After Arsene Wenger's attack on the surface, which he branded "a disaster" following Arsenal's defeat to Chelsea, Ferguson weighed in with his own criticism yesterday.

The Manchester United manager has now denied changing his starting line-up for the eventual defeat by Everton as a direct result of concerns about the state of the ground.

However, he feels it will continue to be a worry for the Football Association, who must maximise revenue to pay off the £790million cost of the stadium, while also provide entertainment for those paying to watch its core events.

"There is nothing you can do about it," said Ferguson.

"It is the FA's baby and they have to deal with it themselves.

"I understand the cost of paying for it means the stadium has to be used for other things.

"But when you keep pulling the pitch up and and putting a new one down, it is difficult to bed in.

"Since the new stadium opened, there a very few games when there have been a lot of goals.

"From a spectator's point of view, when he is paying that amount of money, it is an issue."

In fact, 12 major club games - FA Cup finals and semi-finals, Carling Cup Finals, Community Shields and Championship play-off finals - have yielded just 14 goals.

The highest aggregate is three, both times involving Chelsea, with nine producing either one goal or none, as was the case again yesterday as Everton triumphed in a penalty shoot-out.

Cynics might suggest there would have been more chance of United scoring what would only have been their second goal in five matches at the new stadium if they had played a stronger side. Ferguson is unrepentant.

"I am absolutely convinced I picked the right team," he said.

"I have no regrets about it at all.

"I knew there would be some criticism because it did not work for us.

"But we are coming to that period now where it is game after game.

"There is enough freshness in the rest of the squad for Wednesday's game against Portsmouth now, which is how we planned it."

Rather than Ferguson's first FA Cup semi-final defeat as United manager, the day will eventually be recalled as the moment when a new Red Devils team began to emerge.

Four teenagers, including Federico Macheda and Fabio Da Silva who were making their first and second United starts respectively, gained invaluable experience, while Darron Gibson and Anderson are not much older.

Ben Foster may have a couple of England caps but he is still lacking in top-flight experience and even Carlos Tevez has only just celebrated his 25th birthday.

"We are very pleased with the young boys' contribution yesterday," said Ferguson.

"Obviously you want to win a semi-final but they all did well."

Ferguson's bold selection policy may have backfired because referee Mike Riley failed to spot Phil Jagielka's penalty box foul on Danny Welbeck.

However, the spin-off is United have half a dozen key men fresh after not even making the trip south, with Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra offering more experience after playing little or no part in the defeat.

In addition, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic combined to help keep another clean sheet, offering Ferguson further reason for optimism.

"The win at Sunderland a couple of weeks ago was a watershed because the defence was starting to look solid again," said Ferguson.

"That was important because now we are on the run in, we want to cement the foundation we have had for most of the season."

With seven games remaining, United are in the happy position of knowing they can afford to slip up once and not be caught, even though they are likely to have dropped back to second by the time Paul Hart's improving side arrive at Old Trafford.

"We have seven games left," said Ferguson.

"All we want to do now is whittle them down one by one. We can only do that by winning."