I LOVE Manchester t-shirts have been the popular garb of late as a defiant response to the riots and United fans will be wearing them to salute Mancunian Danny Welbeck after he sparked an opening Old Trafford romp against Spurs.
The Longsight-born 20-year-old was the breakthrough hero for the Champions and proved that despite losing the local on-field link of Paul Scholes and Gary Neville the Reds can still find a gem in the city.
Sir Alex Ferguson named the second youngest United line-up in the club’s history and Welbeck was the spearhead for the raw XI.
It meant last season’s joint top scorers were left on the bench to accommodate Welbeck.
A club record £30.75m Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov and the bargain of last season, Mexican Javier Hernandez, had to sit and watch a Made in Manchester victory.
Had any of United’s new look side missed the fact the club recorded a record 19th title last May they couldn’t miss the fact as they emerged from the tunnel.
They were met with a four-sided block of Reds scarves around the stadium proclaiming the achievement.
It was a stunt courtesy of another new sponsor DHL but it must have hit the newcomers square between the eyes and certainly cranked up the responsibility.
Five of Sir Alex Ferguson’s starting XI were not involved in that Premier League success last season and the impressive display made them very aware of the expectations they now have to take on board.
But in fairness even if it may take a little time for this new generation to fit comfortably in the boots of illustrious predecessors it won’t be lack of confidence holding them back.
Much had been made of the injury curse that had wiped out Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
But Tottenham might have well have been attempting to power and trick their way through that experienced resistance for all the change they got out of Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling.
It was under-fire keeper David de Gea who must have felt the fierce spotlight of scrutiny on him more than anyone.
The 20-year-old even had the gaze of Edwin Van der Sar in the Old Trafford VIP seats noting his every touch.
De Gea started nervously especially when his back four seemed intent on giving him a comforting touch of the ball as much as possible.
There were thousands of hearts in mouths as he dallied to often in possession before clearing.
However, when he was called upon to deal with efforts by Rafael Van der Vaart and Niko Krancjar in the first half his Dutch successor couldn’t have coped more admirably.
While he was debuting so was Tottenham’s new goalkeeper. Although Brad Friedel was starting a new life at White Hart Lane the 40-year-old American had 14 years Premier League experience under his belt.
De Gea was barely in primary school when Friedel came to England.
He’s spent much of his time earning man of the match plaudits against United for various clubs.
But while the Reds were mopping up nicely at the back and some of the attacking build up was swift Friedel didn’t look likely to see enough action to earn another bottle of bubbly at United’s expense.
It wasn’t until the 54th minute that he had to produce his customary show-stoppers when he blocked both Rooney and Anderson well struck efforts.
Having had to endure a first 45 minutes of Spurs dominating possession the Reds were now into their stride on the ball.
The breakthrough was crafted and executed by United Academy products to underline that no matter how much money is spent or how many former golden generation home-produced players retire there is still an impressive conveyor belt producing talent taught at Carrington.
Tom Cleverley and Welbeck, of course, had to venture elsewhere last season to bank Premier League experience but it was education well spent.
The pair have linked together on pitches from youth and reserve level to the England Under 21 stage.
Now they can Old Trafford to those venues after Cleverley nipped a Paul Scholes-like assist onto the head of the striker.
Welbeck had finally eluded the huge frames of Younes Kaboul and Michael Dawson and used the space to guide his header past Friedel.
Like Cleverley, Anderson is another charged with the job of replacing Scholes’ vision and goalscoring.
The Brazilian’s lack of goals on his Old Trafford CV since 2007 has always put a question mark over him being the complete answer in midfield.
But once again Scholes would have been chuffed to have the South American’s well crafted and finished goal as United went 2-0 ahead in the76th minute.
United’s youngsters had created a comfortable lead that even allowed De Gea to survive another bungled attempt at taking a cross when Defoe hit the post from the gift.
It was the more experienced combination of Rooney and sub Ryan Giggs who provided a gentle reminder to the new brigade that the maturer bunch will still have a say in proceedings this term.
