Efter: United – Stoke

United behåller greppet om ligan efter att ha besegrat Stoke med 2-1 på hemmaplan sedan Nani och Chicharito samarbetat två gånger om för att ge United segern. Efter matchen var det förstås nöjda tongångar i Unitedlägret, även om skador på Rooney, Van der Sar och Ferdinand oroar.

KOMMENTARER EFTER MATCHEN
Sir Alex Ferguson pekade på Uniteds fantastiska hemmaform samtidigt som han passade på att ge en känga till de som har kritiserat United under säsongsinledningen:

”You can look at as many stats as you like, shots at goal, number of passes and things like that. But when you look at our home record, some of our performances at home have been fantastic. We’ve had two bad performances away from home, against Sunderland and on Saturday against West Brom. It was a battling performance against Birmingham and we maybe should have won the game. Othewise, we’ve had some good performances away from home. Okay we’ve thrown a few points away but that doesn’t mean to say we didn’t play well. We’re an easy target for that kind of talk. We’ve just got to dismiss it and focus on what our ambition is and that’s to win the league.”

Vidare passade Ferguson på att berömma Javier Hernandez som ger bossen huvudbry när det kommer till laguttagningar. Även Chris Smalling fick lovord av sin manager:

”We keep saying to strikers about getting across to the front post, we keep preaching that and Chicharito did that for us tonight and got the reward for it. […] Of course it gives me a problem when Wayne is fit. But that is the kind of problem you want. Over the years, the strikers I have had have always given me that problem. That is Chico’s job. And as long as he keeps putting the ball in the net, he is giving me those problems.

”You have to have faith and trust in the players. They have earned that trust. I see them every day in training and in the games they have played in. They have never let me down. And Chris Smalling was excellent. At 20 years of age he is doing very well. I am pleased with his improvement. He is certainly the future of the club.”

Ferguson berättade också att Van der Sar, Ferdinand och Rooney är osäkra till söndagens FA-cupmatch mot Liverpool.

”[Van der Sar, Ferdinand and Rooney] are a bit of a worry. We’re hopeful we can get at least two of them ready for Sunday.”

Stokes manager Tony Pulis tycker att hans lag gjorde en bra insats men han tycker att det är frustrerande att spela jämnt med United utan att lyckas ta poäng. Samtidigt medger han att United har en förmåga att vinna matcher utan att spela på topp:

”We’ve run them close on both occasions this season and the players deserve a lot of credit for that, especially in this instance. It was important to put in a good performance after the defeats we suffered here in the last two seasons and we pushed them all the way to the final whistle this time. It’s a little frustrating that we didn’t get something out of the game after getting ourselves back into it early in the second half, but they produced something special to win it. People keep saying that United are not at their best, but they know how to win games. It’s engrained in the football club and that can often give you a vital edge.”

Nani var tillbaka efter skada och var förstås nöjd med det. Han tycker också att United gör en utmärkt säsong och hoppas att laget kan gå hela säsongen obesegrade. Till sist passar han också på att berömma Javier Hernandez som har fått en fin start på sin Unitedkarriär:

”It has been frustrating to miss the matches. I have had to watch them in my house, when sometimes things have not got right and I feel I could help. But I feel OK now. I still need to train more but I am proud of my goal and hope to score more as the season goes on.

”I hope we can go the whole season unbeaten. We are in a great position. We have been doing so well. We have to keep working hard and doing the same things. Providing we stay together I feel we will finish the season with something very special.

”Javier has had a great start to his Manchester United career. He always scores at the right moment, when we need it. He has been a key player this season.”

ÖVRIGT
United startade matchen med spelare från elva olika nationer.

Chris Smalling gjorde sin första ligamatch från start för United.

[poll id=”58″]