Thursday, 27th September, 2012

Sir Alex Ferguson has expressed his delight after his Manchester United side beat Newcastle United 2-1 at Old Trafford in the League Cup last night.

Ferguson made a number of changes to his team, giving several youngsters a run out, while Newcastle played a side which the Manchester United boss felt was stronger physically.

relatedNewsStory The hosts took the lead through Anderson on the stroke of half time, before Tom Cleverley added a second after 58 minutes.


But Newcastle quickly had hope of a comeback when Papiss Cisse scored just two minutes later – and the Magpies gave as good as they got; despite being outdone on the possession stakes by Manchester United, Newcastle did end the night with 13 shots on goal, a statistic which pointed to their attacking intent throughout the match.

And so, Ferguson was pleased that his side had come through what he saw as a genuine test.

"I’m very pleased", the Manchester United boss told his club’s official site.


"First of all, given the tie was an all-Premier League one and Newcastle are probably a stronger team than us physically, we played some fantastic football.

"We kept on playing our football and persevered with that and had good composure in our game.

"I was really pleased with that and I think we deserved to win. Newcastle are a very powerful team so it’s good to get through that one."

The match also marked the return of Wayne Rooney after injury, with the England striker managing 76 minutes before being substituted, and Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher, who continued to be eased back into the side after his long layoff.

"Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher were excellent – Wayne understandably tired a little towards the end but that was to be expected.

"I’m really pleased for the both of them. They have all done really well. Some of them tired but that was understandable as it was a first game for some of them."

Manchester United have been drawn to face Chelsea away in the fourth round of the League Cup.

Read our betting preview: Manchester United v Tottenham.

 

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