Giggs clipped in a lovely 87th minute cross and Rooney replicated Welbeck’s finish to ensure a well deserved warning to the rest of the Premier League that the Champions in any guise are still going to be a threat.
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what a fantastic game that was,i really enjoyed it.thought spurs played well first half but once we upped the tempo second half poor spurs couldnt live with us.
thought de gea did well after all the flak he recieved.jones? what a monster of a player he is,did you see his block on bale cross? i believe he will go on and become a all time great. great performances also from young,cleverly,wellbeck,rooney,smalling and anderson.
if we added goetze to this midfield we could be awsome! now lets put this weak arsenal team to the sword on sunday!.
I enjoyed that! No complaints about anyone except that DeGae still needs time although I thought there was some improvement. Well done lads, nice win, nice play, nice goals, nice substitutions and a nice feeling for me! And………….I suspect a not such a nice feeling for the bitters from the Boo Zoo.
Well done Friedel !
Feels so good watching these young lads coming through from the youth system, The Cleverly cross and Welbeck header - sublime.
Fergie's only gone and done it again and put together a phenomenal new young team, the pace we have is frightening, Young, Nani, Wellbeck, Rooney, Hernandez and MOM for me at the back young Phil Jones, Rio and Vida should be looking over the shoulders
I’m trying to decipher the insinuation of the young United categorical win over star studded Spurs. Does it (i.e. win) send jitters across the city of Manchester and beyond?
Bring in Gooners, bring in Liv. MOM is Welbeck of course.
i still think a top class midfielder is needed if are to challenge madrid or barca for the champions league.
Looked like a 0-0 match for a long time.
De Gae very good apart from missing the ball once when coming out.
Don't know how good we are, but Spurs need Modric. Not too sure if we need Sneijder.
Oh... and when will a local lad lead the way winning a top match for City?
We still got it! Fergie is building another team.
MOM for me: Jones!
Great team performance, at times just awesome, fabulous goals and Rooney MOM. And the best news is, these lads are only going to get better, much better.I have a vision, I see the number 20. What does it portend? Be afraid, very afraid.
Great to witness 3 great goals from the great 'Fergie's Babes'.
Also Great that MUST gave away 508 green and gold scarves - everyone knows they can't sell them anymore. Maybe they should do something useful and give the rest of their scarves to a charity shop.
And also Great to see such a forceful sea of Red to pop the eyes of Spurs players.
Come on the Greats!
I knew they'd find a negative spin on De Gea after that one mistake where he fumbled a cross.
Other than that he was Top Class they had 12 shots on target almost all from outside the box and he handled everyone of them well save for the one slip which he recovered on and Defoe just outright kicked him.
De Gea needs more protection he's a young goalkeeper in a new league and people are getting a bit over zealous.
All in all it was a great performance from the young lad should give him bags of confidence.
Welbeck absolutely sublime the bullet harder and the backheel which opened up the space for the 2nd goal, looks the business going to fight Chicharito all the way for that first team place.
Been saying it all summer but this year is going to be Anderson and Cleverly's year, great play from both of them.
Im loving seeing some of our academy talent coming through this year as well i love seeing local lads in the team.
The futures bright the futures RED,Make no mistake this was a comprehensive defeat of a very good Spurs side,the young players Welbeck ,Cleverly ,Jones ,Smalling and backed up by Rooney ,Nani Young if we keep up like this we will win more games than we lose ,plus a little mention for man ot the match Anderson .Well done lads keep up the good work .
Great win!! And a well-deserved 3 points. In my humble opinion, man of the match for me, was phil jones. He was everywhere just carrying on with his job in the most effective way with a blend of old fashion hard work and panache. Most impressive about United today was the fluid craftiness with which our attacking was done. With such pace, technical swerve, fluid passing and overall work rate, most, if not all premier league defenses will have their hands full with United this season. Our build up attack is a lot faster, pacier, and much more fluid than it was lastn season. I THINK YOUTH HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT. Man Utd all the way.
