was just as concerned, though, about the possible ramifications for the younger element after Ferguson described United's 2-1 win at Crewe as "a kick up the backside" and despaired at their failure to respond at Roots Hall.

"The Carling Cup was an opportunity for the younger lads to carry on in the team and get more games," said Brown, after United's most humiliating defeat since York left Old Trafford with a 3-0 win 11 years ago.

"But they can only look back on it now, because we have been knocked out.

"We are gutted about that. You can't go away to any team expecting that you will win, no matter what division they are in, and you can't deny that Southend deserved it.

"It's not that we underestimated them, but even when we put the pressure on them in the closing stages, we couldn't break through. We just have to pick ourselves up now and make sure that we are ready for the next game.

"We have always done that as a team, and that's how we have to approach it."

Mikael Silvestre echoed Brown's belief that complacency was not an issue and revealed United's sense of shock at relinquishing their hold on the Carling Cup to a stunning first-haf free-kick from the prolific Freddy Eastwood.

"Getting knocked out was an enormous blow, because nobody was thinking of anything else but winning," he said. "It was an incredible game and a night to forget.

"We didn't undervalue the tournament, and the evidence lies in how the team performed, just as how we would in any Premier League game.

"We failed, even though we were superior to Southend in all aspects. We were all very angry in the dressing room, but the coach tried to lift our spirits because the good thing was how we played.

"This year, we wanted to win as many titles as possible, but we have to accept now that one has already escaped us."