Sir Alex Backs New Signings

Sir Alex Ferguson had words of praise or support for the players making their first Barclays Premier League starts for United on Sunday.

While Ashley Young created both goals in United’s 2-1 win over West Brom and Tom Cleverley built on his top-flight experience with Wigan, David De Gea had a more difficult time, conceding a goal that the boss admitted he “should have done better for”.

“I think it was just a bit of concentration there,” said Sir Alex, referring to the moment Shane Long’s cross-shot slid past De Gea’s hands.

“I patted him on the head and said, ‘Welcome to English football’ because he took a battering in the second half. He should have maybe been protected more by the referee but he withstood it and it was a good experience for him. David is only 20 years of age. We expect a learning process at the moment and we'll see it through.”

De Gea can draw comfort from Sir Alex’s comparison with the early days in England for Peter Schmeichel, arguably United's best keeper of all time.

“Ours is a different type of game for goalkeepers coming in from Europe,” reflected the boss. “Schmeichel was the same when he came. Wimbledon away on a Wednesday night was his first away game and they gave him a torrid time. Then in the home game on the following Saturday against Leeds he lost a really bad goal but Peter went on to be possibly the greatest goalkeeper of all time."

Sir Alex felt West Brom’s equaliser came when United’s previously fluid outfield players took their foot off the gas.

“The first 25 minutes I thought we were superb,” he said. “Our movement of the ball was great, the interchanging and speed of our play was great. Then for some reason we started to slow down the build-up to a level where we lost that momentum.”

United finally regained the lead in the 81st minute when Young worked his way down the left and delivered a low ball that took one or two deflections before beating Ben Foster, the former Reds keeper now in West Brom’s goal.

“He's got good composure on the ball and he's not just a crosser, his interplay with the rest of the players was good,” praised Sir Alex. “He made the first goal for Wayne Rooney with a good pass and he was a threat all the time. He had a few crosses blocked and when he decided to go the opposite way and go towards the byline, he had instant success. Okay, it was an own goal but he created the danger by getting to the byline.”

Young wasn’t the only one earning the manager’s praise after helping the Reds to overcome a West Brom side “galvanised” by Roy Hodgson and described by Sir Alex as "a handful going forward. The lad Tchoyi gave us a hard time."

“We had some good performances. Rooney was fantastic today, he was all over the pitch. Young Cleverley did well and I have to say when your two most experienced players have to come off in the second half, it's not easy for a young defender to go on. But Phil Jones and Jonny Evans were terrific, absolutely terrific.”

Sir Alex was speaking to Sky Sports and MUTV.