There is something about the vibrancy of youth that is Manchester United’s signature, from the Busby Babes to Fergie’s Fledglings. It is a cliché of course but one that supporters buy into with full heart. Yet, in truth some of that youthful vigour had been lost from United in recent seasons, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad aging before our eyes.
No longer. The rash of retiring and released stars over the past year, together with youthful acquisitions this summer, has transformed Ferguson’s squad and reinvigorated its outlook. The United team that overhauled Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley on Saturday was aged on average just 22 in the second period, with 13 players in Ferguson’s matchday squad aged 23 or under.
Youthful abandon is not simply an empty soliloquy though. In football the lack of fear in youth so often translates to freedom of expression on the pitch. Indeed, United’s vibrant second half display not only sent thousands of Reds home happy but, arguably, for the first time since 2008, points towards a dynamic shape for the coming season.
United’s front four interchanged with such bewildering regularity that City simply could not cope. That Roberto Mancini at one stage resorted to fielding four central midfielders said much for both United’s attacking shape and the Italian’s defensive outlook.
Little surprise then that Ferguson praised his young team, which fought back from a two goal deficit at Wembley to secure victory in the final minute of injury time.
“For us I think it just confirms what I’ve thought,” Ferguson said.
“People were saying that we’re not the best United squad and things like that but you’ve got to remember a lot of young players will improve. We are very confident with this group of young players.
“I always wanted to expose Jones, Cleverley and Evans to that big-match environment. It was a big challenge for them and they did well. I’m very confident with this group of players.
“De Gea and Jones give us a good future. They are outstanding. Young was good as well. He is 25 and a mature player after playing for Aston Villa but he’s new to the type of challenge he is getting at United.”
United was the better side for much of the game, save for a period in the first half when City’s power in midfield threatened to overwhelm Michael Carrick and Anderson. While eventually Anderson offered his finest performance in a United shirt for some time, Tom Cleverley stole many headlines with a stand-out second half display.
The midfielder, who spent last season on loan with Wigan Athletic, offered the kind of central midfield dynamism that United has lacked for so long. Basingstoke-born Cleverley played a series of incisive one-touch passes, moved into space and – crucially – frequently ran ahead of the ball from central midfield. It is precisely the kind of incisive midfield play that was so lacking in Carrick’s performance during the opening 45.
“Cleverley has come back from Wigan and we brought Welbeck and (Mame) Diouf back from loans as well. These boys are good players,” Ferguson added.
“We toyed with the idea of starting Cleverley but I thought Michael Carrick’s experience was better suited to the game. Cleverley can get forward from midfield though and we probably needed that type of player.”
United’s flexibility with Cleverley, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Nani and Ashley Young in the side was no better illustrated than in the Portuguese’s equaliser. The slick, one-touch, move cut City’s normally parsimonious defence open with a passage of play that was more than a little reminiscent of Barcelona at its very best.
That each of the aforementioned quintet is comfortable in a variety of positions recalls United’s 2008 Champions League winning side, with Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo interchanging at will.
Chris Smalling’s excellent performance at right-back and Phil Jones’ assured contribution during the second half simply adds to the confidence Ferguson will have gained from Sunday’s victory.
If that is all positive then City’s ability to over-power United in midfield reared its ugly head in the first half. Mancini’s team nominally had an extra man of course, although Rooney’s ability to drop deep augmented United’s resources. But Carrick in particular was unable to cope with the sheer physicality of the Blues for periods.
Then there is the David de question. Ferguson’s €20 million acquisition from Atlétics de Madrid this summer is the subject of much criticism in this morning’s papers. But the Spaniard had little chance claiming David Silva’s outstanding delivery in the 38th minute for Jolean Lescott’s opening headed goal, although the 20-year-old could surely have done better with Edin Džeko’s 35-yard drive just moments later. The late dip and swerve, together with Nemanja Vidic’s failure to close down the attacker, certainly did not help. But on these small details are major games sometimes won and lost.
“City are a big team and the delivery of the ball was good. Goalkeeper no chance with that,” Ferguson claimed.
“The second goal I thought we could have closed them down but the shot swerved a bit and just caught the goalkeeper on the wrong foot. But I think that you have to cope with these things and he’s [got] no problem.”
Indeed, moments earlier de Gea had claimed a high ball under pressure and the Spaniard’s distribution with foot and hand was excellent throughout. During the second period de Gea also made two outstanding saves, which augers well for the youngster’s confidence in games to come. The suggestion, made in more than one media outlet, that Ferguson will now drop his new ‘keeper in favour of Anders Lingegaard is nothing short of rumour-mongering.
