Alex Ferguson has said that criticism levelled at Manchester United over their performance so far this season is "understandable".

United are currently second in the Premier League, trailing leaders Manchester City by two points.

"The criticism has been understandable when you lose a derby game 6-1, get knocked out of the Carling Cup by Crystal Palace and lose to Basel, who are not a real power in Europe," said Ferguson.

"You can understand the criticism but in terms of the nature of the kind of player we have, the kind of club we are, we've got the resilience and determination to do something about it each time.

"That shows the character of the team. In a normal season we lose games but the games we've lost this season have been a bit more dramatic and emphatic in the sense of the impact it's had on our chances of winning trophies."

Ferguson believes that the character of his players may be enough to salvage United's title hopes.

"We're out of the Champions League, out of the League Cup and lost to the local neighbours, City, in a derby game. These are bad results for us, but the character of the team has rescued us each time," he added.

"Last season the focus was on our bad away form but the home form rescued us. We haven't had any away defeats and you wonder what's happened here because it's a really tough league."

Manchester United have amassed 42 points from 17 games so far this season.