Fantastic game tonight. Don't know what the posession stats were but we totally outplayed Spurs from the off. I was expecting a little more from them tbh with them enjoying an extra week off & all that, but we showed our class all over the pitch. Ashley Young is impressing every week, Cleverley did what Scholsey used to do but is a better tackler. Smalling another solid game at right back, MOM for me Phil Jones - immense in his 1st full start, his tackling was superb,comfortable on the ball & didn't panic. David DeGea did a lot better with a clean one & will only get better.His distribution is his strong point. Jonny Evans' passing needs to improve, but again did what was required. All in all a great performance, nice to see the Mexicutioner make a cameo appearance too..........All this from a so called team in decline...lol & in front of 75,490 fans on a monday night.........the only empty seats at OT are when the subs come on, & they don't stay empty for that long....haha
Excellent 2nd half team performance. Can't knock anyone though nani was maybe below his usual. De Gea should get confidence from that, cleverly and Anderson did fine (keep up the scoring son), Jones was immense and showed himself as a United player in the making, seems to take everything in his stride and Rooney has kicked off looking fit and meaning business. Welbeck at first I thought looked a bit slow in the touch but then once he scored he was buzzing, full of running and looked a real handful to deal with.
This young team will surely meet a dog with bigger teeth and get bitten soon enough, but that is part of the learning and until then you've got to let the pups run and use their energy and enthusiasm. One thing for sure is that I'll enjoy watching the team play more than much of the efficient but boring football we played much of last year
utd were lucky, the ref was on thier side, keeper got away with it, evans should have seen red blah blah blah....... There you go bitters I've said it all for you so please stay on your side of MEN and get the tissues out!!!! Watch it and weep boys because Fergie is a Genius and the future is RED!!!!!!!
tick tock etc.........
What a superb performance by every single one of the fourteen players who proudly wore our shirt tonight! Coming away from the ground I heard at least four different players’ name mentioned as to the man of the match. I would not attempt to single anyone out because, for me, we played so collectively brilliant as a team.
I also would not argue with anyone who puts forward a single name for being the best player tonight, as each one of them could make out a strong case for winning that acclaim!
What about those three goals? I would describe each one as a poetry in motion:-
The Clever Cleverley to the Wonderful Welbeck – goal I.
The Dynamic Danny to the Amazing Anderson – goal 2.
The Great Giggsy to the Wizard Wayne – goal 3. Simples! Oh such joy to be a United fan!
United ‘til I die!
Tale of two halves for the youngsters, in my eyes. I thought Welbeck and Cleverley were very disappointing in the first half, looking almost timid, which shocked me. What a difference in the second, though! Absolute brilliance, at times.
Phil Jones was a stud tonight. I not only was impressed by his play, but his mental toughness, screaming at Bale to get up, after he had taken him down!
Johnny Evans also was huge. This kid didn't impress me at all, in the past, but tonight, he was almost always making the right decision AND following through on that decision.
Great game, lads. One at a time; ON UNITED!
Great start for the first home team win of the season. I can't see why anyone wouldn't agree that this team is even better than the Championship team of last year. SAF looked ever so relaxed and he has every right to be. Forget Sneijder, Modrik and Nasri. If anyone, maybe young Goetze in exchange for Berbatov. Berbatov is good but far too slow for the speed these youngsters are playing at. De Gea did well, much more confident and a cracking performance from Jones. But my MOM goes to Rooney. He is in the groove again. Honourable mention to Anderson. Great team effort.
I really hope we do't sign anyone else.
Whilst the thought of a big signing is exiting,its not half as exciting as watching the pace,enthusiasm and sheer vibrancy of the latest Old Trafford babes.
We have a group of 15 players who could be mainstays in the team for the next 10 years.
How depressing must this be for City ?
Not a mercenary in sight, just a bunch of young talented players who really want to play for the club.