Ferguson will also be delighted with Nani’s contribution to the game following an outstanding pre-season. Starting on the right, Nani drifted inside, frequently swapped with Young and contributed heavily to United’s victory. As with last season, Nani’s output is now outstanding.
So too Young, whose delivery from set pieces is a cut above anything in a United shirt since David Beckham left in 2003. Indeed, the former Aston Villa winger created Chris Smalling’s goal with a pin-point free-kick in the 53rd minute.
“Nani had a fantastic season last year,” said Ferguson.
“He contributed 18 assists and scored nine goals. He was unfortunate that Antonio Valencia came in at a time when we needed a bit of freshness and a boost to the squad. But you have seen Nani’s form in pre-season and again today. He will start the season.”
It is a campaign for which United started favourites but will now have gained even greater confidence at City’s expense.
“This shows who the best team is,” Rooney boasted in the wake of victory.
“All game we dominated. The difference the young lads made was outstanding. We never know when a game is finished. We took them apart. The scoreline is deserved. We’re champions and we’re the team to beat. We want to prove that.”
Brilliant piece, Ed. The second half performance was a revelation after all the stodge we have seen over the last two years. Maybe the bloody magician has deceived us again.
No doubt that is the way we want the team to play -quick players, interchanging positions; slick passing; movement off the ball; wingers moving inside; full backs having space out wide & the speed & ability to use it.
Let’s hope that SAF buys into the plot big way. Rooney, Nani, Valencia, Hernandez, Owen & Park can all play this way; Young has the potential. Fingers crossed but Welbeck & Cleverley look to be the icing on the cake. Carrick, Obertan, Gibson & Berba plainly, in my opinion, cannot; sell’em & make a statement. Fletcher needs to get up to steam fast or he can join the discarded, old fashioned models.
It is going to be very difficult not to play Smalling; M.Evra you need to improve your defending or Master Jones will take yer place.
Great to be anticipating the season with relish. Winning with ….. style. A complete change of opinion for me but I think that this way of playing would suit Sneijder to a tee & all the players could learn from him.
Smalling at left back? Not sure about that. Evans has played there and Fabio is the natural successor… I agree about Smalling though. He looks to be a sensational player. His cameo against Barcelona was absurdly good.
As for Berba, he is an enigma. Sometimes I think he has no chance of fitting this system, other times he looks like he was born to be in the United team. The goal against City we scored (2nd) is the kind of football he likes to play, and we sure missed someone with his ability keeping possession and dribbling against Barcelona in May.
I think the flexible approach to the squad has been evident for quite a while. In some ways it isn’t too far off total football.
If you look at our 2nd string back four – Rafael/Smalling/Jones/Fabio they could probably play quite comfortably as a midfield 4. Our midfielders like Anderson, Cleverley, Young and Nani can all play more attacking positions. Our attackers in Rooney and Welbeck can both play essentially in midfield….
SAF has been building this new team for a lot longer than most people are willing to give him credit for. He also knows the only way to beat Barcelona is with the right philosophy – academy players, young acquisitions and the right training. They need to have played together for years – that’s why Barce are so good. Signing Sneijder won’t help us beat Barce. If Madrid can’t beat them spending 250MIL, does anyone expect us to beat them by buying players?
p.s. evidence for this theory = look at Cleverley and Welbeck. Their link up play is simply brilliant. No surprise they are academy products and Danny has been at the club since he was about 8!
Good points. I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Stupid media going on about De Gea being another Taibi.. Ffs.. the guys distribution was pretty good..produced a few good saves too
ignore the media…utter cunts the lot of them
he will be fine
why are we willing to let de gea get the mistakes out his system but we weren’t for foster
foster was given many chances,
didn’t pay 18 million for foster
clearly so will de gea
I thought that said ‘foster made many mistakes’ now it says ‘foster was given many chances’
ffs
thing is, its great his name sounds like jamaican slang for “the bender”
he gets my vote as number 1 for that alone tbf
you hae read it wrong, it has never been edited
Foster had many chances and he just showed little composure. I wished we had allowed him to stay and battle this spaniard. The problem with being a keeper at utd is that we tend to dominate most matches and so our keepers have to remain alert all the time. I liked Foster a lot but he was atrocious in that derby two seasons ago. I feel sorry for the Pole though. Has done enough in my view to have been given the chance to fight for that spot with de Gea.
I think anyone blaming him for that goal yesterday is mad. Frankly, the media in this country really need to have a good look at the people working there. That ball was hit so hard and swerved and dipped and all. Why not give credit to the strike? Why must the new non-English keeper be chastised? Is it not possible for some efforts to be just too good for a keeper to deal with no matter how much the goalie cost or where he is from? goodness me! The kid will be alright.
agreed cal re the media…after all the phone hacking shit, why are people even buying their drivel??
