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United supporters vote Chelsea as main domestic rival and Barcelona as top European opponent

755 Manchester United supporters voted in MustBeRed's first weekly survey of opinion among United's global fans. You can take part in the second survey by voting here.

CHELSEA SEEN AS MAIN RIVAL FOR RETAINING THE PREMIERSHIP

The vote was taken before Liverpool lost last night at home to Aston Villa and most people had voted before Arsenal's strong start to the season. We'll hold another vote in a month or so.  Only 2% of United supporters see City as a serious rival - despite the Arab-owned team's £216m spending spree.

BARCELONA ARE SEEN AS MAIN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RIVAL

Ten times as many United supporters see Barcelona as the main European rival as see Chelsea as the main rival.  Only 1% see Arsenal as United's main European rival.

ROONEY WILL BE UNITED'S TOP SCORER

It is difficult to argue with the verdict on this one.  A whopping 86% of supporters said that Wayne Rooney - who scored his 101st goal for United on Saturday against Wigan - will be United's top scorer in 2009/10.  More supporters expect Owen to hit the back of the net more regularly than Berbatov.

WE CAN BE STRONGER WITHOUT RONALDO

Most members of the MustBeRed panel are optimists about life after Ronaldo.  A quarter expect United to be weaker without last year's World Player of The Year but two-thirds say we can be stronger.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE NEW SURVEY.

11 points about the Wigan match

1. The perfect response.  Even though there are still some doubts and worries (see below), you can't really argue against 5 goals, scored away from home, and with all of your main strikers getting on the score sheet.  This was pretty much the best response we could have expected after the Burnley game, and sets things up nicely for the Arsenal match next weekend.  We've got six points now, only 84 more to go by Fergie's reckoning.

2. Well done, Wayne: goals #100 and #101.  Remember that debut against Fenerbahce?  Goals 1, 2 and 3 in a United shirt for Wayne Rooney?  Well, four years on he's the Old Trafford hero we all thought he'd be, and he just smashed in goals 100 and 101.  Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the magic hundreth:


Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

3. Owen's goal.  To my eyes, Owen's goal was the pick of the bunch.  Not just for the crisp pass by Nani and the pinpoint finish from Owen himself, but for what this could mean for our season - a confident Owen could well start banging them in from now on.



4. Berbatov's genius.  Lazy?  Doesn't add much to the team?  Geddaway.  Especially in the second half, Berbatov's neat touches and cushioned passes were the impetus behind many of United's best attacking moves.  The goal - complete with a chip over the keeper - capped what was an impressive performance.



5. Valencia Watch.  Now, that's more like it.  Against his old club, Valencia looked much more like the player we all got excited about in pre-season: a danger down the flank, peppering the opposition box with plenty of threatening crosses.  There are still question marks about whether he can pull it off against stronger oppostion - Ashley Cole, for instance, coped easily with him in the Community Shield match - but this was encouraging stuff.

6. The New Nani.  Last week we had the Old Nani: wasteful, frustating and lazy.  This week we're mostly back to the New Nani we saw against Chelsea: controlled, constructive and central to much of United's best play.  Again, a player who capped an impressive performance with an equally impressive goal.



7. Solid-(ish) defence.  Aside from a few wobbles - and, yes, a goal conceded against Burnley - one of the great positives that Fergie can take from the opening three games of the season is how our defence has coped with the injuries which have decimated it.  Vidic was back yesterday - which immediately made us look more solid - but none of the stand-ins, from John O'Shea to Wes Brown, have particularly embarrassed themselves or the team.  Special mention must go to Patrice Evra, who has been our player of the season so far, and Jonny Evans, who is one of the most composed young defenders that these eyes have ever seen.

8. The great Wigan run.  Don't you just love it when United play Wigan?  In nine league meetings now, United have come out winners every time - scoring 26 goals, and conceding only 4, in the process.

