Manchester United 1-0 Birmingham City

If i'm being honest i expected a better perormance than we got yesterday, but seeing as though we have failed to win our last two opening games of the season at Old Trafford, it will more than do. Birmingham came to shut up shop and they managed reasonably well, though to be fair to them when they got the chance break forward they took it and had some decent chances. Mind you when you look at our defensive problems it should have been the least we should have expected. It looks like Ferdinand will be out for at least two weeks with A pulled muscle according to Fergie. Let's hope that is true and it is not a recurrance of last season's back problems because we don't need that flaring up again, he is our most important centre half by far.
O'Shea stepped into Rio' shirt alongside Jonny Evans and had an excellent game even if the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account. Fletcher partnered Scholes in midfield with Nani and Valencia on the flanks. Rooney started up front with Berbatov in the partnership that has to step up on what we saw from the pair last term if we are to have a chance of that 19th league title.
I thought we saw our best football in the first half with Rooney looking lively and forcing a brilliant save from Hart after 10 minutes. Nani continued to produce the improved form we have seen from him in pre-season, if he can consistently perform like this Fergie will be licking his lips as all of a sudden he looks a proper player. It's a pity he has picked up this shoulder injury as he could do with a run of games. The disappointment of the afternoon has to be Valencia's display, this was not the player who we had seen in pre-season. He seemed hesitant and didn't seem to have the confidence to run with the ball and take his man on. I am not saying he had a bad game, it's just not what we had been expecting. We all know he is not going to be a like for like replacement for Ronaldo, but it looks like he could do with a good run of games to get into the groove of playing for United against the inevitable packed defences that i suppose he won't really have played against before. I have got every confidence that it won't be long before he starts to show what he is really capable of.
When the goal did come, it was Nani who delivered the assist and Rooney the man in the middle who had the initial header that hit the post and was alive enough to tap home the rebound. Birmingham did have one close shave as a shot from Jerome took a slight defelection leaving Foster standing motionless watching it float just wide. Evra had to clear a header off the line from a corner on a day where once again he gave a performance which left you wondering how many better left backs there are than him in world football. I can't think of any. Almost the last action of the half saw Fletcher miss an absolute sitter, it seeemed easier to score
The second half saw United really slacken off, as at times it just seemed to be too easy as United kept possession without really threatning. Nani had gone off to be replaced by Giggs, but it was one of those days where his flicks didn't seem to be coming off. With 15 minutes to go it looked we might pay for our lacklustre second half display as the Birimgham sub Benitez found himself clear on goal only for Foster to make a fine save. It was a much better performance from Foster after his very shaky performance at Wembley last week, he now needs to keep that level of performance up if he wants to establish himself Van Der Sar's successor. Owen came on for Berbatov and showed why i think he will turn out to be a good signing as twice he found himself through one on one with the goalie. The first time he was given offside, though it was mighty tight, the second, the goalie made a good save, though i'd like to think he will convert more of those chances that he will miss.
So an opening day victory and three points, and just to make it an even sweeter day the scousers getting played of the park and going down 2-1 at Tottenham. It wasn't that much of a surprise to me, i saw some of last weeks friendly against Athletico Madrid where they went down 2-1 at Anfield and from what i saw yesterday was totally on the cards as they were shocking against the Spanish. Chelsea weren't that impressive against Hull whilst Arsenal may have won 6-1 but Everton were truly awful so we can't read to much into that performance yet. City managed to win away from home and looked decent going forward but there were times especially in the first half when Blackburn battered them so i will reserve judgement on their performance. Still the main thing was for us to get off to a decent start and that we did, now can we follow it up at Burnley and Wigan.

Defensive crisis at United
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6041302/Manchester-Uniteds-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-rues-injuries-Rio-Ferdinand-and-Jonny-Evans.html

Mathew Fort on Keith Floyd
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/aug/10/keith-floyd-cancer
I loved his cookery shows, great food, mostly when he didn't cock up and great entertainment as a result os some of those cock ups.

Larry Elliot on a missed opportunity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/11/financial-crisis-recovery-bailout-labour