Manchester United skipper David Beckham is unlikely to face further Football Association action even though he appeared to catch Bowyer in the face with his elbow during the first-half of the 1-0 defeat at Leeds.

Referee Jeff Winter awarded a free-kick against the England midfielder but did not deem the clash as malicious.

Unless the north east official indicates otherwise in his match report, the FA will not pursue the matter any further. However, that might not be the case with Ferguson.

The United manager has already fined Roy Keane two weeks' wages for the incident involving Jason McAteer which saw the Irishman dismissed against Sunderland last month - and if he feels Beckham has been similarly incorrect, he will not hesitate to slap the same kind of fine - approximately #180,000 - on his stand-in captain.

'The players know my views on these things,' Ferguson told MUTV.

'Use of the elbow is not in our vocabulary. Bowyer went down pretty quickly but I need to see it on television.

'We have never been involved with things like this, even the Roy Keane one wasn't grievous, although he did raise his elbow which left the referee with no alternative.'

With goalkeeper Fabien Barthez also the subject of a police investigation after allegedly injuring a supporter when he kicked his own drinks bottle in frustration after conceding Harry Kewell's winner, Ferguson has plenty of problems ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash with Maccabi Haifa even without his team's lack of form.

Yesterday's defeat - their second on the trot - means in points terms, United have endured their worst six-game start to the season since 1989.

After sorting out the last season's defensive worries, United have now hit a striking crisis. They have mustered just five league goals from six outings and Ruud van Nistelrooy has scored just once in open play since last March.

The Dutchman was substituted at Leeds after seeing two gilt-edged chances stopped by Paul Robinson and Ferguson admitted he is suffering a crisis of confidence.

'Ruud has lost his confidence a little bit,' said the United boss.

'I thought Diego Forlan's pace and movement might have opened the game up a little bit but it wasn't to be.'

Forlan has still not opened his United account after 26 appearances, the majority coming as a substitute.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, so lethal in recent seasons, is operating well below par, while the central midfield injury crisis show no signs of abating.

Keane and Paul Scholes are both out until the end of next month after hip and knee operations respectively, Juan Veron missed yesterday's game with a groin injury, while Nicky Butt was forced off in the second half after taking a bang on the hip.

Having allowed the likes of Denis Irwin, Ronny Johnsen, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole leave in the past 12 months, Ferguson's squad looks woefully short on strength, numbers and ability, certainly compared to Arsenal, who at this rate will win the league in a canter.

While no-one could disguise the injury troubles, nor the excellent of their approach play, the spark which has seen them gather so many trophies over the past decade seems to be missing.

Having invested approaching #80million on Van Nistelrooy, Veron and Rio Ferdinand, Ferguson can hardly accuse his board of lacking ambition but there seems to be a general lack of pace which is making his team too easy to defend against.

Neither Beckham nor Ryan Giggs is terrorising opposition defenders and it is no fault of Phil Neville that he lacks the vision to operate in a central midfield role.