SUNDAY TIMES
Roy Keane was given the warmest of welcomes, but nothing else on his return to his alma mater yesterday, his Sunderland team battling with impressive spirit and determination for 72 minutes, only to fall victim to the injury-plagued Louis Saha's first Premier League goal since December.
United have suffered for the lack of a conventional centre-forward since opening day, but they have one now. The improvement Saha brought about after replacing Anderson at half-time was such that it called into question Sir Alex Ferguson's decision not to start with the penetrative Frenchman.
As soon as he got on the pitch, Saha showed the attacking thrust and purpose the defending champions had lacked in a desultory first half, and he would have scored earlier with a tremendous solo effort, but for a notable save from Craig Gordon whose saves when United finally got out of second gear made him second only to Saha in the man-of-the-match ratings.
The winner was a classic centre-forward's goal, headed in at the near post from Nani's corner. Gordon's maladroit part in it, coming to meet the corner and not getting there, was his only mistake.
The one was always going to be enough against opponents of limited ambition, who had come looking for a goalless stalemate.
For Sunderland it threatens to become a long, hard season. Defeat by Liverpool last weekend was not entirely unexpected, but a midweek thumping from Luton Town in the Carling Cup was a real shock to the system, and that opening day victory over Tottenham is but a distant memory now. Keane sought defensive security in a 4-5-1 formation, with his new signing from Southampton, Kenwyne Jones, ploughing a lone furrow up front and Michael Chopra pushing forward to join him from the right side of midfield. Jones was not Sunderland's only newcomer. Danny Higginbotham, who was recruited from Stoke in midweek, was given his debut in central defence. The two new men worked their proverbial socks off, but have the look of Championship players elevated above their station.
For United, goals have been unusually scarce in the continuing absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was completing his suspension yesterday, and Wayne Rooney, who is itching to get back into action, but not quite ready.
Hence it was a puzzler, given the fact that Carlos Tevez is not an orthodox centre-forward, and needs the support of one, that Saha stayed rooted to the bench for so long.
Ferguson suggested afterwards that after a six-month lay-off Saha was not fit enough to last 90 minutes, but added: "He came through well, with no problems, and it's a relief to have him back."
OBSERVER
Sunderland could not manage a miracle on Roy Keane's return to Old Trafford, though Louis Saha did provide a lesson: Manchester United cannot function without a centre-forward. Before his goal, United were in danger of surrendering another two points to determined but ordinary opponents. Things should improve when Cristiano Ronaldo returns from suspension and Wayne Rooney from injury, and they need to. On this evidence the idea that Carlos Tevez can lead the United attack appears wildly misplaced.
The retirement of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earned a guard of honour on the pitch and had both sets of fans united in applause before the kick-off, although when the PA system had finished playing a truly awful version of 'Country Roads' - killing the spontaneity of the anthem as well as inserting naff new lyrics - it was possible to hear all four sides of the ground affirming 'There's only one Keano'.
The returning hero would scarcely have recognised his old team - no Ronaldo, Rooney, Ryan Giggs or Gary Neville; Michael Carrick on the bench and starts for Anderson and Chris Eagles - though his present team was much altered from the one that started the season. For Sunderland, new arrivals Kenwyne Jones and Danny Higginbotham were pushed straight in, with Paul McShane moving to right-back to accommodate the latter.
With players on both sides still introducing themselves to each other, the game took a while to get going. Sunderland had Jones on his own up front most of the time, while rather weirdly United had no one. Tevez and Anderson were merely a notional front pairing. In practice Anderson spent more time in midfield, partly because Paul Scholes stationed himself almost as deep as Owen Hargreaves, while Tevez, who is even less happy with his back to goal than Rooney, took up forward positions without seeing enough of the ball.
By the mid-point of the first half neither keeper had made a save and the only goal attempt of note was an early rangefinder from Nani that drifted wide. United were not able to stretch Sunderland sufficiently, so Dwight Yorke, also returning to his old ground, spent a surprisingly comfortable first half hour strolling around in front of his back four. When Yorke finally made a mistake, losing out to Anderson in the 33rd minute, United surged forward and Tevez forced a save from Craig Gordon to give the first half its only highlight. Unless you count the Sunderland fans taking advantage of the eerie silence with a cheeky chant of 'Who are you?' followed by a chorus of 'You'll Never Walk Alone.'
At the conclusion of a scoreless first half the Sunderland fans felt sufficiently emboldened to sing 'You're not very good', and it was true. United were all midfield and no attacking focus. They either needed to bring Saha on or get Scholes further forward. As if to underline the point, Scholes ended the first half with a shot deflected just the wrong side of a post. It was just about United's best effort in 45 minutes.
