Moyes lauds strikers after 'dream start'

Published August 18, 2013
David Moyes celebrates a Van Persie goal. -Photo by Reuters
David Moyes celebrates a Van Persie goal. -Photo by Reuters

SWANSEA: David Moyes praised Manchester United for a clinical performance after a 4-1 win at Swansea City on Saturday in his first Premier League game as manager.

Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck each scored twice, Wilfried Bony replying for the hosts, to send United to the top of the fledgling standings after the season's opening day.

Asked if it had been a dream start to his Old Trafford tenure, Moyes told Sky Sports: “It is, because you always want to win your games and when you're manager of Manchester United, the job is to win the games.

“I was made well aware of it and the players did it today. They did really well.”

Swansea made an assured start to the game on a greasy, rain-slicked pitch at the Liberty Stadium, only for Van Persie to break the deadlock with an acrobatic right-foot volley in the 34th minute.

Moyes described it as a “brilliantly taken goal” and he concurred with Swansea coach Michael Laudrup's assessment that the quality of United's strikes had been the difference between the teams.

“Michael Laudrup was a top player himself, so he'll know quality when he sees it,” said Moyes, who succeeded Alex Ferguson in July.

“The players who finished them off are real quality players and they were quality goals. There was a little bit of difference when we got that. We could have played better at times in the game, but overall I'm more than happy with winning here 4-1.”

Moyes was also able to give Wayne Rooney a run-out, after the unsettled striker missed United's entire pre-season campaign with hamstring and shoulder injuries.

He played for 66 minutes in England's 3-2 win over Scotland on Wednesday and made a telling contribution against Swansea, teeing up Van Persie to smash home United's third goal and then releasing Welbeck to make it 4-1 with a delightful lob.

“He got 65 minutes in the game against Scotland the other night,” said Moyes, who has rejected two bids from Chelsea for the 27-year-old striker.

“I felt that he could do a job today if he got a chance to come on. He's not ready yet physically, because he's not done enough training.

“Obviously that hasn't changed much apart from him getting a little bit of match practice, but he came on and he had a great run for Robin's (second) goal and he played Danny in for his goal. It'll be good for Wayne to get those minutes on the pitch.”

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