Being stuck embarrassingly close to the relegation zone wont gall Manchester United fans as much as Sunday’s 1-0 derby loss to Manchester City.

In the worst ever opening of a defence by any Premier League champions, United are suffering their slowest start since1992 when they managed just one point from their opening three matches.

Soccerlens is already drawing comparisons with Arsenal, who played lots of nice football last season without finding the sort of ruthlessness in front of goal you need to win a title. 

Time to call time on Sir Alex then? Well not quite if history employs that handy knack of repeating itself.

Fifteen years ago United began with losses to Sheffield United, Everton and drew at home to Ipswich. By November 21, Uniteds record read: Won 5, Drawn 6, Lost 4. Six months later they were champions for the first time in 26 years.

Can the same happen this year? “Do not write off the Reds,” says James Ryddel at the Manchester United blog A Kick in the Grass and there’s reason to believe him when you consider that all three of United’s title rivals dropped points on Sunday as well.

There are now more teams like Manchester City capable of taking points off the big four. No one will relish making trips to Blackburn, Everton, Portsmouth and Newcastle.

If this is the case, can anyone see this seasons champions breaking the 90-point barrier? Three of the past four years have finished thus but we could be returning to the style of the previous eight 38-game seasons, when only the treble winning United team of 1999 managed the feat.

Padraic Halpin, London

Whether Englands top flight regains some of its lost lustre or peters out predictably once more, one certainty is that were going to be kept entertained at press conferences until next May.  

Three days after Roy Keane pitched the No WAGS signs up around Wearside, his former boss at Old Trafford put forward a contender of his own for quote of the week.

Asked if he would accept Sven-Goran Ericssons offer of a £415 post Manchester derby bottle of wine on Friday, Alex Ferguson said yes, but stipulated: I will not be sharing it with him. I will take it home instead.”

Rather like the presumably choice bottle of red Sven will have under his arm on Sunday, Fergusons sense of humour has blossomed with age. Yet hes merely the elder statesman in the leagues greatest cast of characters to date.

His Swedish drinking buddy will be keeping the hacks busy all season, as of course will Jose Mourinho. Lawrie Sanchez has already flexed his plain speaking muscles (and has since apologised), while no less candour is expected from the likes of Sam Allardyce, Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp over the course of the season.

Could it get even better in a year’s time? Very much so should Plymouth Argyle mount a serious promotion challenge, given the style in which manager Ian Holloway kicked off his BBC column this week.  

Tell all the WAGs we’ve got a brand new shopping centre in Plymouth called Drake Circus and it’s superb, says Argyles main man.  My daughters are going there this afternoon and I’ve nicked my wife’s purse so she can’t spend anything. So they’ll all be doing some window shopping beautiful.

Padraic Halpin, London

Arsene Wenger’s call for red cards to be handed out retrospectively to players found guilty of diving saw the debate about the use of technology in the game reopened on the first weekend of the English Premier League season.

When should it be used? How far should it go? Would the use of video replays undermine the authority of the referee? The same questions come up whether this is being discussed at FIFA headquarters in Zurich or in any watering hole after a game.

For FIFA, the issue of refereeing authority was enough for them to dismiss a proposal by the Scottish FA to introduce retrospective sanctions.

“The disciplinary decisions taken by the referee on the field of play during a match are final,” a FIFA statement said.

The SFA proposal was interesting, though, as it raised the prospect of referees reviewing the tapes themselves – a sort of self-asessment, in fact.
 
Retrospective viewing would not slow the game down but it would, as Wenger has said, be a way of catching the cheats. And if referees still had the final say themselves, shouldn’t that be enough to satisfy the likes of FIFA?

Darren Ennis, Brussels

First it was Diego Maradona, now it seems Lionel Messi has moved on to emulating Zinedine Zidane.

Barcelona’s Argentine prodigy tried his hand at copying the Frenchmans stunning Champions League winner against Bayer Leverkusen in a pre-season match against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old plucked the ball out of the air after a cross had ballooned off a defender and cracked a sensational volley past keeper Michael Rensing and inside the far post for a breathtaking winner.

OK, he took the shot from the right side of the area and not the left and it wasnt quite as aesthetically pleasing as Zidanes timeless effort against Leverkusen, but it was still something special.

Last season he produced a carbon copy of Maradonas legendary solo goal against England in the 1986 World Cup when he danced his way past half the Getafe team in the Kings Cup. He then followed that with a replica of the hand of god goal in the derby against city rivals Espanyol.

Who will he emulate next? Could it be Peles swivel and volley in the 1958 World Cup, George Weahs run down the length of the pitch against Verona, George Bests sensational dribbling effort for the San Jose Earthquakes or Marco van Bastens overhead volley for Ajax against Den Bosch.