Saha replaced Anderson at half time and United's shape improved immediately. Their football became less convoluted, too. When Rio Ferdinand launched a long ball forward for Saha to nod down and enable Tevez to hit a shot on target it was practically route one, though no one was complaining. When Saha produced a terrific shot on the turn after an hour, only to see it equalled by a top-quality save from Gordon, the crowd came alive and it felt like the match had finally started. None of United's midfield midgets, as the bloke in the row behind the press box rather unkindly dubbed the starting line-up, would have managed so direct an attack.
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Roy Keane says he has not been sleeping well, so Triggs the dog could well have been out for a dawn walk again this morning. Sunderland's fourth successive defeat without scoring a goal was more predictable than the 3-0 Carling Cup hammering by Luton Town, and only came after 72 minutes of dogged resistance; but the Premier League's youngest manager might have wanted his side to put up more of a show on the stamping ground he graced so proudly for 480 matches.
The opportunity certainly existed to have left with a point, even if there was never a serious possibility of taking three, for Manchester United bore little resemblance to champions on the day and needed the introduction of Louis Saha at half-time to inject an attacking threat. It was fitting that on his first appearance since last season's Champions' League semi-final in Milan he should score the winning goal, only United's fourth in the last 10 games.
Until then, they had looked disjointed with an unfamiliar line-up featuring Chris Eagles and Anderson in their first starts of the season as part of an attacking quartet with Nani and Carlos Tevez, though not the injured Ryan Giggs.
Tevez is much happier dropping deep off the main striker and once Saha came on he was able to roam to greater effect. Sir Alex Ferguson was nevertheless relieved to collect a second successive 1-0 victory, admitting that it had been "a long day".
Keane was surprisingly upbeat about a performance in which Sunderland failed to produce a goal attempt worth the name. "I was relatively pleased with the attitude and effort," he said, "though of course we'd have liked to have tested the goalkeeper more. I believed this morning we had a chance of a positive result and we almost got there. I'm more than confident we'll be fine by the end of the season. The reception I got was fantastic but United have always been good to me."
Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce and Steve Coppell have all returned to Old Trafford in charge of Premier League teams and will do so again this season but it is fair to say that none received as rapturous a welcome as Keane's. Never one to bask in adoration, let alone milk it, he walked along the touchline with nothing more than an occasional nod of acknowledgment. He looked more comfortable offering his own applause to a former team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who took a bow to say sad farewells to the crowd after being forced to retire last week.
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
The prodigal son, if such a description could ever be applied to a man of Roy Keane's considerable achievements, did his best to embarrass his old club on his first return to Old Trafford. And although he was turning the air bluer than Gordon Ramsay as he urged his men on in the final minutes, he will have found much to have pleased him in the performances of his Sunderland players.
In the end, Sunderland fell to a goal that will bring Keane's managerial judgement into question, following a mistake by Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon, a man for whom the manager persuaded chairman Niall Quinn to pay an eye-watering £9 million.
Without that error, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson would have been all but surrendering his team's Premier League title before the nation's children return to school.
Keane had come out of the tunnel before kick-off smiling and offering handshakes to bewildered Old Trafford staff who were probably expecting a kick in the shins. But as he emerged on to the pitch he once graced, chewing gum as furiously as his previous master, he briefly had to surrender centre stage to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had been persuaded to take a final bow after retiring through injury.
What an occasion for United fans, waving goodbye to their sunshine, their only sunshine on the day that the man who was their thunder reminded them of what they were missing. It took two men, Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes, to fill the holding midfield role once occupied by Keane and between them, they could not produce a thimble-full of his driving force in the first half.
Despite all the summer spending on somersaulting goalscorers, there was once again a curious lack of devil about the Red Devils. Only once in the opening 45 minutes did they even ask questions about that £9 million valuation of Gordon, Carlos Tevez driving in a fierce shot after running on to Anderson's diagonal through ball.
Ferguson's shrewdest move would have been to invite Keane to give his half-time talk in the home dressing room. He might also have asked him to repeat his famous prawn sandwich oratory over the loudspeakers to wake up supporters who had been shamefully outsung by Sunderland fans.
Instead, Ferguson indulged his own attacking instincts by prematurely ending the first start of Brazilian Anderson and sending on Louis Saha in an attempt to shake Sunderland out of their comfort zone. Keane would have both challenged and threatened his players to prove that they could compete in such an arena against the Premier League champions and he would have been proud at their response.