VIEW FROM BROADSHEETS

The Guardian

Beneath the roar of battle there is a rustling noise. It is the sound of pages being turned as managers glance at the Premiership table and then have another obsessive stare at the fixture list. Even Sir Alex Ferguson's hands may tremble ever so slightly and his side's anxiety was also apparent on the Fratton Park pitch.

Manchester United's gift of plucking goal from thin air vanished and their lead in the Premiership has been halved to three points. The side bowed to its own limitation. For once, the lack of an orthodox centre-forward told. United scored purely because the otherwise excellent David James fumbled an effort from the substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the feet of John O'Shea in the 90th minute.

Ferguson had run out of solutions. With the squad already undermined by injuries, the only changes to the starting line-up employed in Rome last Wednesday saw Solskjaer and Ryan Giggs replaced by Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson. The latter alteration was costly.

Richardson, failing to control the ball, was robbed of it by Sean Davis after half-an-hour. The midfielder fed Benjani and his strong shot was pushed inadequately into the centre of the goalmouth by Edwin van der Sar. Matthew Taylor pursued the loose ball with more purpose than Rio Ferdinand and forced it home.

United's stand-in captain endured a greater ignominy after 89 minutes, rolling a pass-back beyond Van der Sar and into his own net. Ferdinand ought to have checked the goalkeeper's position, but the Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp exonerated the centre-half, insisting Van der Sar had been too close to his team-mate. Whatever, there was a readiness on Redknapp's part to champion Ferdinand, a footballer he developed at West Ham. The manager has been around for so long his career is a fine mesh of associations and mid-afternoon was spent with Ferguson watching football on television.

Some individuals did wane. Ronaldo, on the left wing after the interval, was quelled by the unyielding Lauren. Portsmouth, with the injured Sol Campbell unavailable, gritted their teeth yet also had openings. Nemanja Vidic and Gary Neville are missed terribly in Ferguson's back four. In their absence, tomorrow's return leg with Roma in the Champions League will jangle nerves at Old Trafford.

The Telegraph

Roma's Stadio Olimpico and Fratton Park, Portsmouth, are two of football's crumbling edifices; yet in the space of four days they have seen hairline cracks appear in Manchester United's pretensions of repeating their Treble of 1999.

United have the opportunity to put things right in the Champions League tomorrow night in the return leg against Roma; domestically, they still hold a three-point advantage over Chelsea in the Premiership, and play Watford in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday. Even so, Sir Alex Ferguson is starting to understand what "squeaky bum time" really is.

United were hassled out of their stride. Cristiano Ronaldo found himself crowded out, every step-over or attempt to build a head of steam was blocked by the close proximity of one, two or three blue shirts. Paul Scholes had midfielders unwilling to give him any space, and further back Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Gabriel Heinze were rarely given a chance to dwell on the ball by Kanu and Benjani.

United cracked. Edwin van der Sar patted down Benjani's shot, when he should have held, Ferdinand was slow to the rebound, Matthew Taylor scored. Later, Ferdinand reached Taylor's through-ball before Lomana LuaLua, touching it back towards Van der Sar, who had read the situation differently, the ball bypassing the goalkeeper into the net.

John O'Shea bundled in an injury-time goal after David James spoilt his own chance of setting a Premiership record for clean sheets by failing to hold Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's shot. United had looked more convincing when Ryan Giggs replaced the woeful Kieran Richardson at half-time, Giggs providing the defence-splitting ball that Wayne Rooney put into the net, only to have it erroneously chalked off for offside. ''We're disappointed, but we'll dust ourselves down again and bounce back," O'Shea said.

Ladbrokes have opened a book at 5-1 against United ending the season empty-handed. "You've still got to fancy them," Redknapp, a betting man, countered.

The Times

If you support Manchester United, you may want to turn the page now. For the past eight months, Sir Alex Ferguson's team have been thrilling crowds and playing the kind of football that has made optimists at Old Trafford dream of the Double or a treble in May. The plaudits have come thick and fast: Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world, Rio Ferdinand is worth £110,000 a week, Ryan Giggs is improving with age. On Saturday, the 2,000 United supporters at Fratton Park and the millions watching on television woke up and smelt the coffee.

United have set the pace at the top of the Barclays Premiership for most of the season, but against Portsmouth they were hesitant in defence, lacklustre in midfield and lightweight in attack. Blame it on weary legs after midweek Champions League exertions in Italy or nerves brought on by Chelsea's relentless pursuit, but on this evidence United could end the season empty-handed for the second time in three years.

United may have an easier run-in, but Chelsea have the stronger squad and the momentum that could overpower their rivals when the teams meet at Stamford Bridge in the penultimate match of the season next month. Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher would struggle for a place on the Chelsea substitutes' bench, but the midfield players were deployed on the wings at Fratton Park, while Ronaldo, acting more like a spoilt child than the best player in the world, failed to convince as a centre forward and Giggs was on the substitutes' bench until after half-time.

With the home team's fans creating a constant din that Kanu, the Nigeria forward, described as "the best atmosphere I have played in", the players stuck to their tasks and revelled in unsettling their opponents.

"I told my players that they had to work harder than they had ever worked in their lives otherwise they were going to get nothing from the game," Redknapp said. "They have better players than us, so we had to work and lift our game."

As the United players headed for the tunnel at the end, Dejan Stefanovic asked O'Shea to swap shirts. The United man gave his shirt away but did not wait for Stefanovic's. Maybe next season United should show Portsmouth more respect.