Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Manchester United started their defence of the Premier League title with a hard-fought win over West Brom thanks to a late own goal from Steven Reid.
United started the game well and could have gone ahead inside the first 10 minutes but Danny Welbeck couldn’t quite get his head onto a corner at the near post when if he had any contact would have seen the ball go in.
Albion were looking shaky early on. Whether it was down to the fact Ben Foster was struggling with his kicking early on or struggling organising his defence – perhaps it was a mixture of both. United though were passing the ball about crisply and it was no surprise when on 13 minutes they took the lead.
A good ball in midfield from Fabio picked out Wayne Rooney 30 yards from goal who flicked the ball deftly into Ashley Young’s path. Rooney continued his run forward and after being picked out by Young clinically shot the ball home from the edge of the box beyond Foster who really stood no chance.
Nani then saw two shots go over the bar in a matter of minutes before Roy Hodgson’s side began to make strides into the game. David De Gea was forced into making a smart save from Paul Scharner inside the box. It was a good save from the Spanish goalie but one that you would expect him to be able to deal with.
Tom Cleverley along with Anderson in the middle was looking impressive and the youngster almost doubled United’s lead inside the six-yard box, but his flicked-effort from a Rooney ball into the box was blocked well by Jonas Olsen.
Moments later West Brom were level. Somen Tchoyi up front had worked hard to win the ball of Fabio and with United unable to clear the ball, Chris Brunt fed in Shane Long inside the area. Albion’s new record signing cut in past Chris Smalling and saw his soft-looking shot go under De Gea and into the net.
It was a shot that United’s new £19million keeper should have done better with but it was by no-means a howler and whilst he will not want to have made errors in his first two competitive games, there’s no way he can written of (which no doubt the media will do) just yet.
Long’s goal seemed to wake up the Hawthorns and for a moment or two it looked as if the hosts might be able to take a surprising lead into half-time. De Gea made up for his mistake by reacting well to a deflected Tchoyi cross doing well to palm the ball out at the back post just as James Morrsion was looking to head the ball home.
After half-time Nemanja Vidic hobbled of with a suspected calf-problem being replaced by Jonny Evans. Despite having spells of possession on the ball, Albion were working hard and Youssof Mulumbu came to the fore setting up many of the hosts attacks.
After the hour-mark Sir Alex Ferguson deemed it was time to bring on Dimitar Berbatov and it was no surprise when the Bulgarian came on for Welbeck who saw little off the ball after the 30-minute mark.
Rio Ferdinand went off with around 15 minutes to go after pulling his hamstring, with Phil Jones coming on. Despite United not testing Foster in goal after half-time, you still sensed that something would give and a winner would come.
With nine minutes remaining that goal arrived and it was no surprise that it came via the efforts of Young. The winger showed real intent throughout the game and after picking up a Berbatov pass on the left, had the skill and pace to cut past Brunt before crossing the ball into the congested area where it struck Gabriel Tamas first then Reid before finding the corner of the net.
Albion to their credit made an effort to get an equaliser but even when Foster went up for a late free-kick, United held firm to start the season of with a win. It had not been an easy victory, but these days very few games on the road are. It’s 1 game down 37 to go.
United: De Gea, Fabio, Ferdinand (Jones), Vidic (Evans), Smalling, Nani, Anderson, Cleverley, Young, Rooney, Welbeck (Berbatov).
Star Man
Despite being one of the best midfielders in the divison over the last 3-4 season, many fans had doubted whether Young had the quality to ‘step up’ and produce for United following his big-money move from Aston Villa. Those fans must be cutting the first couple of slices of humble pie right now as Young shone in this one and was arguably United’s brightest player and it was no surprise that his cross helped set up the winner.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
