Man Utd crush Everton

Laurent Blanc surges forward on his United debut

Manchester United 4-1 Everton

Manchester United's shadow squad swept away the air of trepidation hanging over Old Trafford with a crushing dismissal of Everton.

United shrugged off the controversy surrounding the shock sale of Jaap Stam and speculation about the future of several stars to deliver a virtuoso first-half display to set up a comfortable win.

And they did it with an awesome show of their overall power by winning without David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes in their starting line-up.

I thought he was marvellous, top drawer - he's a great player and I'm really pleased with him

Sir Alex Ferguson on Juan Sebastian Veron

United established their supremacy with three goals inside the first 46 minutes, including a first for Juan Sebastian Veron in the Premiership after his £28.1m British record summer move from Lazio.

And England captain Beckham crowned the perfect personal week with a trademark long-range strike in the last minute.

Walter Smith's side mounted a spirited second-half recovery, but only after United eased off visibly.

Everton had hopes of troubling United debutant Laurent Blanc with the aerial power of Duncan Ferguson and Kevin Campbell - but he had a relatively untroubled afternoon, such was his side's superiority.

United surged forward from the start, and the only surprise was that it took 21 minutes before the imperious Veron put them ahead.

Quinton Fortune had already struck the woodwork and Dwight Yorke missed a glorious opportunity before the Argentine broke the deadlock.

He played a one-two with Roy Keane before chesting down and beating Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard with ease.

Andy Cole deservedly doubled United's advantage five minutes before the interval, scoring from eight yards after he was set up by England Under-21 international Luke Chadwick.

I don't think we deserved much better than that, but I'm disappointed with the way we lost the goals

Everton manager Walter Smith

And any hopes Everton had of an unlikely comeback ended inside the first 20 second of the second half, when Fortune closed in and fired an impressive finish past Gerrard.

Everton gave themselves a measure of respectablity on 67 minutes when Campbell turned home from close range after Scot Gemmill sprang the United offside trap.

Ferguson responded by sending on the big guns, Beckham and Van Nistelrooy for Yorke and Chadwick.

But Everton gave United another scare late on when Ferguson struck an upright with Fabien Barthez scrambling.

It was Beckham, however, who had the last word in the dying seconds by firing comprehensively past Gerrard with his right foot from 25 yards.

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Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Brown, Blanc, Phil Neville, Chadwick, Veron, Keane, Fortune, Cole, Yorke. Subs: Carroll, Beckham, Giggs, Silvestre, van Nistelrooy.

Everton: Gerrard, Unsworth, Stubbs, Weir, Watson, Alexandersson, Gemmill, Pembridge, Pistone, Campbell, Ferguson. Subs: Simonsen, Tal, Moore, Xavier, Chadwick.

Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).