THE OBSERVER - SAHA STRIKES BUT IT'S HEAVY GOING
For 90 sodden minutes Manchester United were finally able to revert to being a Premiership football club, putting behind them, temporarily at least, the recent sorry sequence of events that has read like a combination of cheap detective novel and conspiracy thriller.
A debut goal from Louis Saha, two well-taken efforts by Kevin Phillips, three of the five goals coming from deflections and a United defence, without Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand, looking inept in dealing with a valiant late surge by Southampton - this was a very good contest indeed.
Yet, inevitably, these 90 minutes will quickly be forgotten in the context of the ever-deepening dispute between shareholder John Magnier and manager Sir Alex Ferguson, one that chief executive David Gill finally conceded on Friday evening is having a detrimental effect on the club but which, none the less, has unified the rank and file.
Magnier can certainly expect never again to see his name and the f-word linked in the same sentence quite as frequently as it was yesterday. T-shirts, leaflets, banners unfurled around the stadium. If this was United's own caucus, there was no doubting for which candidate the people were voting.
THE INDEPENDENT - SAHA THE ANSWER IN A WEEK OF QUESTIONS
After a week of embarrassing questions, Manchester United unexpectedly found South-ampton posing some of their own yesterday lunchtime, and for long periods Sir Alex Ferguson's team struggled to come up with any answers. Fortunately Louis Saha had one or two up the sleeve of his new red shirt, suggesting that however outrageous the agents' fees paid in his purchase from Fulham, he may yet prove to be worth something close to £13m.
The problems were mostly at the other end, where Rio Ferdinand's loss suddenly looked critical, with Wes Brown and Mikaël Silvestre pulled all over the place. It was just as well that Phil Neville was diligent in front of them, though Roy Keane was less influential than usual; overall United, who had failed to score in their last two League games, against Wolves and Newcastle, looked like a team in need of a winter break.
An equaliser to reward late pressure might have appeased him (Strachan, who was complaining about the ref) but it was not to be. Howard was villain and hero in the same move eight minutes from time, missing a corner that Marian Pahars returned into the middle for Higginbotham to see his overhead kick brilliantly turned on to the bar by the keeper. Next minute, substitute James Beattie shrugged off Silvestre but Phillips could not slide in to complete his hat-trick.
They finished with four strikers in a line but when Howard dropped Darren Kenton's cross he got away with it, leaving another record crowd to acknowledge that their team had done little more than that in returning to the top of the table.
THE SUNDAY TIMES - SAHA DEFLECTS THE PRESSURE
The art of deflection is essential in any public relations battle. Sir Alex Ferguson got the victory, and convincing debut from Louis Saha, necessary to divert attention from his and Manchester United’s troubles — at least for an afternoon.
The art of deflection also played a part in securing the result itself. Football frequently became pinball at Old Trafford. In a match decided by a close-range strike by Ruud van Nistelrooy which cannoned off the Southampton captain Jason Dodd, only one of the five goals was scored without the help of somebody’s accidental touch.
There was also deflection in the sense that just when the United fans were about to relax into a routine of pro-Ferguson songs and chants scorning John Magnier, Southampton wrested away their attention by mounting a comeback from 2-0 down which scared Old Trafford witless. In the end United prevailed, but this was a hair- raising journey back to the top of the Premiership.
TORYGRAPH - VICTORY HAS FERGUSON SMILING AGAIN
Manchester United may still be working on their formal response to the 99 questions raised by Manchester United's major shareholders, John Magnier and J P McManus but a 99th goal in a United shirt for Ruud van Nistelrooy provided an eloquent response to the boardroom upheaval at Old Trafford yesterday.
In overcoming Southampton's spirited resistance with a battling 3-2 victory that lifted them back to the top of the table, the champions showed a stubborness in the face of adversity that mirrored Sir Alex Ferguson's own personal battle at the end of a week he has described as one of the most distressing of his life.
Having squandered a two-goal lead, kick-started by a deflected debut goal from their £12.8 million signing Louis Saha, United were indebted to their prolific Dutch striker who stabbed home a 61st-minute winner, as well as two brilliant second-half saves from Tim Howard, whose signing from New York/New Jersey Metrostars is just one of the many areas of contention in the Irish billionaires' widely leaked probe into the club's financial dealings.