Champions Disappoint In Opener

Manchester United 1 - Newcastle 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Flectcher (24)
Newcastle: Martins (22)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Scholes, Giggs (Possebon 63), Carrick (O'Shea 25), Fletcher, Rooney, Campbell (Rafael 80)

Very disappointing game but it wasn't unexpected. We peppered the Newcastle goal with shots in the first 15 to 20 minutes, but gradually faded away badly as the game wore on. In the end, a draw was probably the fairest result, given our lack of finishing.

Today's game exposed all our frailties, from our long standing inability to defend from set pieces to the current problem of turning our possession into goals.

We threatened to run riot from the kickoff, but our lack of experienced goal scorers showed. Campbell had a glorious chance to put us in front, but somehow he headed Rooney's wonderful cross right onto Given's head with the entire goal in front of him. It was a badly missed opportunity. Given then made a double save moments later to deny us.

From the early exchanges, it was obvious that it just wasn't going to be our day. And it was made worse in the 22nd minute. Martins was left unmarked as he rose to meet the corner and powered it into the net given Newcastle a shock lead at Old Trafford.

The lead didn't last long though. While Newcastle were still celebrating, Fletcher stretched to first reach Gigg's cross and equalized before Newcastle knew what hit them. It seems the only way we would score would be to sucker punch the opponents. As the rest of the game would show, when Newcastle were on their toes, we simply didn't have the firepower to penetrate their defenses.

There were moments in the game where we looked more likely to concede than score a winner. It hardly helped matters that we were only able to bring on Rafael, a left-back, in place of the ineffective Campbell upfront.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is going to be one helluva long season unless something dramatic happens. The only consolation I can use is that all the other teams looks absolutely crap with the sole exception of Chelsea. At least there is still second place to fight for.