Welbeck Impressed Cole On Pre-season Tour

Danny Welbeck will head into the new 2014/15 campaign with praise from a former Manchester United striker ringing in his ears.

The 23-year-old forward scored the Reds' first goal of the pre-season tour which ended earlier this week and generally impressed Andy Cole, who attended all the matches in the United States as a member of the team's travelling entourage.

Cole, now a club ambassador, told ManUtd.com: "I enjoyed watching Danny Welbeck on the tour. He finished it with an injury unfortunately and had to miss the final.

"But I was impressed by the way he came out of the blocks on tour, with a super finish for the first goal against LA Galaxy."

All three of United's regular strikers on the tour - Welbeck, Javier Hernandez and Wayne Rooney - netted at least once in North America, with the latter top scoring on five. Cole feels the 3-5-2 formation favours the forwards and welcomes the return to a more positive approach.

"The way we played was very intricate, there was a lot of one-touch football and people getting into good areas," assessed Andy.

"We seem very attack-minded in this pre-season whereas last season we weren’t attack-minded at all. If you look at it now, all the players are playing well, everyone’s fitting into the system, we’re creating chances and looking like we’re going to score goals.

"The first goal against Real Madrid, scored by Ashley Young, was a fantastic team goal. It epitomised what we are trying to do now at Manchester United - trying to get the ball down, pass it and create chances by being very intricate.

"As for the best individual goal, I’d pick Wazza’s (Rooney's) first against Roma because that was a quality finish, the way he bent it into the top bin."

When pushed on whether he would have liked to play in the new system, Cole admitted "it suits everyone" but remained loyal to the tactics which helped him score 121 goals in 275 games for United between 1995 and 2001.

"I was very fortunate with the way United played in my time," he said. "We were 4-4-2 and very attack-minded. We had players who could create goals from ridiculous angles, like Giggsy, Scholesy, Butty and Beckham.

"I really like the way United are playing now but I can never get away from how happy I was playing in the team I played in. We won an awful lot and played very entertaining football."