Word from our sponsor

The story of the day is Michael Owen scoring on his debut:

Owen, introduced as a 61stminute substitute by Sir Alex Ferguson, showed his clinical precision of old with a low shot into the corner after Malaysia keeper Farizal Marlias had saved at the feet of Italian youngster Kiko Macheda.

Here's what Sir Alex had to say about it:

“It was a typical Michael Owen goal.

“He was the first man to react, which is just what you would expect.”

“I am sure he was looking forward to it,” said Ferguson.

“When you consider the type of player Michael is, he was always going to be looking to score that type of goal.

“There was nothing unusual in it and he will be delighted to have got off the mark.”

The other goals described in The Times:

A strong United team, containing Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney up front, strolled to a 2-0 lead inside half an hour, having scored the opening goal after eight minutes. Darron Gibson found Berbatov in the penalty area and his languid poke deflected to Rooney, who fired home with aplomb.

Twenty minutes later Rooney, who spent most of the first half instinctively moving out to the left touchline, drifted in from the flank and slipped a delightfully disguised pass into the path of Nani, who finished neatly under the goalkeeper.

Michael Owen then has some long quotes featured in all the papers, here's a selection, from The Independent:

"I'm not going to say I was dragged down by Newcastle but there are footballers who play better in better teams. I just know it will be fantastic for me – I feel like I did eight years ago," he said. "There are so many players on my wavelength – world-class players. I can see Wayne Rooney or Paul Scholes, as soon as they get the ball, looking for one of my runs.

"I might add something the team haven't got at the moment. Nobody is going to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, even though I wear his shirt, but if someone like Wayne could improve his game five per cent, that would help and I can add a little bit."...

"When you sign, there are that many things you think about. You think of the players that are alongside you, you think about playing at Old Trafford and the men who are going to create chances for you and then you wake up the next morning and think: 'I could win the League or the Champions' League.' It just goes on and on and you become a very excited young man. And yes, I am still young."

And from The Telegraph on pre-transfer speculation:

The former Liverpool forward's standing in England appeared to be on the wane, however, when only Hull and Stoke emerged as interest parties prior to Sir Alex Ferguson's move. Even Wigan and Blackburn wrote Owen off as injury prone and past it. "The one man who in world football who you would want a good opinion from is the one man (Ferguson) who wanted to sign me," Owen insists.

"There are some clubs who it's good for if they come out and say they want to sign you.

"It gives a club's fans a lift if they are going in for a player like Michael Owen, but I could have gone to a number of other clubs who were going things quietly."

And Terry Venables is a hypocrite. On Friday I pointed out that he was suggesting we buy Eto'o in a column advertising the tournament of which he is an "ambassador" (Barcelona are playing in that tournament). Here's a selection of his words from that column:

the same Eto'o I believe can fill the void at Old Trafford caused by the shattering departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. ...

Ferguson has brought in Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan.

All three are excellent signings. But, with respect, those deals hardly rocked football

And now, let us see what he has to say in today's paper:

on came Owen to mark a great start to his time with the Red Devils. And the goal had Venables applauding Sir Alex for his shrewdness.

El Tel said: “It is a logical step forward for Alex Ferguson, in my opinion.

“He’s lost the world’s best player and he’s also lost Carlos Tevez.

“If Owen doesn’t get injured, he will score. He may have lost a yard of pace but his anticipation is as good as ever, if not better, and if he gets loads of chances, he will get a lot of goals. You can spend £15m or £20m on a striker and not get that many goals.”

So one day we're meant to splash the cash on Eto'o to "fill the void", the next we've managed to "fill the void" without spending any money. The difference? The second quote isn't sponspored...