Manchester United will aim to continue their good start to the season when they travel to the KC Stadium to face Hull City on Saturday evening.
Having beaten Leicester City, Bournemouth and Southampton in consecutive games thus far this season, José Mourinho’s side are beginning to look more like the formidable United side which won almost all before them only a few years ago.
That was when Sir Alex Ferguson in charge, though, and things were certainly very different then to how they are now when the Scot was still in charge.
The Red Devils have only faced Hull 28 times in their history, and, typically, the highest scoring of all of those matches came during the Scot’s tenure as boss.
Indeed, back in November 2008, Fergie’s men welcomed the Tigers to Old Trafford for what looked like would be a run-of-the-mill victory for the reigning European champions.
That feeling was emphasised even further when Cristiano Ronaldo controlled Dimitar Berbatov’s pass in the third minute. The Portuguese then tucked a left-footed drive inside the near post, bouncing in off the post for an early 1-0 lead.
However, the visitors scored a surprise equaliser 20 minutes later, as Daniel Cousin glanced a header into Edwin van der Sar’s far corner from Andy Dawson’s free-kick on the right side.
In the vintage counter attacking style which has become increasingly sparse, United soon went back in front. Berbatov again got the assist, as he laid the ball off for Michael Carrick who, like Ronaldo, hit the same inside of the post to see his left-footed effort put the Red Devils back in front.
Ronaldo then headed in a second from Nani’s corner, asserting United’s dominance for a 3-1 half-time lead.
Although Nemanja Vidic then tapped in from Wayne Rooney’s corner only moments after the break, a spirited Hull side showed the determination which had seen them go unbeaten in their first five away league games of that season.
Bernard Mendy pulled one back, shrugging off Patrice Evra’s aerial challenge before lobbing Van der Sar, and then earned his side a penalty after he was brought down by Rio Ferdinand inside the area.
Ex-Manchester City attacker Geovanni converted the spot kick to give United a scare in the last ten minutes at 4-3, a scoreline which had seemed improbable after Fergie’s men spurned several opportunities to score.
United held on for a 4-3 win, taking their League tally to 21 points after 10 games with a victory that saw them leapfrog their opponents. The Tigers had already beaten Tottenham and Arsenal away that season, but there was to be no success story at Old Trafford.
A goal-filled game that wouldn’t have been the most pleasing in a defensive aspect for Ferguson, it still earned United three points – and that alone means Mourinho would no doubt take a repeat result come 5.30pm on Saturday.
