Manchester United vs West Brom: 5 Things the EPL Opener Showed Sir Alex Ferguson

The second day of the opening Premier League weekend saw the big boys return to action, with Chelsea battling Stoke City to a goalless draw while United were made to fight tooth and nail for a 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion.

While all managers undoubtedly saw things they liked and others they did not, we turn our attention to the scratchy notes on the enigmatic mental notepad of United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Reigning champions Manchester United opened the season with a victory over West Brom away at The Hawthorns, with Wayne Rooney scoring the opener only to see it cancelled courtesy of the second David de Gea howler within a week. And judging by the astonished looks on the faces of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, it seems as though, for the briefest of moments, they saw the calamitous shadow of a short, bald Frenchman replacing the young Spaniard in goal.

However, relentless United pressure saw Ashley Young ping the ball past a helpless Ben Foster via a Steven Reid deflection to ensure the Red Devils deposited three points in their title bid account on opening day.

Ranging from "Kill the United scout in Madrid and make it look like an accident" to "Don't let Ashley near the Carrington webcam," we examine the musings of Sir Alex regarding Sunday's game...

1. His Tricks on the Ball Are Not Just Limited to the Webcam: Ashley Young

Despite some initial skepticism, we are beginning to comprehend the purpose Ferguson saw for Ashley Young. Several fans and experts, including this columnist (who falls squarely in the former category, incidentally), aired their views against the signing, but the underlying assumption in most cases was that Fergie saw Young as a competitor for Nani's position on the left wing.

However, the last few games have seen Nani take over the right wing role that previously belonged almost exclusively to Antonio Valencia, possibly because Young and Nani are both much more dynamic in a counter-attack.

Either way, Sir Alex will be beaming with pride at the immediate impact of his new signing. Having provided Chris Smalling with the most luscious of free kicks in the Community Shield, Young spent all afternoon at The Hawthorns hammering away at the Albion door until it broke for him.

Matched up against Chris Brunt, Young ran the makeshift right back ragged. Often he sold Brunt with a fake inside, only to dart towards the byline with an almost Cruyff-like cut. On the final such occasion, Young got away from his man and thumped in a low cross, which took a nick of two West Brom players, leaving Ben Foster stranded.

The good news for the England man is that in a forward line designed to be mobile and interchangeable for quick, counter-attacking football, Young fits the bill better than Valencia. So be prepared to see much more of him this season, though we strongly recommend you gouge your eyes out if a webcam has anything to do with it.

2. Not Quite Paul Scholes...Yet: Tom Cleverley

Tom Cleverley is young, hard-working and quite the magician in midfield. When he plays alongside Anderson, the frantic energy of the Brazilian allows Cleverley to settle into his passing rhythm and string plays together.

Cleverley is most definitely all that he is cracked up to be. He displays crisp passing, shows ice-cold composure on the ball and an immaculate awareness of his environs. He moves the ball up-field with pace and lassos the entire United attack into the build-up play.

But being a 21-year-old comes with its own pitfalls. Although Cleverley dominated United's play for much of the first half, he seemed to tire slightly in the second half. He played a few stray passes and seemed less eager to get forward in support of Rooney, though in his defense he still had a better pass completion rate that Michael Carrick practicing against a wall.

While the Basingstoke-born midfielder has several of the attributes that made Scholes a great, he has yet to learn how to pace himself. He has already shown that he can exert a measure of control on the game, but the real art lies in being able to control the match for the entire 90 minutes.

Greatly to his credit, he stated during a recent web interview that he will focus his training more on how to control matches.

At least he is already aware of his shortcomings and is working on them, which is more than can be said about United's part-time bench warmer and full-time sullen vampire Dimitar Berbatov, whose response to questions about his languid style was a rather immodest, "There is a saying in Bulgaria that great quality does not require much effort." At which point Sir Alex Ferguson's head exploded a little.

They say a true midfield maestro is only conspicuous by absence. This holds true for some of the biggest legends in the game.

Real Madrid after Zinedine Zidane and Barcelona without Xavi (against Real Madrid in the Supercopa today) are examples of teams that struggled to dominate games to their usual standard. Similarly, the United side that emerged in the second half did not have the energy of the previous 45 minutes and struggled to create as many chances.

A lot of that was down to Cleverley. The midfielder is very young, and the ability to last the full 90 minutes will come with time. Just as Barcelona prospect Thiago Alcantara is gifted, but not quite Xavi, Tom Cleverley is gifted but not quite Scholesy. Yet.

3. Only Beaten by a Long Shot: David De Gea

Fabien Barthez probably thought his United legacy was untouchable. However, over the last week, United's £18million signing has committed enough blunders to cause a short bald man somewhere in Paris to wake up in a cold sweat yelling out, "Zut alors!"

