The first match of a new season is usually a time for heady anticipation but at Old Trafford it brought only anti-climax and, in the case of Wayne Rooney, a grim sense of foreboding. Rooney has a long and unhappy relationship with metatarsal injury and the England striker is reeling from the news that he has broken a foot for the third time in as many years.
This time there was no cry of agony and outstretched hand, as there had been on the Stamford Bridge pitch when Rooney went down 16 months ago and England's attempt to win the World Cup suffered a blow from which it never recovered. Yet, once again, Rooney's features were contorted in pain when the Reading centre-half Michael Duberry inadvertently brought down his studs on the top of his opponent's left foot. Once again, the diagnosis will be of immense concern not only for Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson but everyone involved with the England set-up, this being a critical time in the qualification programme for Euro 2008.
Rooney was taken to hospital and the club confirmed last night that he had suffered a hairline fracture. The official line was that it would mean a six-week lay-off but that is the optimistic view and it could conceivably be longer. Gary Neville, the United captain, and Michael Owen, Rooney's England team-mate, can testify that this is an injury in which the recovery process can be frustratingly drawn out.
For Reading, the pity is that Rooney's injury, and the potential seriousness of it for Ferguson and Steve McClaren, deflect from what was an outstanding performance of defensive courage and a stubborn refusal to go the same way as Fulham - the victims of a five-goal swamping on the corresponding fixture last season - even when their substitute Dave Kitson was sent off only 37 seconds after coming on to the pitch.
The pressure on Reading's goal was almost unremitting. Yet once Rooney left the pitch Ferguson did not have a recognised centre-forward, with Louis Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Carlos Tevez all unfit at a time when Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi have both moved on. John O'Shea, a defender by trade, was brought on as an emergency striker but he, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, found the goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann in inspired form. Nani, the Portuguese recruit, also came off the bench but, despite looking lively, he too could not break down a defence in which Duberry, Nicky Shorey and Graeme Murty emerged as heroes.
Reading spent only £3.5m in the summer - compared with £60m for United- but they are clearly blessed with a manager whose tactical knowledge is priceless. Steve Coppell's master plan was to use Murty as a man-marker against Giggs, while Shorey was ordered to do a similar job on Ronaldo. The result was that United's two most creative players failed to have their usual effect, even after Kitson's dangerously high challenge on Patrice Evra.
The Torygraph
Manchester United have spent in excess of £40 million to reinforce their attacking armoury since securing a ninth Premiership title last May, so it was unexpected, to say the least, to see John O'Shea occupying the centre-forward role as the champions tried in vain to begin the defence of their championship with victory against Reading at Old Trafford.
Carlos Tevez, despite having trained with his new team-mates for over a week, watched frustrated from the directors' box alongside Anderson, the Brazilian attacking midfielder who arrived from Porto with a £19 million price tag around his neck.
With Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi ushered through the exit door in recent weeks, United's attacking strength has been diluted and, without Rooney, the gentle introduction planned for Tevez is no more.
American goalkeeper Hahnemann signalled his intent as early as the 10th minute when he raced off his line to beat Rooney to Michael Carrick's through-ball and he continued in the same vein throughout. Aside from a Ryan Giggs volley which hit the post, Hahnemann was equal to everything that United could throw at him. Cristiano Ronaldo, Scholes, Brown and, in the final minute of the game, Scholes and Ronaldo again, were denied by Hahnemann.
Reading's man-marking tactic stifled United's play and restricted the visitors to just one chance in the dying stages, but they were certainly successful, if physically drained.
United even spurned the gift of playing against 10 men for the final 17 minutes after Reading substitute Dave Kitson was sent off by referee Rob Styles for a studs-up challenge on Patrice Evra, 37 seconds after replacing Kevin Doyle.
The Times
Sir Alex Ferguson's mantra at this time of year is all about hitting the ground running. He could hardly have imagined that, by 5.50pm yesterday, he would have seen Wayne Rooney collapse in a crumpled heap and the rest of his Manchester United players fall to their knees in weary frustration as the final whistle was blown.
Whatever this was, it was not hitting the ground running. United had enough opportunities to win, but, with Reading parking the proverbial bus in front of their goal, it was not a result that had the spectators scratching their heads in disbelief as they headed for the exits. Even after Dave Kitson was sent off, only 37 seconds after his introduction as a second-half substitute, Reading held firm, eager to disprove the voguish theory that they will fall victim to the phenomenon known in footballing circles as difficult second-season syndrome.
At the final whistle, several Reading players sprinted towards Marcus Hahnemann, the goalkeeper who had repelled the best of United's attacks, but this was far more than a one-man resistance movement. There should be honourable mentions for Michael Duberry, whose top-flight days were thought to be behind him until he was summoned from Stoke City in January, and for the Icelandic duo of Ivar Ingimarsson and Brynjar Gunnarsson, but above all for Steve Coppell, the manager, whose tactics Ferguson praised through gritted teeth.
With Rooney on his way to hospital, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha not yet match-fit and Tévez kicking his heels in the directors' box, it fell to the unlikely figure of John O'Shea to lead the line for United in the second half. Had he not shot straight at Hahnemann when put through by Ryan Giggs, it would have been hailed as a masterstroke on Ferguson's part.
Ferguson was entitled to cite other chances that fell to Wes Brown and Paul Scholes in the second half, with the postmatch statistics claiming that United had had 70 per cent of the possession and mustered 21 goal attempts to Reading's three, but this never seemed likely to be the kind of stroll for the home team that the bookmakers' odds suggested.
Cristiano Ronaldo offered the greatest threat for the home team, testing Hahnemann with a couple of characteristic efforts and setting up decent first-half chances for Rooney and Giggs, but even he was far from his mercurial best. Opportunity knocked for Ronaldo in the fifth minute of injury time, but this time he sent a free kick sailing into the Stretford End.
By that stage, Reading were a man short, Kitson having been shown the red card for a senseless lunge on Patrice Evra just moments after entering the field.
It meant that the final 17 minutes, plus stoppage time, resembled the alamo, with Reading playing an operation best described as 4-5-0, but, to their manager's delight, they preserved their point. Reading could hardly have been presented with a more fearsome start to the campaign, but they will face Chelsea on Wednesday with renewed confidence in their prospects this season. As for United, they have difficult away assignments against two of the summer's biggest movers in the transfer market, Portsmouth and Manchester City, whose manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, appeared to enjoy his spying mission.