Carrick Majestic As United Start 2013 In Style Beating Wimpish Wigan

If there was any doubt about who ate all the pies, it was clearly a Wigan Athletic team that labored to usher in 2013 with anything more than a whimper.

As surely as a a Wigan kebab is as 3 pies on a stick, the home team rolled over trying to emulate their annual 5-0 drubbing but succeeded only in going one better.

Some might say Manchester United were utterly professional but what I saw was an inept almost passionless display by a home team that never looked likely to repeat their 1-0 win from last season.

United mixed up the frontline but kept a second consecutive clean sheet in a game which must have been tough on David De Gea’s concentration as he went another game without a single serious effort on target.

In front of the Real Madrid challenge, the welcome return of a proper right back in Rafael alongside the increasingly improved Patrice Evra and the mobile pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans, gave us a solid look because of the lack of threat from the home side.

Michael Carrick was majestic, withdrawn on 70 minutes, as a compliment from Sir Alex Ferguson to his importance in patrolling the defensive half as well as he has ever done.

Tom Cleverley is also growing into the role of midfield partner with a lively, if largely ineffective in the final third role, often linking well with the strikers but failing to get his shots off.

Given the weak performance of the wingers, Ryan Giggs and Ashley Young, it was really up to a very lively Jaiver Hernandez and a classy Robin van Persie to put the pie-men out of their misery as both scored twice, both should have had hat-tricks and they looked like our best pairing up front.

That world class pie eating Scouser, much have been looking on wondering if he will play against Liverpool. Surely not judging by the form by his replacement.

Ashley Young proved he is no Antonio Valencia and in picking up a knock might get a rest. He didn’t look likely at all today. Ryan Giggs was average but that’s a lot better than Young who runs as though the ball is an obstacle to trip over. The fullback only had to breathe on him to get a fall. Tom Daley must have been watching with envy!

But for me the issue of the day was Wigan.

They were poor from 1 to 11, lacked passion and drive. Their keeper Ali Al-Habsi pulled out of challenges and they simply didn’t compete. This is not a good advert for the Premier League.

As routine a rout as any I have seen. An uncompetitive game.

For United the bandwagon rolls on. Manchester City winning 3-0 keeps up the pressure, with a busy couple of months and some big games ahead.

The season moves into the business end with a United squad hitting some form, clean sheets becoming more regular, and enough points to give us a really good chance to get our trophy back.

Happy 2013! It couldn’t have started better for us.

By Steve Burrows CBE @ifollowsteve