Opening draw for Man Utd

Scholesey rues at yet another poor finishing in front of the goal

Manchester United could only afford a 1-1 draw against Newcastle at Old Trafford on the opening day of the 2008/2009 English Premier League season. The lack of a marksman/target-man striker for Man Utd had been the discussion of the fans lately. Tevez was supposed to guarantee to start but a last minute pull-out because of family problems meant that Man Utd virtually had no senior strikers upfront if not for the quick recovery of Wayne Rooney. So, the striking department saw partnership between Rooney and Frazier Campbell, who was handed a rare start in the first eleven.

Man Utd dominated well in terms of possession but they were not making their chances count. Newcastle made theirs count when Obafemi Martins thumped in a hard header to put the visitors ahead. Fortunately for Man Utd, Fletcher equalize immediately after that. Haha, Fletcher must be super hungry to score considering that he missed two golden chances last week. Rooney is way rusty on the ball and the funny thing is that Fletcher looked more threatening and had more chances with the ball. Campbell injects some good pace but still does not have the maturity to finish it in front of goal. However, he had one good effort early in the camp when he attempted to power in a header from Rooney's cross. It would have gone in if not for Given's lucky positioning.

The substitute bench of Fergie contained no player that could changed the course of the game. In short, it consisted of defensive midfielders and defenders..haha. The striker and injury crisis is so bad that United actually needed Evra to play as left midfielder to support Rooney. Nothing came out of it and Man Utd are left to ponder whether that was a valuable loss of two points so early in the season. Compare this to Chelsea who demolished Portsmouth 4-0. That is a confident performance from a team which is well prepared and had a bit fortune in that most of the important first eleven are free from the injury table.

Nani is sorely missed for his attacking play but not to worry, he'll be back in the next match after suspension. Berbatov is desperate to join Man Utd but Spurs remain reluctant on the transfer fees price. It remains to be seen if Fergie would make some last minute shocking transfer targets now that it is less than two weeks to the end of the transfer window.