Bright Start To US Tour

Sir Alex branded Manchester United's first match of the 2011 pre-season tour a success after the Reds beat New England Revolution 4-1 at Gillette Stadium.

Second-half goals from Michael Owen, Federico Macheda (2) and Ji-sung Park handed United the win and there was added cause for celebration from a fitness point of view.

“You're always glad to get the first game out of the way,” the manager told media afterwards. “You expect maybe some tiredness to creep in at some point in the game, but I thought our fitness looked good.

“And we managed to get most of the players some game time, which is the main reason for having pre-season games, to make sure everybody, by the end of the tour, has enough game time to get his rhythm and tempo back in.

“These are the types of games that help towards that. I thought in the second half, when we speeded up our passing in the last third we scored some very good goals. I'm satisfied.”

All five of the game's goals came in the second half, with young Italian striker Macheda bagging two in the space of eight minutes.

“You saw Macheda's finishes today,” Sir Alex said. “They were first-class. He is special: at 19 years of age we still have great hopes for him. With Macheda back and Mame Diouf back now, I'm going to be picking from six strikers, which isn't a bad thing.”