This is Why I'm Hot

A good win yesterday which, unfortunately, I only saw highlights of on MOTD so I'm not altogether able to fully analyse the differences between the reality and the reports.
I'll start with this one from The Mail which, surprisingly for The Mail, expresses reality in at least one place:

Even though arch rivals Liverpool have started this campaign brightly, does Rafael Benitez really have a squad deep enough to outrun Ferguson's? Does Arsene Wenger at Arsenal?

In truth, they probably do not. United, for example, have three good right backs. Liverpool do not really have one.

So it will still be a surprise if United do not again battle head to head with Chelsea for supremacy when the season enters its business end in the spring.

It's nice to have a dose of reality after days of harping on Liverpool's title credentials (and seeing as I missed blogging it at the time I'll take this opportunity to point out that but for one sloppy bit of defending we'd have broken Chelsea's home record (and but for 2 bits of sloppy defending Liverpool wouldn't have beaten us either)).
The Guardian has a little analysis of Ronaldo's goal celebration:

Nani played the ball across the penalty area and Ronaldo was on to it in a flash, lashing a left-foot shot into the corner of Green's net. How would he celebrate? Old Trafford's amateur psychologists waited to analyse his body language and, after a dramatic pause of which Robert de Niro would have been proud, there was an explosion of unrestrained joy. Point made.

I thought it was more a point made to the media who it seems have been doing most of the analysing (Alan Hansen on MOTD on Saturday showing random clips of him celebrating and not celebrating to demonstrate his banal point).
The Guardian has the best description of Berbatov's skill for Ronaldo's second:

The Bulgarian had done well even to keep Anderson's through-ball in play, reaching it only a few inches before it went out for a goal kick, but it was what came next which took the breath away. In one sublime movement Berbatov spun, pirouetted and danced away from Collins. The defender was still coming to his senses as Berbatov advanced towards goal and slid a beautifully weighted pass across the six-yard area. Ronaldo, alert as always, got there first, leaving Ferguson to eulogise about his £30.5m new signing.

One interesting feature of the reports is that they nearly all say something along the lines of this, from The Independent:

Ronaldo will take the headlines for two well-taken goals that increased his tally to five for the season, yet it was Berbatov who tormented the visiting defence most with the talents

It's obviously an easy way for journalists to point out how great they are at recognising that someone who doesn't score can also have had a great game.  Very clever...
While I'm on this report I might as well add the post match comments from Sir Alex:

Ferguson said: "The first half was magnificent and I was looking for more of the same in the second half. Goals can be important come the end of the season but we took our foot of the pedal. They ended up too lax for me.

"Ronaldo took his goals very well, but Berbatov's play was magnificent. He showed fantastic imagination, control and balance and you'd pay double the money to watch that."

Following this theme, The Times makes the same point:

Aside from a five-minute spell at the start of the game, United’s domination was total and any fears that Ferguson had taken a risk by omitting Edwin van der Sar and leaving Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney on the substitutes’ bench were quickly dispelled. Patrice Evra and Nani formed a lethal combination down the left; the increasingly impressive Rafael Da Silva and Ronaldo did much the same on the right. The only disappointment for United was that the expected landslide failed to materialise.

And some sour grapes in The Telegraph:

Despite the club wallowing in self-congratulation before kick-off: with Ronaldo accepting yet another award for what must be a mantelpiece sagging under the weight of silverware, and entering to the kind of fanfare usually reserved for boxers at Caesars Palace, Manchester United’s beginning was sluggish and sloppy.

Finally, there's this, from The Guardian, which has Sir Alex's comments on Tevez:

"I sat down with him only last week to stress that our faith in him
is absolute, that he remains a top player in the eyes of myself, the
players and our supporters," said Ferguson.

"It's just that three
players won't fit into two positions and my job is to balance the team.
It could be done against certain opposition, but it isn't the real
solution and we are doing so well I don't want to meddle too much.
Carlos understands this and I have explained that when the season
really hots up we will need everyone."

He added: "Our attackers
have been drawing all the attention, with Rooney having the time of his
life and striking up a fine partnership with Berbatov. But my thoughts
have probably centred on the forward who has been the odd man out. I am
thinking of Carlos and the fact that I have not started him in as many
games as he would like. But Carlos remains as important as the guys who
have been hogging the headlines."