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VIEW FROM THE BROADSHEETS

Last updated : 11 August 2003 By Editor
Grauniad

‘Arsenal might require time to locate their best form, but
irascibility is always near at hand. Although Manchester
United, with a booking for Phil Neville after 29 seconds,
are scarcely trembling innocents, the sheer unruliness of
the Highbury team on so innocuous and soporific an occasion
was flabbergasting.

‘Yesterday Francis Jeffers collected the 50th red card of
Arsène Wenger's otherwise enlightened seven-year tenure at
Highbury. The forward's sole cause for complaint yesterday
could have been that he did not deserve to be the only man
to be shamed at the Millennium Stadium.

‘Ashley Cole ought to have been waiting to greet him in the
dressing room. With a booking to his name already, the
England full-back booted Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the knee
after winning a challenge in the 23rd minute. The referee
Steve Bennett showed charity to shield wrongdoers from the
consequences of their offences.

‘A kindly instinct is not always appropriate and the Football
Association must form an unfavourable opinion of the
unfortunate official's display, despite those well-meaning
intentions. If Bennett had been hawkish he might have
dismissed Sol Campbell. After 80 minutes, the Arsenal
defender reacted to a recklessly high challenge from the
substitute Eric Djemba-Djemba by backheeling him in the
backside.

‘United, with the ingenious Paul Scholes clipping well-designed
passes behind Cole, were much the better side. That may
merely reflect the severe conditioning of American
friendlies. It will take a whole season before anyone dares
declare that Wenger was wrong to prefer a gentler build-up.’

Telegraph:

‘Tim Howard grasped the headlines with his saves in the shoot-
out but it was the continued blossoming of Paul Scholes, as
sharp and incisive as a scalpel, that lit up the game and
underlined why United remain the team to fear.

‘United almost released Scholes as a youngster because they
worried the midfielder's asthma problem would see his
influence decline as the mercury rose. Yet here was Scholes,
thriving in climes where the neighbouring Gower resembled
Goa. He embarrassed Ray Parlour and Gilberto Silva with his
sleight of foot and passes delivered with unerring accuracy;
Arsenal were the ones left gasping for air.

‘Sir Alex Ferguson's deployment of Nicky Butt and Roy Keane to
shield the back four has given the other midfielders licence
to roam and create havoc in support of that marvellous front-
runner, Ruud van Nistelrooy. Stationed on the left, Scholes
kept cutting in to good effect, interchanging promisingly
with the centrally positioned Ryan Giggs while Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer worked the right. Honed from their American tour,
United looked ready for the new season. And as hungry as
ever.’

Indie:

‘Were they boxers, Manchester United would be stepping into the
ring on Saturday with their muscles toned, their punches
honed and having expended a considerable amount of sweat.

‘Throughout it all, Manchester United displayed considerably
more ice in their veins than Arsenal, who might have ended
the match with nine men and were fortunate to take the
Community Shield to a penalty shoot-out, lost when Robert
Pires, the man whose goal had decided the FA Cup final, saw
his shot saved by Tim Howard.

‘Arsène Wenger's time at Highbury has been marked by two
failings: on-field discipline and an inability to replace
adequately the defenders he inherited from George Graham -
and both were in evidence yesterday. Francis Jeffers'
idiotic lashing-out at Phil Neville, who himself had been
booked after 28 seconds of what was supposedly a friendly
encounter, ensured he was the 50th Arsenal player to be
dismissed under Wenger.

‘Had the referee, Steve Bennett, decided to punish a petulant
kick at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by Ashley Cole, who had already
been booked, or had he spotted Sol Campbell doing something
similar after clashing with Djemba-Djemba, the contest might
have dissolved into embarrassment.

‘Ferguson described the performance as "decent rather than
special" while Wenger said his team were both at a lower
level of fitness than their rivals and operating at about 80
per cent of capacity. As the heat poured down and the match
slowed to a South American pace, it showed in the way Pires,
put clean through, was overhauled by two red shirts and then
tried a limp shot.’

Times:

‘Manchester United began the new campaign as they finished the
last by holding their nerve to overcome Arsenal and, as yet,
there is no reason to suspect a reversal of fortunes in the
Barclaycard Premiership season that begins in five days’
time. The sharper team in a sweltering Millennium Stadium,
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men will certainly not be giving Arsenal
last season’s head start.

‘With Paul Scholes buoyant, Roy Keane fit and Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer looking to make the most of David Beckham’s
departure, United are ready to defend their league title.
Eric Djemba Djemba, who left a stud or two in Sol Campbell’s
midriff yesterday, looks well- equipped for the pell-mell of
the Premiership while Kleberson, who should receive his work
permit today, gives Ferguson a surfeit of willing tacklers.

‘United are rightly being billed as domestic favourites but
their hopes of a second European Cup under Ferguson surely
depend on his success in the transfer market before the end
of the month. An injury to Ruud van Nistelrooy would leave
them exposed and, with a surplus of more than £25 million
from the summer’s dealings, they need a striker and a
creative alternative to Ronaldinho, who preferred Barcelona.

‘Perhaps Ferguson knows there are new recruits on the way
because he was in such a good mood that he even came up to
speak to the press yesterday. A peak pitch-side temperature
of 41C had, he said, made any long-term conclusions
impossible, but he believed that his side were in a good
state of readiness. “Five years ago, Radio 5 devoted a whole
programme to the demise of Manchester United and we went on
to win the league by seven points,” he said. No one will be
making the same mistake this time.’