Sir Alex Ferguson separated United's latest league away draw from the previous three, citing a resolute defensive display as his reason for feeling "satisfied."

The manager's call for another clean sheet - following the 1-0 win over Valencia in midweek - was duly heeded as the Reds' defence, particularly the formidable partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, repelled countless aerial raids by Steve Bruce's Sunderland.

"I have to say we were fantastic defensively," Sir Alex told MUTV. "That's the area in which we have been throwing games away this season so I'm pleased with that."

Ferdinand's performance in his first league appearance of 2010/11, following a full 90 minutes in midweek in the Champions League, particularly impressed the manager.

"We freshened up the team as best as we could, coming back from a European trip. Michael Carrick was a natural one to rest - it his first game back on Wednesday - but we asked Rio how he felt yesterday and he said he felt great. He was terrific today, absolutely brilliant.

"I thought the whole back four did well. [Like Nemanja and Rio,] John O'Shea also did a great job against their threat in the air and the boy Elmohamady. Looking at the videos of Sunderland recently, they play everything towards that area of the pitch. And young Rafael carried on from Wednesday with a terrific performance.

"We always view it as dropped points when we draw a game. But you have to give Sunderland credit - they had more chances in the match and they particular, Sunderland kept bombing in the crosses," the boss reflected. "They're good at that, they put that ball in the box and Darren Bent has a good spring and is a good header of the ball. He's a threat. But we handled it.

"In the second half we did a lot better, there was more threat by us. Sunderland had some chances from corner kicks and free-kicks, they kept pelting the ball in there and we had to block shots. But that wasn't the general run of play after half-time, their raids were spasmodic, coming from setpieces."

United's increased attacking prowess followed the half-time introduction of Dimitar Berbatov, but although the Bulgarian went closest to scoring for the Reds with a shot that whistled past the post, it was the second sub - Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez - who really caught the manager's eye.

"I think we had more penetration, particularly when Chicharito came on," said Sir Alex.

"He was bright, quick and penetrative. We tried to win the game that way and put on the players that could win the game for us.

"We ended up with Bebe on the pitch, making his league debut for us. It was difficult circumstances for him, to come on in the maelstrom of a game here. We're quite satisified with that. He showed us that he wanted to play, he wasn't afraid to take the ball, these are good points to start with."