By MARTIN BLACKBURN
ROBIN VAN PERSIE continued the explosive start to his Manchester United career.
But boss Alex Ferguson believes his team are still not getting the most out of their Dutch destroyer!
RVP scored his 15th goal of the season and then put one on a plate for strike partner Wayne Rooney as United eased into a 3-0 lead.
Boss Fergie praised the former Arsenal man but believes he can get better still when his team-mates start giving him the right kind of service.
The Old Trafford boss said: “Sometimes they still don’t pick out Robin van Persie’s runs as well as they should.
“But his movement always kept them on the back foot. And Wayne could have scored four in this game easily — he hit the bar and missed two or three in the first half.
“But he has a goal and that is important, it keeps his run going. For an hour it was wonderful to watch.”
United wasted no time regaining their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League after watching title rivals Manchester City win at Newcastle earlier in the day.
Goals from Van Persie, Tom Cleverley and Rooney put them 3-0 up after 59 minutes.
But Fergie admitted the Red Devils could have been embarrassed after substitute Fraizer Campbell pulled one back for Sunderland.
He said: “For an hour we were fantastic. Some of our football was very good and we could have scored lots of goals.
“But I don’t know what happened after that because Sunderland could have had two or three towards the end, it could have been embarrassing.
“I don’t know if we were relaxed or Sunderland picked up the baton 20 minutes from time. They played very well, they could have scored two or three.”
A 10th victory in 11 League games ensured United will be top of the tree at Christmas.Fergie added: “We will try and keep the momentum going. Hopefully by the time New Year is over we’ll be top of the league.
“The name of the game is to win games now and get some momentum going.”
The biggest cheer of the afternoon came when skipper Nemanja Vidic returned to action as a second-half substitute after recovering from knee surgery.
Fergie said: “I’m delighted Vidic is a back. He’s a warrior.
“It will take him time to get full match fitness but it is a start.”
Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill said there was no shame in his team losing to United — but felt they had made it too easy for the leaders with their disappointing first-half show.He said: “United are a fine side — if they can stay clear of injuries they are more than capable of winning the title.
“It’s difficult enough here at the best of times.
“You have to show determination and spirit and at least we did that second half.
“But we made it much easier for them than we should have done.”
At least the Black Cats showed some heart after the break.
O’Neill added: “I’m very encouraged by the way we performed in the second half and showed a lot of spirit — but we gave them a helping hand early on and they don’t need that.”
Sunderland face a key game with fellow strugglers Southampton next week.
And they are sweating on the fitness of star striker Steven Fletcher, who picked up a back injury in the warm-up.
O’Neill said: “We have a big game next week against Southampton, that’s the kind of battle we need to win.
“We have to try and spend on our team in January.
“You are going to get injuries and suspensions over the course of the season and you have to cope with that. We’ll have to do some tests on Steven.”
