Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to play down Manchester United's failure to get their title defence off to a winning start, claiming that his squad can bounce back from a flat opening as they have in the past.
"There are 37 games left, so it is not a disaster and we have shown before we can come from behind," Ferguson said last night. "We lacked width and penetration. It's a handicap maybe and in the context of the season it's not the result we wanted but with the changes we had to make you couldn't be too disappointed."
Last season United began with a goalless draw with Reading at Old Trafford and failed to record a victory in their opening three Premier League games. Yesterday Ferguson's side once again produced an underwhelming performance, against a Newcastle United team they were widely expected to crush and who conceded 11 goals against them last season.
The draw was even more frustrating as international breaks and United's European Super Cup commitments mean that they have only two more league games before mid-September. The absence of Carlos Tevez due to the death of his uncle, in addition to the foot injury that will keep Cristiano Ronaldo out until October, meant that United were stretched even before they lost the England midfielder Michael Carrick to an ankle problem and the winger Ryan Giggs to a hamstring injury. Ferguson also said that the 20-year-old striker Fraizer Campbell, who was making his Premier League debut, was forced off with an unspecified injury.
That left United pressing for an equaliser with two more debutants, the Brazilian teenagers Rodrigo Possebon and Rafael da Silva, trying to open Newcastle up and the left-back, Patrice Evra, playing on the wing.
Ferguson lamented the defensive lapse that allowed the unmarked Obafemi Martins to score. "I did not expect to lose a goal at a set piece to a header from a guy who is 5ft 8in."
But Ferguson, who once again refused to discuss his pursuit of the Tottenham Hotspur striker Dimitar Berbatov, is sure that, with Tevez back and Wayne Rooney having played the full 90 minutes after returning to the team following a virus, his squad will be well equipped to respond in the right manner against Portsmouth at Fratton Park a week today.
"Carlos Tevez will be back for the Portsmouth match next week and Wayne will be much sharper and much fitter and in the second half it started to show for him," he said.
"But unfortunately Campbell also picked up an injury and I had to take him off, so we were asking Wayne to play through the middle when he's really needing games and it was a big ask. I haven't got too many complaints. We did our best with the resources we had available. We were the better team, we had the most possession of the ball but we didn't make it count in the second half."
Kevin Keegan felt his team's performance, with his new signings Danny Guthrie and the Argentinians Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutiérrez all impressing, was good reason for optimism. "We got a point where a lot of people didn't think we could," said the Newcastle manager.
"I've said to the players, if we can come here and do that, we can do it anywhere because this is the toughest place in the league to come.
"We deserved the point because our performance was good and our attitude was spot on. You can't carry anyone here because whatever side Man United put out they are a great side," he said.
When asked about reports that the Newcastle owner, Mike Ashley, has promised corporate fans he will make a "wow signing" before the transfer window closes, Keegan responded with humour. "Now he's said it... I think that with Dennis Wise, Tony Jiminez, Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley, in spite of what everyone thinks, we're working really hard to bring quality players in."I definitely want one or two and I don't know what the wow signing is myself and I can't wait to ring him [Ashley]. It's a shame he told the corporate members before he let me and [the assistant manager] Terry Mac [McDermott] know but that's all right."
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