O’Neill blown away by hotshots

Man United 3 Sunderland 1

Despite taking the duo’s tally to nine goals in four matches, they should have had three goals each in the hammering of Sunderland but van Persie still earned comparisons with Lionel Messi from losing manager Martin O’Neill. The nature of United is that people will always find it easy to pick at them, even when they are six points clear at the top of the table, but there is also the sense, in a positive way, that there is still much more to come.

With no football under his belt, Nemanja Vidic looked rusty when he ended his three-month spell on the sidelines with a knee problem but the Serbian provides assurance and steel.

There was also a first Premier League start of the season for Phil Jones, who looked like the swarming presence that marked the early weeks of his United career a year ago.

With Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley blending as a combination, even on a quiet day, Antonio Valencia gives a ceaseless option on the right flank, while Ashley Young is again showing that there is more to him than diving.

Just like the defence, all of a sudden there are plenty of options and the Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa starts training again this morning following a knee injury of his own. But it is at the sharp end that United continue to show their dominance over City and it is not just with their first-choice partnership.

It is hard to argue with the quality of Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez but whether Edin Dzeko will settle for the substitute’s role that Roberto Mancini has earmarked for him or whether Mario Balotelli will bring anything but bother is unclear.

As well as Kagawa, United have Javier Hernandez, who still comes across as grateful to be at Old Trafford, and Danny Welbeck with Alex Ferguson promising the England striker enough football to keep him happy for now. Yet they can hardly grumble when they see Rooney dropping off and wreaking havoc and van Persie gracefully sniffing out goals.

“United have paid close on £30m for a player who had just one year left on his contract, so that might tell you how valuable they perceive him to be but it’s not just the perception, the reality is that he has been fantastic,” O’Neill said.

“Honestly, he can get goals out of very little. It looks like nothing is happening, you have players there in the area, but all of a sudden, he has opened up a gap. That’s not to say that Tevez and Aguero are not great players because they are, but this extra boost that United got in pre-season would have been psychologically massive.”

Would, for instance, Barcelona have the same effect if Lionel Messi didn’t play?

“The number of goals he has scored is incredible,” O’Neill added. “They are a very talented team, but without him, you don’t know because Messi is their talisman. Van Persie and Rooney, the two of them are linking up and keeping some excellent players out of the team, and they really are excellent.”

The Dutchman set United on their way when he finished from John O’Shea’s weak clearance after a quarter-of-an-hour and, three minutes later, Cleverley swapped passes with Carrick before guiding a neat shot around Simon Mignolet.

Chance after chance was wasted before Rooney tapped in from a van Persie cross but Fraizer Campbell’s header ensured United still have a paltry four clean sheets from 25 matches.

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): De Gea 7; Jones 8, Smalling 7, Ferdinand 6 (Vidic 68, 6), Evra 7; Valencia 7, Carrick 8 (Scholes 46, 7), Cleverley 8 (Giggs 73, 6), Young 8; Rooney 8, van Persie 8.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Mignolet 7; Cuellar 6, O’Shea 5, Bramble 5, Colback 6 (McFadden 85); Johnson 5 (Campbell 68, 7), Larsson 6, Gardner 5, McClean 5; Sessegnon 6, Fletcher 5 (Wickham 46, 6).

Referee: Chris Foy.