Personally Im hoping someone shows him a video of that classic Match of the Day 1975 goal of the season from Blackpools Mickey Walsh.

Simon Baskett, Madrid

The authorities have worked hard to improve stadium security following the death of a policeman during riots at a Catania match in February but fighting outside Lazio’s Champions League qualifier with Dinamo Bucharest shows that the problem with soccer violence is far from being solved in Italy.

Entering the San Siro on Tuesday for a friendly tournament involving Milan, Inter and Juve was a lot like getting through airport security. Three rows of stewards and police checked identification documents, tickets and bags before I even got near to the ultra-modern electronic turnstile.

The only worrying issue was the ticketing policy, with frustrated fans queuing for ages to get a seat and almost causing a crush. The rush to distribute tickets to ease the congestion also led to rival fans being put in the same section but happily all was calm inside the arena.

Apart from some racist chanting in the grounds, the real problem is outside the stadiums in places that the football authorities cannot act — a fact largely ignored by the media and politicians.

The policeman in Catania was killed in his car, well away from the ground. The five Romanians injured ahead of the Lazio game were attacked outside the security ring at the Stadio Olimpico.

The perpetrators of these acts are often not soccer fans at all and just tag along to cause violence. Soccer needs help rather than constant condemnation.

Mark Meadows, Milan

The Premier League season is only a few days old yet we’ve already been rewarded with a classic outburst from Sunderland manager Roy Keane.

The man who famously laid into the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ of corporate fans when he was a player at Old Trafford has had a go at ”weak and soft” players who are dictated to by their wives and girlfriends. Here’s the pick of the quotes:

• “I find it surprising that geography seems to play such a big part or that players let their wives decide.”
• “I think it’s weak. You see it with a couple of big players now. Clearly their wives and girlfriends are running their lives and that’s a bad sign.”
• “Why is there such a big attraction with London? It would be different if it was Chelsea, Arsenal or maybe Tottenham, but when they go to a smaller club just because it’s in London, then it’s clearly because of the shops.”

It might be tempting to dismiss it all as just another Keane rant (and there have been quite a few of them — see here for a good list). But is he right in saying the Premier League millionaire lifestyle is getting out of hand? Shouldn’t the players be thinking about the football itself rather than where it’s played? Surely a spell in a slightly less WAG-friendly zone with regular football is preferable to a career on the bench, no matter how good the shops are.

Tom Spaven, London

Juergen Klinsmann might be almost half way around the world in California but it was impossible to miss the former Germany coach’s signature on the new-look Bayern Munich that destroyed Hansa Rostock 3-0 at the start of the Bundesliga season on Saturday.

Even though there had been friction between the Bayern bosses and Klinsmann during his time leading Germany, over the former striker’s ideas on fitness trainers, team psychologists, and modern offensive-minded soccer, Bayern have tacitly adopted some of his ideas and the new attacking style is right out of Klinsmann’s playbook.

And just as Klinsmann’s team dazzled the nation en route to third place at the World Cup, Bayern have put on a scintillating show for their fans and enemies with the new offensive approach.

Bayern are the latest German side to open up their attack, helping boost the game’s popularity. This weekend, all nine matches sold out with a record combined attendance of 412,477. 

Led by Luca Toni, Miroslav Klose and Franck Ribery, Bayern got off 25 shots at Rostock’s beleaguered keeper Stefan Waechter — about as many as in their first four matches last season. In the pre-season League Cup earlier in August, Bayern had crushed the three teams that finished ahead of them last season by a combined tally of 7-1.

In recent seasons and especially under former coach Felix Magath, Bayern seemed more like an Italian team, shutting everything down once they got a goal. It might have been good for the record but was a bore for fans.

Last season Bayern only scored 55 league goals, finishing fourth. That was 21 goals fewer than third place Werder Bremen’s 76. Even in 2005-06 when they last won the championship Bayern got only 67 goals, 12 fewer than second place Werder’s 79.

The second round of Bundesliga matches sees Werder host Bayern on Saturday. There should be fireworks.

Erik Kirschbaum, Berlin

Wayne Rooney is looking at two months out after breaking his foot in Manchester United’s goalless draw with Reading on Sunday.

The good news for Alex Ferguson is that the Carlos Tevez deal has finally been tied up, with the Argentine standing by to make his debut against Portsmouth on Wednesday. You could even argue that it might be positive for United in the long run, as it should give Tevez a good long run in the team.

Unfortunately, England coach Steve McClaren has no such ready made substitute and the loss of Rooney is only going to complicate an already tricky qualifying picture for Euro 2008.

England are in fourth place in Group E and they will now have to go into crucial home games against Israel and Russia next month without their chief striker. With Michael Owen struggling with injury, and Peter Crouch suspended for the Israel game, it could be a big problem for the coach.

