Sir Alex Ferguson urges referees to protect David De Gea

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 09 September 2011

Alex Ferguson criticises referee Mike Jones for not 'protecting' David De Gea in Manchester United's Premier League win over West Brom.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes that Manchester United’s new goalkeeper David De Gea deserves more protection from match officials during games.

The 20-year-old, who completed his move to the Premier League champions from Atletico Madrid in June, has come under criticism for making a couple of errors at the start of the new season.

Red Devils boss Ferguson believes that the Spaniard should have been protected by referee Mike Jones in United’s 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion last month.

"He's bound to get better protection [at Bolton] than he did at West Brom," said Ferguson. "There is nothing wrong with that, it's part of the challenge.

"Each game that comes along will be a new experience for him. He got a different type of experience at West Brom and actually did really well in the sense that he had to deal with it.

"But he didn't get any protection from the referee at the time, which was disappointing but we expect it to be better protection than that."

The 69-year-old is expected to welcome Antonio Valencia back to the squad to face Bolton at the Reebok on Saturday, while Danny Welbeck will return to training next week.