Sir Alex Ferguson shouldered the blame for Manchester United's home defeat by Ajax after admitting he picked an inexperienced defence.

United boss admits defence contained too many youngsters

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Sir Alex Ferguson shouldered the blame for Manchester United's home defeat by Ajax after admitting he picked an inexperienced defence. United set up a last-16 meeting with Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League after hanging on to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory over Ajax. However, the Dutch outfit provided their hosts with a huge scare after Toby Alderweireld's 87th minute header gave Ajax a 2-1 lead on the night to set up a nervy finish. Ferguson acknowledged that United's second-half performance was not up to scratch after Javier Hernandez had given his side an early lead. The United boss feels a key factor in the defeat was the lack of experience in the back-line, with Chris Smalling the oldest at the age of 22. Goalkeeper David de Gea and full-backs Rafael and Fabio da Silva are all 21, while England international Phil Jones only turned 20 earlier this week.Rio Ferdinand was watching on from the stands, while Jonny Evans was brought on as a substitute in the second half and Ferguson conceded he took a risk with his team selection. "I must say, I've got to accept I'm responsible for picking the team and tonight I picked too many young players in the back four positions - that was a big problem in terms of experience," said Ferguson. "It was a big risk I took. "Ajax are fantastic in terms of keeping the ball. Their first goal I thought was a handball (in the build-up) but although they had a lot of possession they didn't look like scoring. "But that goal gave them confidence and we only had one shot in the second half. I thought we were very poor in the second half."