Manchester Utd 5 Stoke City 0: EVEN THOSE who did not necessarily carry the fortunes of Manchester United close to their heart, whose heads had not been turned by the whispered blandishments of Alex Ferguson, could not fail to leave Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon without a glow of pleasure over the appropriateness of this result.

This had less to do with United than Stoke, even though there were times, especially in the second half, when the home side produced some breathtaking exchanges. Cristiano Ronaldo, in particular, showed some scintillating touches and Dimitar Berbatov, once again, proved himself one of the best hold-up men in the game.

No, it had more to do with Stoke. Their football failed to fire the imagination and a large section of their witless supporters soured the spirit by verbally abusing Ronaldo whenever he was remotely near the ball.

No footballer should be subjected to that. No spectator, either. And after the match the distressingly hard-of-hearing Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, completed a squalid little day for his club when he said: "You get some banter. I don't know what they were singing. I switch off when I'm in the technical zone."

It was left to Stoke's left-back Danny Higginbotham, who started his peripatetic career at Manchester United, to partially redeem the day for Potteries folk. He said of Ronaldo: "The lad was absolutely brilliant - you just have to say what a great player he is. He's the best in the world, there's no doubt about it. I don't believe he has a weakness."

And that abuse? "I don't think it bothered him in the slightest bit. That's testament to the character of the lad. You don't become world player of the year and get talked about like he does if you're not special. People can say what they like but his quality rises above everything else."

Of United he added: "We were beaten by a world-class team. I'm a Manchester United fan. We have played all the top teams and they're the ones to beat. They ooze class in every area."

This was the day when Ferguson celebrated his 50th anniversary as a player and manager in professional football and Ronaldo marked the occasion with his 100th goal for the club. Then he scored another. Both goals, which started and finished the scoring, were from free-kicks but Thomas Sorensen should have done better with the first.

Ronaldo scored 42 goals last season and already has nine in this one after missing the opening matches. Michael Carrick, who scored the second goal just before half-time, said: "For a goal poacher it would not be bad going but to score like he does as a winger is brilliant."

Stoke were almost as awful as their worst supporters. Their two outstanding features this season have been their physicality, which Arsene Wenger would ruefully confirm, and the remarkable deliveries from Rory Delap, who has brought new meaning to the notion of throwing a match.

Here they were not their usual robust selves and they had few other weapons with which to sustain their challenge, certainly not football. And Delap, whose missiles have led to seven of his side's 13 goals this season, was taking short throw-ins towards the end.

With the bottom of the Premier League churning upwards like a convection current they are far from safe despite their solid start to the season.

After a League Cup match in midweek United were expected to parade their big names before a preening Ferguson. But this result was achieved without Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

It is not just Arsenal who have outstanding young players. Here Jonathan Evans, Danny Welbeck, Darron Gibson and Manucho all caught the eye and the 17-year-old Welbeck scored a stunning debut goal after replacing Park Ji-sung.

• Guardian Service