Manchester United: The season starts next week

So, what the hell were they feeding Sylvain Distin?

It was frustrating, nitty, diagonal rather than dynamic – but at least Dave shut a few up. There were slim chances, half-chances, and infuriating rust. Phil Neville after the game spoke about Everton manager David Moyes almost denying Everton of a further summer break – and it showed.

They looked sharp, match fit, but more importantly they wanted it more. We were outdone in the air, on the floor, and on the chest. Danny Welbeck looked leggy (in more ways than one) Wayne Rooney looked like that last fag before training was regretful, and less said about Nani the better.

It’s hard to overly-criticize when it was such a physically demanding opener. It started as it meant to go on. Antonio Valencia is no right-back and Leighton Baines profited, although not as much as he would have liked. Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar floated for the inevitable second-ball, and Marouane Fellaini played like Pele but with a dodgy disco wig.

Unplayable, they said. The definition of perfection – and that’s what it takes to beat an injured four-piece defence. Sometimes you just have to sit back, mumble under your breath, and admire. Carrick was out-muscled, and expectedly so. Vidic would have struggled, Evans would have been destroyed. Smalling and Jones wouldn’t have done much better, and Ferdinand has struggled with Fellaini in the past. What can you do? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

The best time to lose is probably now. When you reflect on a season come May you very rarely put the blame on an opening day loss. Everton away is a tough fixture, and it always will be. Robin van Persie or no Robin van Persie.

The other shirt-selling signing in Shinji Kagawa was impressive. Very impressive, may I add. There’s an element of “where does he play? What do we do with him?” But that’s expected. He dealt with the irate crowd, constant pressure and the physicality. If he can get over that then he will be a tremendous signing. Premier League sides all have different styles of play, and newcomers often struggle with the physical sides. However, despite only a handful of pre-season games and a more than glistening debut, he will be alright. Hard not to be hyperbolic about Kagawa – he’s everything we need and more.

Last season there was a recurring fault with height. Grant Holt at Norwich, Shola Ameobi and Demba Ba at Newcastle, Marouane Fellaini and Nikica Jelavic at Everton, Peter Crouch at Stoke – we failed to deal with them, and Nemanja Vidic’s injury was the main reason why, but even he can’t win every aerial duel.

I’m not one for analysing tactical shape and formations – it might be because I’ve not fully read Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson, you make that call – mainly because it can only offer you so much. In articles there’s a dependency to find the perfect stat to fit the argument, and I’ve seen that with the reaction not just tonight, but also to the signing of van Persie.

Only last season he was the most in-form striker in Europe, now he is an injury-prone past it with a severe ego problem. It’s early, but what do we do with him? He came on for Welbeck and there was a sense that he didn’t know his role. It’s early days, and sometimes negativity is the instant reaction, but I do hope Ferguson has a plan with van Persie, rather than just signing a player that he admires.

Throughout the game I felt like I was watching handball. The side-to-side passes, with Kagawa occasionally slipping one to the faulty touch of Rooney, were just not enough. There was no penetration, and perhaps that’s a shortcoming with having our most direct player in Valencia starting at right-back.

We couldn’t win the aerial duel, so because of that the game narrowed and there was no sense of urgency, or intent. Referring back to statistics, Tom Cleverley would have had a healthy pass completion, but how many passes went forwards? What did he offer in them ninety minutes? I like Cleverley as much as the next fan, but at the moment he has the sideward pass but not the forward one. There’s a reluctance to shoot, and one of the few times we did Tim Howard spilled the initial shot. Playing the Arsenal way is the last thing van Persie wants to see.

Is Ferguson trying to build a more Barcelona-esque midfield? We will find out a bit more next week against Fulham. With a wider pitch and more periods of contained possession we will find out how the midfield will actually flow during the game. Paul Scholes looked off key, Cleverley just didn’t offer anything (although didn’t do anything majorly wrong) and Kagawa, who should push further forward, especially in home games, was underused.

To end on a positive David de Gea has obviously forgotten about his Olympic experience and continued his momentum from the back-end of last season. Several fine stops, although a tad Hollywood, but more encouraging he didn’t back down to the six-yard scrum of players. Eric Steele, the goalkeeping coach, is doing a fine job with the Spaniard. Anders Lindegaard will just have to pick his nose.

United will have to move on, and with City facing Liverpool away the early three-point gap could be back to its original order. There’s no reason to panic, or rush out and buy a new central midfielder. Another few training sessions and fitness work will only improve the understanding and integration of the new signings. Let’s hope the opening game of the season was just a damp squib in a title-winning season.

Edited by Staff Editor