Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson's latest batch of youngsters announced their coming of age Monday night, starring in a 3-0 win over Tottenham at Old Trafford.
As in the Community Shield victory over Manchester City at Wembley 15 days earlier, United came good with three second-half goals. And once again, their British youngsters were to the fore -- Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans in defense, Tom Cleverley in midfield and Danny Welbeck enjoying a memorable evening alongside Wayne Rooney in attack.
In his previous appearances in United's first team, Welbeck had looked gawky, gangly and nervous in his surroundings. There were times Monday night when he looked similarly ill at ease, but the second half brought a breakthrough performance, according to The (London) Times -- featuring not only a deft header from Cleverley's cross, to give United the lead on the hour, but also, perhaps more impressively, a delicious back-heel to set up Anderson for the second goal with 14 minutes remaining.
A Rooney header in the closing minutes made it an even more satisfying night's work for United -- and more miserable for Tottenham -- but, at 25, the England forward must be starting to feel he is getting on. He was the third-oldest player in United's starting line-up, but there could be no better reflection of the changing times at Old Trafford than he and Patrice Evra being the only two survivors from the team that started the Champions League final against Barcelona in May.
It felt like the summer of 1995 all over again. That was when Alan Hansen, on the "Match of the Day" sofa, cast his eye over David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers and uttered that infamous line, "You'll win nothing with kids."
Ferguson evidently feels that his latest group of youngsters, like the self-styled "Alan Hansen generation" before them, can prove to be exceptions to the rule.
It was enough to leave Harry Redknapp feeling glum, albeit grateful that Brad Friedel, making his debut in the Tottenham goal, helped to keep the scoreline respectable.
Redknapp said that he was happy with Tottenham's performance for the first 70 minutes, but his subsequent reference to a need for more "characters" in his team showed his eagerness to sign reinforcements -- either Scott Parker or Lassana Diarra in midfield, in addition to Emmanuel Adebayor up front -- and to bring the long-running Luka Modric transfer saga to a satisfactory conclusion with a deal.
-courtesy of nypost.com
Cayalah Fergie Fledglings..!! Rata2 pemain UNITED yang main game tadi bawah 25 tahun..and STILL United boleh menang 3-0 menentang Spurs di Old Trafford hasil jaringan Welbeck,Ando and Rooney!! DAN sekali lagi SAF membuktikan bahawa UNITED 'still can WIN with KIDS'..memang aku teruja sangatlah!! Game pun open..Unted banyak control terutama bahagian tengah..TOM and ANDO memang cun la,1st goal si Tom assist and Ando scores 2nd goal lak..gandingan midfield yg sungguh MANTOP bagi aku!! De Gea masih belum percaya diri tapi aku nampak ada peningkatan and we should give him more chance!! Agree guyz..?? GGMU..pada geng yg tak sempat tgk game pagi tadi..here are the highlights..!!
TOM + ANDO = TOMANDO
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