13 Blues For 13 Moons

The match reports are the meat of today's papers.  The Sun winning the punning headlines war with "Why did you park the van?" on van Persie starting on the bench.

The Daily Star have come in with the best description of Everton's goal:

Marouane Fellaini used his fuzzy bonce to rise above Michael Carrick and meet a Leighton Baines corner after 57 minutes to give Everton a deserved victory.

The Mirror's stupid headline writers ask if De Gea has finally proven himself after last night's game.  At least the body of it has credit for him last season:

De Gea endured a turbulent first season at United last term, his confidence so badly shaken Ferguson dropped him at the turn of the year for Lindegaard, who looked more assured.

But a freak injury in training in January brought a premature end to Lindegaard's season and De Gea was reinstated for the remainder of the campaign, a move which proved the making of him.

The Spaniard went on to keep nine clean sheets in his next 18 games and produced arguably the save of the season to deny Chelsea's Juan Mata late on in a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge.

De Gea also ended the season with a save percentage of 78 per cent, the highest of any goalkeeper in the Premier League last season, vindicating United's £18million investment in him.

The Mail call De Gea's "a performance of near perfection", while The Independent seem to blame him for the goal:

David De Gea was injured, flattened by Fellaini, but recovered to perform as he spent much of his debut season at Old Trafford; saving brilliantly and instinctively and then allowing himself to be intimidated by crosses with fatal results.

Which is a bit silly, but fits the bill with regards the De Gea isn't good enough agenda of some.

Kagawa gets praise in The Guardian, while Rooney is criticised:

Rooney, operating at the tip, struggled for any consistent touch or contribution. It can be an issue when asked to play the lone role, as all England followers know. Twice he dropped deeper to find the ball and the sense was that Ferguson would bring on Van Persie at the break in a rejig: Rooney to drop into Kagawa's berth in the "hole" and the new signing to replace him at United's head.

The Telegraph looks at Carrick and our defensive crisis:

Considering that Fellaini was the greatest threat to United’s goal, one of Carrick’s more defensively minded team-mates should have shared the load and doubled up on the towering midfielder, rather than leave Carrick exposed.

But with midfielders playing in the back four — winger Antonio Valencia played at right-back ahead of Rafael due to Ferguson’s concerns over Everton’s height — and a midfield stocked with three playmakers in Paul Scholes, Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverley, United always appeared out of kilter.

Carrick’s deployment at centre-half hits United like a double-whammy.

Firstly, you have a midfielder who lacks the natural defensive instinct of a Vidic or Ferdinand. Understandable enough given that it is not his chosen position.

And secondly, without Carrick at the heart of United’s midfield, Ferguson’s team lack the dynamo that enables those ahead of him to play their natural game.

Twice in the past 12 months, Ferguson has billed Carrick as United’s 'main man’ in midfield and challenged him to be the team’s driving force, but the debilitating injury problems suffered by the club’s defenders have often denied him the chance to justify Ferguson’s faith in his midfield talents.

Ferguson clearly does not wish to waste Carrick’s ability by playing him in the back four, but when 80 per cent of his centre-halves are unavailable, what choices are left?

The Guardian have the quotes from Sir Alex:

"It was a pretty good game and there wasn't anything between the two teams. We were the better football team, they had eight shots on target and David de Gea [the United goalkeeper] did very well for us in that way. But we had the possession and made some great openings without actually finishing it. We were a wee bit [disappointing] in terms of finishing off the approach play we had. Other than that we played good football, good combination play, and on another day we would have won the match.

"There were a couple of moments: Tom [Cleverley's shot was] blocked by Phil Jagielka on the line. We had these kind of moments but the team worked well and played some great football. It's difficult here. You have the crowd influencing the referee all the time."

 The same article has comforting words:

A positive omen for United is that they are the only Premier League club to have lost their opening match and gone on to claim the title. They have done it twice.

Ian Wright has an opinion on van Persie being on the bench.  Don't read it.

Elsewhere, The Independent have quotes from new signing Alexander Buttner:

"If a week ago, you told me that together with Robin van Persie I would be playing at Manchester United, I would have driven you straight to the madhouse," he said. "One month ago Manchester United sent an email expressing their interest, but in the last four days it became concrete. I have not spoken yet with Sir Alex Ferguson, but if all goes well that will happen."

The Guardian report that George Soros bought some of our shares:

The billionaire was one of the first of the football club's new investors to be revealed. His hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC, owns 7.85% of United's Class A shares, or about 1.9% of the entire club, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

...

It is likely Soros was drawn to United because of the team's lucrative media rights deals, said Philip Hall, a partner at New York-based investment bank Inner Circle Sports, which has advised on high-profile English Premier League takeovers including Fenway Sports Group's acquisition of Liverpool.