De Laet Overcomes Nerves

Ritchie De Laet overcame any pre-match nerves to deliver a solid performance and help United navigate a potentially tricky Carling Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur.

De Laet started his first game of the season at left-back and played a key part in keeping Spurs’ experienced stars at bay as the Reds won 2-0 thanks to a double strike from Darron Gibson.

Belgian defender De Laet certainly felt the step up from the Reserves, but showed his gratitude to the more senior players for their support.

Speaking to MUTV, he said: “It was a lot quicker than playing in the Reserves on a Thursday night, but Nemanja, Wes and Ji helped me through and it was a good result in the end.

“It’s always nerve-wracking for a young player if you come into the dressing room knowing you are playing. You want to get onto the pitch as quickly as possible, but at the same time you don’t want to do anything wrong because it’s your big chance.

“You have to get through those first few minutes and then see what the game does for you.”

Ritchie had to adapt quickly and the prospect of keeping David Bentley quiet was daunting enough. Not only did he complete that task effectively, he saw off the threat of another of the top flight’s trickiest wingers, Aaron Lennon, when the diminutive wide man switched flanks in the second half.

“Bentley is a different type of player to Lennon, so you have to approach it differently. In the last 10 or 15 minutes Lennon came to my side and I had to think again because I had to change my approach. But as a professional footballer you have to learn to adapt to the game.”

Adapt he did, and Ritchie will hope he did enough to earn another chance to shine when the Reds find out the Carling Cup semi-final draw on Wednesday evening. And he feels the youngsters, with the support of one or two old heads, are capable of going all the way in the competition.

“We knew that if we won this game we’d get at least two more matches in the semis so it’s always good to progress,” he said. “It looks good if you get to the final, and then you have the chance to win it. The first-team lads always come and tell us we’re doing well, and we just need to do what we do in training. It gives you confidence.”

De Laet reserved a special final mention for fellow young gun and Reds’ match-winner Darron Gibson.

“He practises those shots every day in training,” he said. “Sometimes you get days where they go high or wide but they were two brilliant goals and his performance all round was excellent. He came to pick the ball from the defence and fed the forwards, which is what you want from a central midfielder.”