UNITED START SMOOTHLY

 

(Image taken from BBC)

So, for the 36th season in a row, Manchester United were about to start a season in the top flight of English football. Since 1992 that division has been known as the Premiership - and the last time we won it was in 08/09! Last time around though, we wound up having to settle for 2nd place behind Chelsea - not really what we had in mind. Still that year was a rebuilding year and now our players had to put the failiures of that season behind them. We now had new guys willing to prove themselves and plenty of the old guard aren't going away any time soon. So, time to fire things up and get our title back - it may be a cliche, but the wait was over.

We opened up against Newcastle at Old Trafford. Last season's Championship winners looked like they were up for giving us a headache earlier on, yet by half time we were taking care of business thanks to Berbatov and Fletcher. After that, the Geordies started to fade slightly, a reality check having been delivered. MUFC looked to be cruising through the rest of the match and Giggsy was able to finish the opposition off late on. Very smooth work by the Reds given that this Geordie side looked unlikely to be mugs preseason - I can't remember the last time a team dominated the second tier to that extent. Couldn't have done better really.

Then came Fulham at Craven Cottage. Scholesey in particular was in no mood to hang around and it wasn't long before he scorched in his first goal of the season and 150th for United. Fulham, now gaffered by Mark Hughes, looked likey they were in no mood to lie down though. Sure enough, it wasn't long before they found an equaliser thanks to former United youth player Simon Davies. Yet later on it looked as though we'd secured the match when Fulham defender Brede Hangeland put the ball it his own net. We should have put the game to bed when we were given a penalty but missed it and instead Hangeland redeemed himself with a late equaliser.

Elsewhere, well Chelsea have looked pretty much merciless! Firstly they caned 6-0 at Stamford Bridge. They followed that up by caning Wigan 6-0 at the DW Stadium. Clearly the defending champions won't give away their title without a fight. One of the more surprising names on form are Bolton though. First they drew 0-0 with Fulham at the Reebok Stadium, not so spectacular. Beating West Ham 3-1 at Upton Park was certainly impressive though. So, that leaves United 3rd in the Premiership and on course for the Champions League group stages, two points behind leaders Chelsea and level on points with Bolton and a detour through the preliminaries but with a +1 goal difference advantage over them.

North of the border, Aberdeen started their SPL campaign. First up was a 4-0 win over Hamilton at Pittodrie with the Dons wasting no time in blowing off last season's cobwebs with all the new players on fire for the Reds. Then came a 1-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiamond Park. Not as smooth as the opener with the Dons having to dodge bullets early on in the match, but the fact still is that the only goal came from a guy wearing a red shirt. For the first time in hell knows how long that leaves Aberdeen joint top of the SPL, level on points, goal difference and goals scored with Celtic and as things stand a playoff between the Reds and the Greens would decide the SPL title. Let's see how long that sort of form lasts.

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