Red and Blue Devils

Manchester United and Chelsea started the championship with defeats

From the first round, the favorites of the English Premier League made it clear who will compete for the championship title this season. Manchester United and Chelsea, having defeated their rivals, clearly demonstrated the validity of their ambitions. Moreover, the rest of the contenders for the championship started the season ingloriously.

Manchester United needed only half of the first half to secure a result in the opening match. By the 20th minute of the game against Fulham, Alex Ferguson's team was already leading 4:0. Much of the credit for this goes to Wayne Rooney, although the first goal scored was scored by his attacking partner Louis Saha. However, Rooney took part in all the other goals. First, he successfully jostled with Pierce and forced him to direct the ball into his own goal, then played well on the finish, and then provided an assist to Cristiano Ronaldo. Rooney's benefit continued in the second half, when the forward scored his team's fifth goal, dispelling all doubts about the correctness of selling Manchester United's main scorer in previous seasons, Ruud van Nistelrooy, to Real.

Naturally, Sir Alex was incredibly pleased with such a promising start. The only thing that upsets the Mancunian head coach is Bayern's refusal to sell him to the club of England midfielder Owen Hargreaves. The German club, recalling that this player has a contract until 2010, officially asked the British not to show their interest in buying him. “Hargreaves' agent and United can contact me every day if they like, but I won't answer them,” Bavarian general manager Uli Hoeneß even allowed himself some harshness. “Well, I have a great team even without Hargreaves. The central midfielders played amazing today, plus Carrick will soon be added to this line,” Ferguson noted on this occasion, not forgetting to also praise Rooney.

Wayne Rooney really became the protagonist of the opening round. And without such a player, the England team will have to make do in their first official matches. The fact is that Rooney was disqualified for three matches by the decision of his own football association for the scandalous sending off at the World Cup. So the dissatisfaction of the English team coach Steve McClaren is understandable. “This decision did not make it easier for me to build normal interactions with clubs,” noted the head coach of the Russians’ opponents in the qualifying round. “I'm not going to criticize the decision, but when I have to build relationships with clubs and coaches, obviously the decision made in relation to Rooney makes my job very, very difficult.”

But McClaren can be pleased with those national team players who play for Chelsea. For example, the new captain of the English national team, John Terry, opened the scoring for the Blues in this championship, and then Frank Lampard supported his partner’s initiative. Drogba scored the third goal against Manchester City, and Chelsea fans could only regret that Andrei Shevchenko failed to score in the first match. The Ukrainian had a chance, but after his kick the ball hit the hand of one of the defenders, and the referee decided not to award a penalty.

The big victories of Manchester United and Chelsea look even more impressive against the backdrop of the lackluster draws of their main competitors - Arsenal and Liverpool. The Gunners and Reds finished their matches with the same score 1:1, and both were forced to win back. Arsenal managed to salvage a draw in the game with Aston Villa only in the 83rd minute, and to achieve the same result, Liverpool needed the help of the referee, who awarded a dubious penalty against Sheffield United.

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Match results. Manchester United - Fulham - 5:1, Chelsea - Manchester City - 3:0, Arsenal - Aston Villa - 1:1, Bolton - Tottenham - 2:0, West Ham - Charlton - 3:1, Newcastle - Wigan - 2:1, Reading - Middlesbrough - 3: 2, Sheffield United - Liverpool - 1:1, Everton - Watford - 2:1.

Andrey VDOVIN