Legendary

Before I get to the Man Utd news, I'll use the fact that Sir Alex paid his own tribute to Sir Bobby Robson to pay tribute here. Sir Alex's words:

'In my 23 years working in England there is not a person I would put an inch above him.' ...
'I was never too big or proud to ask him for advice, which he gave freely and unconditionally. And I'm sure I am speaking for a lot of people when I say that. I mourn the passing of a great friend, a wonderful individual, a tremendous football man and somebody with passion and knowledge of the game that was unsurpassed.

'His character was hewn out of the coalface; developed by the County Durham mining background that he came from.

'His parents instilled in him the discipline and standards which forged the character of a colossal human being. He added his own qualities to that which he passed on to his sons.

'The strength and courage he showed over the past couple of years when battling against his fifth bout of cancer was indescribable. Always a smile, always a friendly word with never a mention of his own problems.

'The world, not just the football world, will miss him. Let's hope it won't be long before another like him turns up because we could never get enough of them.'

And onto the less serious business...

Main story today is Sir Alex on where our goals are going to come from following the departure of Ronaldo:

"Obviously Cristiano is a big loss in terms of the goals he gave us," he said. "But we will just have to find the goals from somewhere else and our tactics will adjust accordingly. Fans will see us playing a slightly different style of football this season.

"Usually you look to score about 100 goals in all competitions, so we are aiming for that again. If we are going to win the league again or do well in Europe we certainly need players to step up.

"Going back a few years, we could always guarantee goals from Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, who always pitched in with about 10 a season.

"Those goals from midfield have dried up a little in recent years, so we have to address that. I will be looking to [Ji-Sung] Park, Nani, [new sigining Luis Antonio] Valencia – even [Danny] Welbeck and [Federico] Macheda – to contribute 40 goals between them. The defenders will contribute a few from set-pieces, too."

Which leaves 60 goals to come from Berba, Owen and Rooney, 20 each. Although the maths seems more complex than that, because he also says:

"Wayne Rooney's capable of scoring 18 or more a season and Michael Owen can get us 15 goals."

Which leaves Berba scoring 25 (rounding up Rooney to 20), unless the defenders are making up this shortfall (And assuming the 40 goal figure was from the entire midfield and not just from the 5 mentioned). Whatever the maths I remember too well the amount of times last season writers were suggesting we weren't scoring enough, and that was with Ronaldo (I remember for much of the season people saying Ronaldo wasn't scoring enough...). I like the fact that the responsibility is now on the team rather than just one individual - the whole midfield is now responsible for scoring, not just Ronaldo.
The Mirror point out the fact that, excluding Ronaldo, Nani was our top scorer from midfield last season, I'm not sure whether that is worrying or whether it is a good riposte to people who are quick to criticise Nani. Perhaps a bit of both.
The Telegraph's report on the quotes includes this paragraph:

Despite impressing on the club's tour of the Far East, scoring four goals in four games, the jury is still out on Michael Owen's ability to rediscover his best form.

Why does this has to be framed so negatively? Why's the jury still out? Because the season (the trial in their analogy) hasn't started yet...
Owen has a few comments on the doubters in The Mail:

...he can prove wrong Whelan and his former Newcastle boss Allardyce.

'If that was how they were perceiving me, fine, because the greatest accolade I could have is that Sir Alex Ferguson did not think that,' ...

'I can quietly sit here and look around at where I am now, and if anyone else wants to look at what they've say, they might feel embarrassed.'

Owen is quick to defend his record and is determined to prove United were right to gamble on him. And he says the mission from Ferguson is clear: 'To score goals.'

He said: 'The team has lost two players: (Carlos) Tevez, who scored a few, and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, who got lots over the last two seasons.

'There's a big hole to fill, and hopefully I can help plug it in terms of goals. I can't do it on my own, but I will help out.'

A few quotes from Evra show he isn't too worried about the loss of Ronaldo:

"...the star of the team is the team,” he said.

“Two players alone do not make a team. We have signed some good players and, like I say, Manchester United are a team and not only about two players.

“I can already see a good team coming along and we are all confident about doing well with this team as it is.”

And on pre-season:

“We worked really well in Asia and played some good games, it was a good tour,” he said.

“We are moving along bit by bit in preparation for our first match of the season on August 9 against Chelsea.

“We want to at least defend the titles we won last season and try to win the Champions League.”

One story in The Mirror leaves me wondering why there isn't a right to reply from Man Utd included:

Manchester United have been slammed by angry Le Havre for taking France's youth team skipper Paul Pogba - and offering money to his parents.

United have snapped up the 16-year-old defender in a deal first revealed by Football Spy in March.

Now, in an official statement, a spokesman for the French club said: "Manchester United offered huge sums of money to the player's parents to obtain the transfer of their son.

"At the moment, the EC, FIFA and UEFA object to the 'trade' of minors and yet Manchester United have done this with a boy of 16.

"They have pillaged our club for the best young player in France."

And yes, that is the entire story.
And a bit of a transfer rumour from The Daily Star:

MANCHESTER United are hoping to snap up highly-rated Turkish striker Sercan Yildirm.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been alerted to the 19-year-old Bursaspor forward by his European scouts and is preparing a £3.5m bid.

Yildirm has already played for his country and Ferguson believes his potential is worth gambling on, just as he did with Cristiano Ronaldo and Anderson.