Sir Alex Ferguson’s team have an ability to grind out results that sets them apart from their rivals. This campaign will not be as simple as that, though, and the early form of David de Gea is more than enough to give those sides determined to dethrone the champions a glimmer of hope.
The young Spaniard’s mistake, like his error for Edin Dzeko’s goal in the Community Shield last weekend, went unpunished because of United’s uncanny strength under pressure. They are better than any other team when the heat is on.
That is why, on a weekend when Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have all drawn, United managed to earn a victory. That is why they are favourites to retain their Premier League crown.
And it is also why Ferguson does not have to consider dropping De Gea, a counter-productive move that would unquestionably shatter his confidence just weeks into his career in England. On the face of it, there is no harm done. Their character and resilience has spared the 20 year-old’s blushes.
But after making two mistakes in two weeks, United now find themselves bereft of confidence in their goalkeeper when their opponents will start to believe they have found a chink in the champions’ armour.
Such a lack of faith could hardly have come at a worse time: next up at Old Trafford are Tottenham and Arsenal, two sides who United cannot just steamroll over. They will not enjoy 70 per cent of possession against either of those teams, while both Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp will send their players out with instructions to test De Gea from long range, to challenge him on crosses, to shatter his confidence even more.
If they can, then that will give great hope to the rest of the league that perhaps United are not such clear favourites as might have been assumed. It will let the pack rein the champions in. They won, but they are hardly off to a flier.
To make matters worse, United will not even have the experience of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to protect the former Atletico Madrid player as he finds his feet in England. Ferdinand is out for six weeks, Vidic for two.
That may leave Ferguson with little option but to go into two crucial games against top six rivals with a defence of De Gea, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Fabio.
My record with underestimating how successful kids can be is dreadful, but the crucial difference between the class of 1995, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the rest, and Ferguson’s current crop is in the defence: then, he had Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Dennis Irwin to look after his fledglings.
It is too simple to say you will win nothing with a kid in goal, but it is a monumental challenge to ask a defence with an average age of 22 to go into games with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs. De Gea would need four, five or six weeks to get used to the English game anyway. His adaptation would be much easier if Vidic and Ferdinand were there to help.
As it is, he will have to look to Jones, Evans and Smalling. That is easier said than done in a side where the goalkeeper is so clearly vulnerable.
Centre-back play is not just about experience, but about confidence, and it is hard to find that when you are watching your goalkeeper as much as watching the game, worried that he is going to make a mistake at any moment.
De Gea is in trouble now, not simply because of the scrutiny that will come in the newspapers and on the television — to players, that does not really matter — but because he does not have the trust of his team-mates.
The only way he can earn that is by going out and eradicating the mistakes.
He needs a run of eight, 10 or more games without any sort of error, because as soon as he makes another one, people will automatically remember the two that have marred his first two games in England. Here we go again. He may never escape that stigma.
And if that error comes, say, when United have lost to Arsenal or to Spurs, then suddenly Ferguson has a much more difficult decision to make. That is when the damage really will be done.
If they can, then that will give great hope to the rest of the league that perhaps United are not such clear favourites as might have been assumed. It will let the pack rein the champions in. They won, but they are hardly off to a flier.
To make matters worse, United will not even have the experience of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to protect the former Atletico Madrid player as he finds his feet in England. Ferdinand is out for six weeks, Vidic for two.
That may leave Ferguson with little option but to go into two crucial games against top six rivals with a defence of De Gea, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Fabio.
My record with underestimating how successful kids can be is dreadful, but the crucial difference between the class of 1995, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and the rest, and Ferguson’s current crop is in the defence: then, he had Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce and Dennis Irwin to look after his fledglings.
It is too simple to say you will win nothing with a kid in goal, but it is a monumental challenge to ask a defence with an average age of 22 to go into games with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs. De Gea would need four, five or six weeks to get used to the English game anyway. His adaptation would be much easier if Vidic and Ferdinand were there to help.
As it is, he will have to look to Jones, Evans and Smalling. That is easier said than done in a side where the goalkeeper is so clearly vulnerable.
Centre-back play is not just about experience, but about confidence, and it is hard to find that when you are watching your goalkeeper as much as watching the game, worried that he is going to make a mistake at any moment.
De Gea is in trouble now, not simply because of the scrutiny that will come in the newspapers and on the television — to players, that does not really matter — but because he does not have the trust of his team-mates.
The only way he can earn that is by going out and eradicating the mistakes.
He needs a run of eight, 10 or more games without any sort of error, because as soon as he makes another one, people will automatically remember the two that have marred his first two games in England. Here we go again. He may never escape that stigma.
And if that error comes, say, when United have lost to Arsenal or to Spurs, then suddenly Ferguson has a much more difficult decision to make. That is when the damage really will be done.
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