I agree about De Gea. Distribution and communication are 90% of a modern goal keepers game. All keepers get beat by random shots every now and then. He will let in a few more like that I’m sure of it. As long as he doesn’t concede when not under pressure like BF and continues with his awesome distribution then all will be good. Also, whilst I was impressed with the sub’s yesterday we still need another midfielder or two its a long season and TC etc will not see us through to May. We can’t expect TC, MC and Ando to carry us through in midfield. They may surprise me but very risky hoping they do!
For God’s sake, let’s get of De Gea’s back; stop the over-analysis. He has to settle in the country; learn English; get to know the defence & learn how to play in EPL. He probably will make mistakes but he needs at least until Christmas until we start to either write him off or proclaim him the best thing since sliced bread or Schmeichel.
De Gea set his feet a milli-second too late for the Dzeko goal. Then the shot dipped and swerved late. A minute error and he was punished.
Spot on Bill. Should Vida be despatched to the salt mines in Siberia cos he was very slow to close Dzeko down?
I liked the way we played. The interchange, the short, quick passes, the young players…clearly SAF is adapting and evolving with Barça in mind. We blew by their gigantic back line.
Nani’s clincher was a particular treat, since I’ve been steamed about a pre-match article on Fox (US) that referred to Kompany as “the best defender in the Premier League”.
And let’s not behave like lemmings regarding our new keeper. He’s going to be great.
Great piece by Ed. I thought Anderson had a great game and was unlucky not to get man of the match.Citys goals were down to goalkeeping errors. Silvas cross was excellent but de Gea was caught in no-mans land.The second was a bad error. Will he adapt quickly-hard to tell.However the general team performance was excellent. Cleverley was very good but I think Jones is going to be some player. He looked assured and confident in his own ability.Evans did well and had one run from his own half to the edge of Citys area where the energy just drained from him.
Minus points? Evra again looks suspect defending. Carrick did not have a good game but prefer him to either Park or Gibson.Shouldn’t make too much of goalkeeping errors.Start to worry if they start loosing us league points.
It was great watching the match from fairly high up in the stadium-a great deal of Uniteds moves were quick, intricate and positive-a joy to watch.
Great to see youth getting a go.Youth development is vital for this country, so why in general, are we so poor at it? That is a topic for another day.
There seems to be a lot of optimism around these days. Funny how it takes little for us to see the bright side. I haven’t enjoyed a Utd like this for God knows how long…not the first half! Get Carrick out and boum…the midfield clicks and it all falls into place (bold optimism again!). Coupled with the replacement of Ferdinand and Vidic by 2 other youngsters…what do this show? I think it shows that some of the old guard are just bored with success. They just can’t be bothered anymore!! Evra is a clear example and he will surely be dropped many times this season.
What’s refreshing is how fearless, imaginative, bold the youngsters are: YOU WIN NOTHING WITH KIDS! They had no fear even though 3 City players should’ve sent off before half time!!
Carrick for me is the biggest culprit. He slows things down, passes the ball back to the defence and take a stroll waiting for the next attack…his job is done as soon as he passes the ball backwards or laterally..never wishes to get in back, move forward, support play..I can go on and on.
English media is the biggest pile of shit you cab get. They need scapegoats, scandals…Imagine being an 21yr old, moving to a new country where: the weather is shitter, the food crappier, the chicks uglier…and on top of that you don;t speak 1 word of the language..it simply takes time to get used to your surroundings and assert yourself. De GEa will come good…and these same shitheads will be praising him like a god soon.
I still think we need Sneider or Nasri. Cleverly won;t be able to take the responsibility of replacing Scholes straightaway…but he was impressive.
Welbeck still runs like a headless chicken and although no doubt talented he still needs to work on his positioning. He did very well pulling that defender away on the second goal which in the end allowed Nani to run through…
Add Chicharito, Pogba and Morrisson to that mix…OMG!
Agree mostly. Hopefully the seasoned pros will drill something into the youngsters, and they’ll in turn gee up the likes of Evra, Rio, and Carrick (I laugh as I type the last name). But this has to be Taggart’s thinking. Lot’s of very talented youth there, but still reckon we need some serious steel and/or a real playmaker in the middle. I’m not saying anything revolutionary here.
// the weather is shitter, the food crappier, the chicks uglier //
Having lived in Spain, can only agree :o)
I want jones to play regularly where ever ginsoak can fit him in the team, he’s got box factor, that’s bollocks and xfactor put together, play the cunt