Welbeck now in need of some Ferguson rhetoric

Manchester United 4 Wigan 0

It is to be hoped that the veteran manager is similarly hard-line in his approach towards his England forward Danny Welbeck.

Just 24 hours after Ferguson had called for United fans to “draw a line in the sand” in the hated rivalry with Liverpool, a response to the findings of the Independent Hillsborough Panel last week, large sections of those supporters were lustily chanting anti-Liverpool songs.

There was no direct reference to the 1989 tragedy which killed 96 Merseyside fans but a song, supposedly aimed at Luis Suarez in the wake of the Patrice Evra race row, sailed close to the wind, including the refrain: “You’re always the victims, it’s never your fault.”

Even if those fans are given the benefit of the doubt in that instance, the chanting not only fuelled what will already be an emotive meeting between the two clubs at Anfield on Sunday but also marked a stunning disregard for the wishes of their manager.

“The club deplore it,” said a United statement on Saturday night. “The manager has made the club’s position very clear on the matter and it is now up to the fans to respect that.”

How Ferguson deals with Welbeck will be another matter after a routine United victory became overshadowed by the forward’s blatant simulation in a successful attempt to trick referee Michael Oliver into awarding him a fourth-minute penalty.

The kick was, fittingly, saved by Ali Al Habsi, who dived low to keep out Javier Hernandez’s shot after television replays showed the Wigan goalkeeper had made no contact with Welbeck who, nonetheless, had gone to ground spectacularly to win the decision.

Such incidents usually give managers the opportunity to play the euphemism game and skirt around the issue of describing an opponent as a “cheat” or “diver”.

Not so Wigan’s Roberto Martinez, in this case.

“He dived, he dived for the penalty,” said Martinez, quite accurately. “That was as bad a decision as you will see.”

Ferguson has been known to talk to his players on the subject of their over-enthusiasm to win a penalty — most famously, he helped Cristiano Ronaldo’s standing in the English game by telling him to cut out diving — and it is to be hoped that Welbeck is given the benefit of the manager’s wisdom.

For, while Welbeck’s dive dominated post-match analysis, that detracted from what was a clinical attacking display from a team which had Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa on the bench for the majority of the contest.

After losing last season’s title on goal difference, Ferguson had vowed that would never happen again and, after a poor defensive start to the season, his team’s goal difference leaped from a modest ‘plus one’ to ‘plus five’ in the space of the second half on Saturday.

Paul Scholes, on his 700th appearance, tapped in after Al Habsi failed to deal with Nani’s cross, Hernandez turned in a shot from debutant Alexander Buttner before the full-back himself scored from a tight angle and another debutant, the promising midfielder Nick Powell, completed the rout with a superb long-range strike.

A year ago, United fans were highly critical of United’s transfer policy as neighbours City were stockpiling talent but the early signs at least suggest that the club has had a profitable window in 2012.

“Some of Buttner’s play was good but I think he was a little bit rash at times,” said Ferguson. “He has a great engine and great enthusiasm for the game but he’s raw with a lot of rough edges there.

“We think we can develop that and hopefully he can be a really good addition to the team.

“Nick Powell is going to be a really good player who, we hope, will fill Paul Scholes’ boots in terms of he’s got terrific vision, good temperament, two great feet, is quick and is a great striker of the ball.”

MAN UNITED (4-4-2): Lindegaard 6; Rafael 7, Ferdinand 6, Vidic 7 (Evans 76, 6), Buttner 9; Nani 7, Carrick 6, Scholes 8 (van Persie 71, 6), Giggs 8 (Powell 71, 7); Hernandez 6, Welbeck 7.

WIGAN (3-4-3): Al Habsi 6; Ramis 5, Caldwell 6, Figueroa 7; Boyce 6, McCarthy 6, McCarthur 5, Beausejour 5 (Jones 68, 5); di Santo 5, Maloney 5 (Gomez 58, 6), Kone 5.

Referee: M Oliver 5.