So can England recover from the loss of Rooney and clinch the six points they need from those two games. And who should McClaren pick to lead the line in next month’s qualifiers? Michael Chopra made a bit of a name for himself at the weekend. Does he deserve a chance?

Kevin Fylan

While the start of new season in Europe brings forth reams of speculation on just who will win the upcoming campaigns, in Africa the question is more who will stop Al Ahli?

The Egyptian club have just added another trophy to an ever increasing collection and have now won everything they possibly can lay their hands on in their centenary year.

The Egyptian league and cup double was completed in May and June and, on Thursday, the start of the new campaign in the north African country was marked by success in the Egyptian Super Cup.

They needed post-match penalties to beat Ismaili after a 1-1 draw, but even when involved in a tight scrimmage, Al Ahli always seem to come out tops.

Al Ahlis 100 years have seen them dominate Egyptian league football, although the club only started collecting trophies after World War II when proper league structures in Egypt were launched.

It is a club steeped in Egypts struggle against colonialism, the first club where middle class Egyptians could enjoy a social prestige similar to that of their British and French masters, even if not on the same premises. In English, Al Ahli translates into National Sporting Club, and has a highly symbolic profile.

Their popularity, which extends across the Arabic-speaking world, has been fuelled by decades of success. The Confederation of African Football named them the club of the last century and they now chase a record sixth African Champions League title.

After beating Benfica of Portugal recently in a friendly that was part of their 100th birthday celebrations, Al Ahli have two more trophies in their sights this year.

The Champions League will be the major target as no side has won Africas top club prize three times in a row. Last year, Al Ahli matched the overall total of five held by their arch-rivals Zamalek. Currently they are on the cusp of a semi-final berth.

If they clinch the hat-trick Al Ahli will go on for a third year to represent Africa at the Club World Cup in Japan in December.

There they have previously been taught some humbling lessons, two years ago by Saudi Arabia and Australian opposition, and last year having any pretensions of world dominance knocked out of them by Barcelona.

But the pugnacious Egyptians can be expected to try again and set their sights on the top prize. After all, they know little else but the constant collection of trophies.

Mark Gleeson covers African soccer for Reuters

It is silly to try to draw conclusions from the opening day in any league but when the action does begin it at least provides some sort of concrete response to the long weeks of speculating and predicting.

So, in the first 90 minutes of action in England, Liverpool got off to a positive start with a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa. Not an amazing result but the kind of game they may well have lost or drawn in previous campaigns. As Reds skipper and match-winner Steven Gerrard said:

“Over the last couple of seasons we’ve been very frustrated with the starts we’ve made.We’ve dropped silly points and been playing catch up with the big boys early on.”

Every fan tells themselves not to get carried away after the first day but Liverpool supporters must be quietly encouraged by that result.

Less so Tottenham fans, their team have tipped by some as the main challenger to the ‘big four’ this season but lost 1-0 on Saturday at promoted Sunderland. The question raises itself — have Spurs been (yet again) over-hyped — with Jose Mourinho joining in the hyping — or do their fans really think this year is going to be different despite their disappointing opener?

It was a wierd sort of opening day with three of the four most fancied sides, Mourinho’s Chelsea, Arsenal and defending champions Manchester United, not playing — they are all in action on Sunday — but Manchester’s sky blue half had a good begining with their radically changed side, now in the hands of ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, winning away at West Ham 2-0.

Not surprisingly, given the number of new faces in their side, it was two debutants who were on target for City with Italian striker Rolando Bianchi and Brazilian midfielder Geovanni getting the goals.

The Manchester Evening News describes City’s performance as “stylish” and also carries some sharp comments from Eriksson responding to the reports that he signed some players without actually seeing them play.

Eriksson said: “It can only be stupid people who say I would sign players I did not know anything about.

“Okay, I haven’t seen all of them play nine or 10 times but I have big scouting staff at the club and I have as many videos as I need to watch.

“I’ve always signed good football players. And with these ones, some are young and for the future and some, like (Martin) Petrov and Elano, are more experienced.”

It is going to be a really tough task to gel City’s collection of imports into a genuine team but Eriksson had plenty of experience of doing just that in Italy, especially with Lazio, and one wonders if the Swede’s side might be one of the surprise outfits this season?

A level below, in the Championship, there were a few surprises. Relegated Charlton, tipped by many for an instant return to the top-flight, were held 1-1 at home by Scunthorpe. The city of Sheffield had a disappointing day with United only managing a 2-2 draw at home to Colchester while Wednesday crashed to a 4-1 defeat at Ipswich. Improved Burnley beat one of the promotion favourites, West Brom, 2-1.

And finally, Leeds United, who have endured a painful close season, had a little reason for cheer as they won 2-1 at Tranmere Rovers in their third division game.

So, how was it for you?