Then look at the bunch emerging behind them Blackett,Thorpe,Pogba,Tunnicliff,Coffie,King.Morrison and Keane, it must be so depressing to be a City fan and know in your heart of hearts there is no way past us.
The race for second place behind us should be so exciting this season [yawn ]
While he didn't quite there on the cross, De Gea has very strong hands - note the ball he caught with just his hands from Van Der Vaart - and seems very relaxed when playing the ball with his feet. Yes, he dallied a bit, but so what.
For the rest, pleasantly surprised by Jones' speed, Evans was very mature in his positioning and really liked Anderson's drive. Not scared to carry the ball from midfield. Our front 6 were shorter than usual, but their one touch passing and movement were great to watch. The main difference to our start this year is that the squad was a lot fitter after having a tougher pre season in the US. That and our team speed going up is going to be big for us this year.
Well done everyone! Greet team performance all round. A young team learning its trade, has no right to be that good. The football on offer from both sides was a credit to the PL. Spurs as per usual for any of 'Arry's teams came to play and make a game of it. A finely balanced first half gave way to a United surge in the second half with this young United team ( average age 23 ) overwhelming a visibly tiring Tottenham.
De Gea had an excellent game. Good saves, good positioning and when needed he had good luck. His distribution was outstanding. It will do his confidence the world of good to have played in The Theatre and kept a clean sheet.
We have another monster in the team! Step forward Phil Jones. What a player he is going to be. Strong, brave, committed in the tackle. Young had an excellent game. He gives United such variety in our play. He pops up everywhere and causes trouble with his speed and movement. Ando and Tom did very well in central midfield.
I love the fact that we are playing with such momentum on the ball. That interchangeable style between the forwards/midfield is hard to track for opposing defenders. We do need a mobile target man up front who plays in the final third. When Wellbeck played there in the second half he was mug more of a threat. Great header and a gorgeous back heel for Ando's second, made it a goodnights work from the lad. When he fills out more he is going to be an absolute handful for any defender. Excellent game of footie from a very promising team of young men.
I personally thought we played very very well.Thought Anderson was exceptional mind you all the kids played great,Was worried when Rio and Vidic got injured as they've been great for us over the last few years,but after watching Jones and Evans today,I'm not going to worry anymore.Great team performance and a pleasure to watch,Were only going to get better and better, # 20 coming up!!
Well done lads! You were awesome! Special mention to Jones, Smalling and Evans at the back not so sure if we need Sneijder anymore, bring on Arsenal next week!
very good performance,the speed and accuracy of the passing combined with the fantastic energy and determination of every single manchester united player was a joy to watch, the boss has done it again these young players will be the life blood of the club for many years to come. harry redknapp ( a manager who i like a lot) says there was nothing between the teams , for a fair percentage of that game united were a class apart and if it had been a boxing match, there were tracts of play where the ref would have to had stop the fight. jones was very good and he showed a glimpse of what is to come.
Red kids rising. Be afraid bitters, be very afraid.From tonights performance number 20 looks already in the bag and we were average!!!!!!!!!
RED KIDS RISING
Excellent 2nd half after the first 10 mins or so of it. Didn't think we were too bad in the first, but allowed Spurs too much posession for my liking, mind you they didn't threaten too much, but better teams might have taken advantage of that. We seemed a bit too defensive in the first, but that all changed. Smalling got space and started to get forward ( was Bale playing?) and was very dangerous. Jones and Evans were both terrific in central defence. Welbeck much better in the second than the first, I thought he struggled up to half time, but what an improvement after. Great goal and assist for our second. Rooney had a good overall game, as did Cleverley, but for me MOM was Anderson, great game and an assured and confident strike. As far as De Gea, couple of wobbles, one in the first and one in the second, but other than those I thought he did just fine and his distribution was first class IMO. He'll be OK, but will come under different pressure from teams that lump the ball in to big forwards( Bolton, Stoke etc), Spurs didn't do or have that option, so we'll see how he handles it. He did struggle against WBA, but hopefully he learned from that.
Entertaining game, great result, hope for more of the same this weekend.