Speaking of cold sweat, how long do you think it is before the United representative in Madrid accidentally dies a tragic death by falling on a biscuit?

But all kidding aside, it must be reiterated that David de Gea is still very young and needs time to adjust to the strength and toughness of the English Premier League. In the meantime, it does no one any good if he commits a howler every time an opponent takes a shot from distance.

As indicated in our post-game analysis of the Community Shield, the Spaniard is undoubtedly a great talent. However, he has had little time to acclimate to his new surroundings and his teammates.

His two high-profile howlers within the space of a week have proven how unsettled de Gea is in England. This was even more evident when de Gea failed to offer Jonny Evans a routine outlet when the Irishman was under pressure, prompting an angry glare and some strong language from the young centre back to his keeper. Shortly after, Phil Jones had a yell at the Spaniard when he cleared the ball up the field though Jones was waiting for a short pass.

The kindest — and possibly most prudent — course of action is for Sir Alex to hand the starting position to back-up keeper Anders Lindegaard. The Dane put in some sterling performances during pre-season and seems to be itching for his shot at filling the hole left by Edwin van der Sar.

Once de Gea has successfully adapted to the physicality and pace of the English game, he is bound to get a chance sooner or later to make the number 1 jersey his own.

4. You Can Only Glue It Back Together so Many Times: Rio Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand has been ever-present in the United back line for almost a decade now. But over the last twelve months, injuries seem to have caught up with the former Leeds man and his distress was evident when his hamstring gave way in the first half against the Baggies.

As he resumed his seat next to partner in crime — and injury — Nemanja Vidic, the ex-United and England captain, who will be sidelined for six weeks, cut a genuinely forlorn figure. The bright spot for United fans is that Phil Jones slotted perfectly into place alongside Jonny Evans.

However, the fact remains that Ferdinand draws a massive £120,000-a-week salary while playing in only 19 league games last season and a measly 12 the season before!

Coupled with the fact that United's new generation of defenders — Smalling, Jones, Evans and the da Silva twins — are blending together seamlessly, those numbers could force Fergie's hand into moving the Peckham-born Rio on in the summer.

Rio has pride on his side and has always maintained that he will go out on top. Judging by his severely hampered playing time over the past two seasons and his slow start this season, the time may have come for our most experienced defender to take the walk into the sunset come the end of the season.

5. Back in Business: Jonny Evans

The Northern Ireland international spent a year in the footballing wilderness after some shocking displays last season, but he is back and he means business.

The young centre half seems to have recaptured his form of two seasons ago, and from the looks of it, Didier Drogba will be wearing a chest guard when Chelsea square off against United on September 18.

In a curious parallel to the boy who cried wolf, it is funny to note that even Frank Lampard merely walks away as though he has seen the act a thousand times. Incidentally, the only thing more amusing than watching Drogba take a yellow card for his troubles is the grin that dances across the face of Nemanja Vidic, who is clearly beaming with pride: "Yes, I taught him that."

A worrying factor seems to be that Evans still struggles against more physical forwards, as he did with Somen Tchoyi against West Brom. However, physical development is something that comes with time and experience and he looks set for a healthy dose of each with both Ferdinand and Vidic sidelined by injuries.

In Conclusion...

Sir Alex Ferguson will be wary of the long list of defensive injuries facing his squad with Ferdinand and Vidic joined at the physio table by Rafael and Patrice Evra too. However, in Smalling, Jones, Evans and Fabio, United have deputies who are more than capable of (and are probably quite eager to be) taking over.

There are far more positives to take from the Red Devils' first outing of the new season, not least of which is the fact that they have got an early jump on their title rivals in London and on Merseyside. In addition, with Tom Cleverley in such fine form, there is no danger of Michael Carrick taking the field any time soon, which should draw a contented sigh of relief from any United fan.

Onwards we plough, then, into the myriad of challenges that await United in what looks like quite a tough beginning to the season. A visit from Tottenham and Arsenal in the coming weeks is followed by two tricky away fixtures at Bolton and Stoke, split by a visit from Chelsea. You could not write a tougher list of fixtures if you were scripting a movie entitled "Hercules and the Old Trafford Hotseat."

And on that note, we part company. Fare thee well and all that is left to say is, "Come on you reds!"

Disclaimer

Bleacher Report claims no knowledge of Dimitar Berbatov going missing during daytime fixtures over the past season because he cannot risk direct exposure to the Sun. We also cannot confirm the allegations that the sullen Bulgarian striker was asked a question about the time he spent filming the Twilight movies, whereupon he sunk his fangs into our reporter's neck, transformed into a large bat and fled into the air vent.