The Red Devils chief has been accused of demeaning the competition by fielding a team packed with youngsters at Wembley, with four teenagers in the side that lost a penalty shoot-out to Everton.

Coming between an exhausting Champions League triumph over FC Porto and Wednesday's key Premier League duel with Portsmouth, Ferguson felt he had little choice other than to rest a number of key men, including Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

With others such as Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville not playing any part despite travelling to London, it is perhaps little surprise Ferguson lost his proud 100% FA Cup semi-final record.

Yet the Scot is adamant he made the right decision.

"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.

"What I did was make sure our supporters were going to see a representation, not just of the future, but a squad that is strong enough to be able to cope.

"That is the issue. We have a strong enough squad to do these things. That is credit to the way we have planned it over the last two years."

As United had the better of a contest against one of the best sides outside the top four and would probably have won if referee Mike Riley had spotted Phil Jagielka's foul on Danny Welbeck, Ferguson's bullishness over his stance is understandable.

It is also true to say making mass changes is not a new phenomenon considering a number of key men, including eventual matchwinner Ryan Giggs, were left on the bench for the famous FA Cup semi-final replay win over Arsenal in 1999.

"I dropped five players for that replay," recalled Ferguson.

"There are no replays now like in 1999 and we also have a stronger squad.

"But playing extra-time at Wembley is hard. We experienced it in the Carling Cup final and, having had two very close games against Everton already this year, we expected it to be tough again, no matter what team I picked.

"With the programme we have got coming up, I had to take the realistic view. The priority has to be the league and the Champions League. That is a fact of life."

Also weighing heavily on Ferguson's mind was the energy-sapping nature of the Wembley pitch, which came in for huge criticism this weekend.

Arsene Wenger branded the surface "a disaster" after Arsenal's defeat by Chelsea, with Ferguson weighing in with his own views yesterday.

The Manchester United manager has now denied changing his starting line-up 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 providing entertainment for those paying to watch its core events.

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

With their FA Cup involvement over, United now turn their attentions back to the Premier League.

United are in the happy position of knowing they can afford to slip up once over the final seven games and still not be caught, even though they are likely to have dropped back to second by the time Portsmouth 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."