Boss Protective Of Januzaj

Manchester United manager David Moyes is remaining protective of Adnan Januzaj after the exciting teenager was in the spotlight again during the win against West Ham.

The 18-year-old felt he should have earned a penalty after being barged over by Mark Noble before netting his first-ever goal at Old Trafford with a firm finish after a beautiful shimmy past James Collins.

An incident involving Welsh defender Collins also saw Januzaj booked for simulation when he went to ground as the centre-back shaped to make an aggressive challenge. It prompted questions about the matter but Moyes feels the attention was focused in the wrong direction.

Javier Hernandez was hurt by a poor tackle from George McCartney and required treatment, with referee Mike Jones opting to produce a yellow card for the offence - the same punishment that was meted out to Januzaj.

"It was a great goal," applauded the boss. "He’s got an array of goals and can score with both feet.

"He showed composure in the box, sitting the player down to make the room to score. He’s an exceptional talent but he’s still 18 and we have to mindful of that. I thought there were a few things today when his youthfulness went ahead of him a bit but we’re really pleased by how he’s doing.

"I’m concerned with the number of tackles he’s having to deal with. If you look in every game, he’s probably getting tackled or kicked more than anybody.

"We’ll have a word with him and make sure he does things right. I think today he thought that Collins was going to come in and clatter him, so he tried to ride it and it’s looked worse than it actually was."

Moyes was clearly unhappy with the later challenge on Hernandez, who came in for some rough treatment and was unlucky to see a goal disallowed.

"It may be you're picking on the wrong tackle today," he asserted. "I thought I'd be asked about the tackle on Hernandez. The referee didn't deal with it so you can only go on that. He saw a bit of simulation in the other one but didn't see that one. What we've got to do is make sure we're not the ones coming out and complaining too much.

"I came out last week and mentioned the number of tackles Adnan was having to deal with but it’s up to the referees to make sure this doesn’t happen. Adnan is very difficult to mark. He's elusive and the way he moves can bring defenders in to tackle and it's the referees who have to call it. I just hope they don't wait until he gets a bad one before they get it right."