BY Louise Taylor ( The Times )

"A LAST throw of the dice, Alex?" inquired a journalist, referring to the triple substitution implemented by Manchester United's manager. "No, a sensible one," retorted Ferguson, who proceeded to muse that he rather wished he had possessed the personnel to make it a quadruple change around 10 minutes from time.

By then Ferguson, who had seen his men clock up 11 goals in the previous two games, was horribly aware that United "lacked aggression and were pretty poor". But within five minutes of Jesper Blomqvist, Paul Scholes and Jordi Cryuff entering the fray, the latter had capitalised on the sort of treacherous home concentration lapse that his colleagues had seemingly awaited in vain.

As Cryuff extended his left foot to shoot low past the hitherto seriously under-employed Russell Hoult, it appeared hard luck on an enterprising Derby, who spent large tracts of the afternoon deploying three forwards and had deservedly taken a second-half lead through Deon Burton's goal.

Indeed, until that treacherous 86th-minute loss of concentration, the excellent Igor Stimac, returning to the heart of Derby's central defensive trinity after injury, had choreographed his rearguard superbly, putting Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole thoroughly in their places. With Rory Delap similarly impressing on the right of midfield, where he largely nullified Ryan Giggs, and United rarely succeeding in second-guessing Paolo Wanchope, it looked to be Derby's day.

Jim Smith may be the Premiership's oldest manager, but he delights in emphasising that you do not necessarily have to be young to be modern. Accordingly the Rams are arguably England's nearest thing to a total-football team, and they seamlessly rotated position in typically kaleidoscopic fashion yesterday.

Depending on when you blinked, their formation was either an audacious 3-4-3 or 3-4-1-2, the latter scenario involving either Burton or Dean Sturridge - they ceaselessly swapped positions - dropping back on the right to help subdue Giggs. All in all it proved a rather clever game plan that offered scope for Delap dropping even further back into a conventional right-back role whenever the Welshman advanced.

Appropriately it was Derby who mustered the first real left-sided threat, Sturridge acclerating purposefully only to be denied by an impeccably timed tackle by young Wes Brown, the wannabe centre-half, currently playing right-back. During last week's demolition of Wimbledon, Brown impressed going forward but had little chance to strut his defensive stuff, yet here a blend of pace and timing quickly dissolved any doubts about this aspect of his game.

Indeed, Brown saw as much of the ball as any United player, and Ferguson's men sporadically flickered down his right flank, where only Stefan Schnoor's brutal - rightly yellow-carded - interruption truncated David Beckham's progress towards the Derby penalty area.

This cameo highlighted the first half's overall theme. While generally remaining well within the law, Derby were, like Schnoor, hell-bent on spoking United's attacking wheels. Closing down red shirts and sticking their feet into uncomfortable places, Smith's men duly prevented the strangely inhibited, unusually timid Mancunians from settling into any sort of coherent passing groove on Pride Park's slick surface. Significantly the nearest United came to scoring in the first half was via a piece of cutely chipped, long-range speculation by Nicky Butt.

Certainly this abrasive tenor suggested that with the likes of Francesco Baiano and the newly signed Tony Dorigo warming the bench, the Rams were playing for their places. Equally importantly they were out to restore the pride forfeited by the three consecutive defeats that detracted from a promising opening to the season.

It cannot be pure coincidence that Stimac, Derby's Croatian sweeper, missed those three reverses. Yesterday he gleefully put scowls on the faces of United's "Smiley Guy", Yorke and his increasingly more sullen looking partner, Cole. Was it really only last week that they were imitating Gary Lineker and Peter Beardsley?

While Yorke represents Trinidad and Tobago, Burton is a Reggae Boy and Jamaica's sports personality of the year to boot. Having been unlucky to hit the bar with a well-weighted second-half shot, he simply tried again, this time to material effect. Seventy-four minutes had elapsed when, not for the first time, Wanchope left a series of United players dizzy and disoriented. Eventually the Costa Rican former basketball player opted to let Lee Carsley join in the fun and he, in turn, played in Dorigo.

Next the new boy, on for the injured Jacob Laursen, contributed a classically Italianesque backheel to Darryl Powell, who supplied Burton with a by-now richocheting ball. He had no qualms about punishing Peter Schmeichel, lashing a first-time shot beyond United's goalkeeper. No matter that his connection had not been that true - Derby were ahead.

But not for long. Only 12 minutes later, Cruyff exploited a split second of home indecision, firing incisively through a thicket of legs after Yorke offered a tantalising glimpse of his true £12.6m value. Controlling Brown's cross, he held up the ball adroitly with his back to goal before spinning sublimely and supplying the substitute.

A lucky reprieve, but it is safe to assume Ferguson would be throwing something rather heavier than dice around the away dressing-room afterwards. United never came close to hitting the heights of their last two performances against Wimbledon and Brondby, but Ferguson refused to give their midweek European game as a reason.

"I don't think we can use the European game against Brondby as an excuse for our performance. I don't think that was relevant," he said. "I only wish Derby had scored 25 minutes earlier, because our reaction to their goal was good."

Leicester: Keller, Ullathorne, Walsh, Taggart, Kaamark (Campbell 71), Zagorakis, Lennon, Izzet, Guppy, Cottee (Fenton 89), Wilson (Parker 71). Unused: Arphexad, Oakes.
Derby: Hoult, Schnoor, Powell, Stimac, Sturridge, Wanchope, Delap, Laursen (Dorigo 46), Prior, Carsley, Burton. Subs Not Used: Poom, Carbonari, Elliot, Baiano.

Goals: Burton 74.

Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville (Scholes 81), Stam, Beckham, Butt (Blomqvist 81), Cole, Giggs (Cruyff 81), P. Neville, Keane, Yorke, Brown. Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Berg.

Goals: Cruyff 86

Substitutes: Derby County: Laursen (Dorigo 46min). Manchester United: G Neville (Scholes 80min), Giggs (Blomqvist 80min), Butt (Cruyff 80min).

Booked: Schnoor (10min), Cole (44min), G Neville (78min), Delap (89min), Keane (90min).

Referee: P Durkin (Portland).

Attendance: 30,867.