Severe Punishment

(Image from here)

Two stories I'll put side by side without comment. This:

The Football Association are scrutinising Manchester United’s reaction to Frank Lampard’s controversial Community Shield goal in what is proving to be an instant test of their latest attempt to protect officials from intimidation. ...
FA rules state clubs can be charged with failing to control their players if ‘three or more’ players approach the referee ‘in a confrontational manner’.

(Interesting to note that their illustrative picture only shows 2 players near the ref...) And this:

Michael Ballack will face no further action for his off-the-ball challenge on Patrice Evra during Sunday's Community Shield at Wembley.

Elsewhere. The Guardian has a bit on us in their series of team previews for the new season. Despite predicting we'll finish 3rd the article itself by Paul Wilson is pretty fair:

Ronaldo seemed to relish the role of pantomime villain and his departure was never going to go unnoticed or unremarked.

It is still a jump, however, to conclude that United will miss their most conspicuous asset to the extent that other teams are now favourites for the title. A somewhat self-centred Ronaldo did not always manage to galvanise the team in some of the big games last season, and at no time during the league campaign that brought Sir Alex Ferguson a record-equalling 18th title was anyone remarking that United were a one-man team. ...

given the massive amount of title-winning experience within the club it seems reasonable to suppose a fourth consecutive domestic crown is possible, maybe even probable.

Rooney quotes make up most of the other stories. On Owen:

“I do see Michael getting back into the England side,” said Rooney.

“Obviously it is the manager’s decision but he has looked really sharp in pre-season and I am sure if he maintains that form, it won’t be long before he is back in the squad.”

On The Community Shield:

"In the first half we played well," he said. "In the second half Chelsea came back into the game. But there were some good moments going forward and maybe we should have scored a few more goals.

On Berba:

“You can see in training and games during pre-season, Dimitar has looked sharper. He looks like he is more determined,” Rooney said. “He is tracking back with the full backs in pre-season and is definitely working harder and trying to impress. He is a brilliant player. He has so much quality and we all want him to show it.”

On replacing Ronaldo's goals:

"I am comfortable with the extra responsibility now Cristiano has gone," he said. "I have had big expectations on me for the last seven years so whether Cristiano was here or not I would still have them. Nothing has changed on that score."

"The manager has said I will play a more central role," said Rooney. "I have said quite often that it is my preferred position and I was delighted to play there against Chelsea.

"I am not sure whether it will happen all season. It is the manager's decision and whatever he says goes. I just hope to play there for most of the season.

"If I keep scoring goals from this position it will justify why I have been selected there and I don't see any reason why he would play me out wide."

Foster is out of the England squad, and this piece from The Manchester Evening News wonders about other effects:

It remains to be seen if Foster's latest injury scare will have further repercussions on his United career.

Should it be serious enough to rule him out of the opening game of the season against Birmingham on Sunday, it could see Tomasz Kuszczak seize the initiative in the race to become United No1.

Ferguson admitted he faced a tough decision over who to start the season with in the absence of Van der Sar, opting to give Foster the nod in the Community Shield.

It was an underwhelming start to his campaign to go to the World Cup to say the least, with Foster culpable for both Chelsea goals in the 2-2 draw that United went on to lose in a penalty shootout.

David Gill seems to confirm we won't be buying anyone else

"We're pleased at the moment with the squad we have and a number of young boys are coming through. We have high hopes for Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck.

"We've also bought in Valencia, Obertan and Mame Diouf from Molde. He will join up with us in January.

"That's where we're at, although it's worth reiterating that people should trust Sir Alex when it comes to what the squad needs. Just because we have a lot of money in the bank, it doesn't mean we have to spend it."

And finally, Stan Collymore writes off our chances for the title for stupidly dismissive and wrong reasons:

United’s worries stem from the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City.

In their absence, Dimitar Berbatov isn’t mobile enough or motivated sufficiently to fill the void, while both Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda appear two years off being ready to play first team football for United regularly.

Yawns...