Red Devils beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at Old Trafford in Premier League opener
Manchester United have started the new Premier League campaign with three points after beating Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford this lunchtime.
A Kyle Walker own-goal was what separated the two teams on what was a quiet affair in Manchester with not many chances for either side.
Louis Van Gaal gave full competitive debuts to Sergio Romero, Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay, whilst Mauricio Pochettino handed Toby Alderweireld a full debut.
Match Summary
The first chance of the game came for the visitors after Harry Kane put through Christian Eriksen, however the Dane could only chip the ball over Romero and over the bar.
United‘s first-real chance came in the 22nd minute and it was in fact their winning goal.
An Ashley Young low-cross was met by Wayne Rooney, who took a touch to compose himself before Walker tackled him but saw the ball roll past Michel Vorm and into the back of the net.
United managed to hold onto that 1-0 lead for the remainder of the game sealing their first win of the season.
Bastian Schweinsteiger made a cameo appearance in the second-half, as did Spurs‘ new youngster Dele Alli, but as for chances, there weren’t many.
Young forced Vorm into a low-save, as did Eriksen when he tested Romero, but apart from that it was comfortable for Van Gaal‘s men.
Up next for United is a trip to Aston Villa on Friday night, whilst Spurs host Stoke City on the Saturday.
Match Reaction
Louis Van Gaal: “We’ve seen two pressing teams. We couldn’t cope with their pressing, and Tottenham couldn’t cope with ours. I’m very happy that we’ve won in the end. I had expected better from us.
“Tottenham were pressing and we didn’t have the time to pass. We have to improve on that. I said to Memphis Depay that he doesn’t have to play too eagerly and with too much passion, and that counts for the whole team. But it is always – the first time you play at Old Trafford it s always difficult, but I liked the performance especially from Matteo Darmian.
“I am not the most important part with David De Gea. The most important part is the player and the club who wants to buy him. He’s our best layer for the past 2 or 3 years so we cannot let him go so easily. We want to sell at the same level as we pay. We want to keep him of course.”
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney: “Today was all about the three points. Pre-season was relatively short compared to previous ones. We’re still working. It was a big victory for us today.”
Manchester United defender Chris Smalling: “It was good to get that clean sheet. At times we didn’t play well today, but we dug in at the end and it was an important three points. It was important we got off to a good start.”
Tottenham defender Kyle Walker: “We gave them a game today but we just lacked the goals. (For the own goal) I tried to stick my foot in the way so that he’d kick my foot instead of the ball, so it’s a bit unlucky really as I’d made up a lot of ground to get there. We just look onwards and upwards to our next game.”
Spurs boss Pochettinho: “We’re very frustrated and disappointed because until the goal, we played much better than them, we created some chances and dominated the game.
“After we conceded the goal it was difficult to play to the same level. I think we played very well.
“It’s true that when you compete against a team like Manchester United you need to avoid mistakes. And there were two or 3 big, big mistakes today. On the whole we need to be happy though.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