9. Doubts and worries.  Ok, so everything above has been a positive.  But there's no masking the fact that United looked distinctly off the boil in the first half of the match yesterday.  The main problem was the same one we had in the last two gains: an inability to convert chances into goals, the lack of some vital spark (or the 'X-Factor', as Piers Morgan puts it in the Sportsmail pages today).  Hopefully, the second-half performance will give the team the encouragement it needs, but there's little doubt that a better team than Wigan would have punished us before the first 45 minutes were up yesterday.

10. Where's Carrick?  Like the Birmingham game last weekend, Michael Carrick didn't even warrant a place on the United bench yesterday.  You do wonder what's going on with him.  He's not injured, so far as any one knows, but he does seem to have been the target of some cryptic and critical remarks from Fergie.  Whatever's wrong, let's hope it gets sorted out soon - our central midfield is already looking a little thin, without us effectively losing Carrick.

11. The final word from Fergie.  Here's how the manager summarised the match:

"Overall I thought they played very well. We had six good chances in the first half, and you'd like to take one or two of them, but the important thing was to be patient, and keep playing the way they were playing."

So now back to Old Trafford, and the Arsenal next weekend.

Pete

11 points about the Birmingham match

1. Rooney's goal.  We all know the story: now Ronaldo's gone, we're expecting more goals from Wayne Rooney - especially as he's playing in his preferred position through the centre.  In which case, it was good to see him open his account on day two of the league, with his 99th goal for the club (you can watch it here).  Hopefully, there are many more to come.  Fergie certainly expects.

2. United's Zidane. There are plenty of plaudits for Rooney's overall performance yesterday - in the newspapers, on the blogs and from Fergie himself.  But the most eye-catching comes from the Brum manager, Alex McLeish, who said after the match, "Every so often natural footballers come along. You get players like Zidane and Platini and now there is Wayne Rooney."

3. Injury-hit defence.  What's wrong with our defenders at the moment?  They're dropping like flies.  United went into the day without Vidic, while Neville and Rafael are still recovering from knocks.  And then Rio goes and injures his thigh in training, and Jonny Evans hobbles off the pitch after 75 minutes.  Rio will be out for 2 weeks, but there's been no confirmation on Evans - the Beeb are reporting that the young Northern Irish defender was taken off as a "precaution", so hopefully he should be fit for the games ahead.

4. Defensive strength in depth.  Having said that, the defenders that are fit put in a decent performance.  Sure, Birmingham are no Real Madrid.  Sure, there were some shaky moments.  And, sure, Utd will never look as solid as when they have Vidic and Rio paired together at the back.  But captain-for-the-day John O'Shea marshalled his forces well, and Wes Brown and Ritchie De Laet certainly aren't bad options to have on the bench.  The clean sheet is testament to their efforts, as well as to a couple of decent saves by Ben Foster.  Despite some hints in the Times this morning, I'm not sure we need to be looking to the transfer market for defensive cover.

5. Goal-line clearance specialist.  Evra stopped one on the line against Chelsea last week, and then repeated the trick against Birmingham yesterday; getting in the way of Franck Quedrue's goal-bound header.  It capped what was an impressive performance by our left-back - reliable in defence but, also, one of our most effective attacking forces.  Just don't let him take any penalties.

6. Missed chances.  Typical United.  They dominate huge swathes of the game; should have scored a hatful; but only put one away, and end up enduring a more uncertain finish than they need have done.  Nani, Fletcher and Owen all had gilt-edge opportunities - although, to be fair, Owen's came when the match was pretty much over.  It's been said a thousand times, but bears repeating: Utd really do need to start converting more of their chances.  After all, you don't always get Birmingham at home.

7. Birmingham's best player: Joe Hart.  Of course, it didn't help that Birmingham's keeper (on loan from City) put in an impressive performance between the sticks.  Scott the Red, over at Republik of Mancunia, sums it up nicely:

"11 shots saved by the former City keeper, 9 shots off target and a further 10 blocked shots is all you need to know about what a frustrating day it was for us today. Hart was on form and their defenders were eager not to be embarrassed, so whilst I’d like to see us looking sharper in front of goal over the next few weeks, credit has to go to Birmingham’s defence."

