Manchester United started their journey to win their 20th Premier League title with an away victory against West Bromwich Albion. Wayne Rooney scored United first goal of the season in the 14th minute. Shane Long pulled WBA level in the 38th minute. But with nine minutes to go, Ashley Young ran into West Brom defence and his cross was deflected in off Reid to gift United their first three points of the season.
Nemanja Vidic believes United are perfectly prepared for the start of the 2011-12 campaign… although he is wary of a potential upset against West Bromwich Albion in Sunday’s opener. The skipper is fully focused on extending United’s 100 per cent run at The Hawthorns since the inception of the Premier League and believes the team’s perfect pre season record will only increase the chance of victory this weekend.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has warned his side that losing points at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday must not be an option. He wants the Champions to forget about the impressive pre season results because the real stuff will not begin until then. “They all knew last week was the Community Shield. It was not the real stuff. That starts on Sunday” he said “Wembley was an occasion, there was rivalry and everyone was motivated. We have to show that in every game because it’s going to be tough. It will be a hard campaign, it always is.”
Despite the idiotic anarchy which has swept England during the last few days – and irrespective of their cause, attending a football match MUST remain a safe, family friendly experience for every single fan otherwise the game as we know it has got no future. West Bromwich Albion has therefore sensibly issued the following advice to United fans going to the opening Premier League game at The Hawthorns on Sunday.
Call me naive if you want, maybe even in denial, but I just cannot accept that the only unbeaten team in the Premier League, the one which largely dominated three of the five matches it somehow failed to win – four of them away from home, is already being written off as serious title contenders by some football pundits including many of its own fans! How can that be possible? Granted, points have been thrown away like confetti, wasted points that would now have Manchester United sitting on top of the table, but does it REALLY mean that all championship hopes have disappeared?
This weekends visit of West Bromwich Albion to Old Trafford rekindles memories of the best transfer deal Manchester United ever made between the two clubs. Ron Atkinson had just taken over from Dave Sexton in 1981 when he went back to The Hawthorns to grab the signature of Bryan Robson for a British record transfer fee of £1.5m. It was the best signing Atkinson ever made as Robson became known as Captain Marvel and went on to play for his country 90 times, making him the sixth most capped England player of all time – and it all started at West Bromwich Albion.