8. Owen Watch.  After the Valencia game, Owen won't have appreciated that missed opportunity in the dying minutes of the match.  But he'll have taken heart from the positive reception Old Trafford gave him when he replaced Berbatov in the 74th minute.  I think most people expect the goals to come.

9. A confidence-boost for Foster.  After his wobbly performance at Wembley last week, Ben Foster needed a solid match to reassure both the fans and - you assume - the manager, his teammates and himself.  And that's what he delivered: some fine saves - especially from Christian Benitez late in the game - and less jitteriness with the ball on the ground.  Indeed, Fergie paid tribute to Foster afterwards, saying that, "We know he has ability and he proved that again today."  The perfect tonic for our stand-in keeper.

10. Same old Nani.  The Portuguese winger looked quite good against Chelsea last week - he really did.  But yesterday it was back to the same old Nani: wasteful in possession, lazy when off the ball, and sloppy in front of goal.  He partially redeemed himself with his cross for Rooney's goal.  But this wasn't the performance to make us forget a certain other Portuguese flyer.

11. Mighty Spurs!  United's performance may not have been the best, but a win's a win - and that win was made infinitely sweeter by Liverpool's defeat, later in the day, at White Hart Lane.  Last season, Benitez's men only lost two games.  One match down, and they're already half-way there...

Pete

Nani to stay at Old Trafford

In what might come as a surprise to some United fans, Sir Alex has said today that Nani is going nowhere this summer.

A lack of starts and some indifferent displays have left some wondering whether the young Portuguese could make it at Old Trafford. He was particularly singled out for criticism for his first half display on Saturday.

While the winger's supporters have likened his performances to that of a younger Ronaldo, critics would say that this gives him the benefit of the doubt when - some absolute screamers aside - he has done little to merit such patience.

Either way, Fergie is clearly convinced. According to ManUtd.com he said: "“Nani’s been unlucky this season".

“The form of Ji-sung Park has been absolutely outstanding and most of the time he’s kept Nani out of the team. He also picked up a little injury…

“So it’s been difficult for Nani to get a consistent run and that’s really been his problem. But he’ll be here next season and he’ll do very well for us."

Patrick

Five brief thoughts on the Porto game

That goal.  I posted on it last night, and the papers are drooling over it this morning.  Ronny's goal really was quite special.

The return of Rio.  It's obvious isn't it?  Put Rio back in the heart of the Man Utd defence and it immediately looks stronger and more composed.  The boy Evans may be the heir to Ferdinand, but the experience of the Real Ferdinand is crucial in these do-or-die European ties.  As much of our success this season has come on the back of clean-sheets, it's great to have him back for the run-in.

Nani.  Now, I've always been one of the Nani sceptics.  He certainly has ability and potential, but he's never quite looked United class.  His brief appearance last night - coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute - was utterly atrocious.   He lost the ball too easily; couldn't deliver in the final third; and seemed to be shunned by his teammates on the pitch.  A performance that could well have ended his United career.

Talk of a quintuple.  Notice how talk of a quintuple has died down over the past few weeks, as United's form has stuttered?  I don't want to tempt fate, but I think that could help our cause.  The weight of expectation is always difficult  to bear, and any team - even United; especially United - will face hurdles and dips on the way to glory.  Momentum is a good thing but, in a way, it might be better if the Q-word doesn't reemerge after this victory.

Is the blip over?  Well, I guess only time will tell - but the signs are certainly promising.  Fergie spoke of the "galvanising" effect that Macheda's goal had in the aftermath of the Villa game.  But becoming the first English team to triumph at the Estadio do Dragao is a far more impressive achievement than leaking two goals at home then relying on a late, if stunning, winner.  And to do so relatively comfortably - with solidity in defence - augurs well for the matches against Everton and Portsmouth.

Pete