Views From The Broadsheets

THE SUNDAY TIMES

The game had moved into the last six minutes and was drifting to a nil-nil draw when Everton's Tony Hibbert cleared at the expense of a corner. As Nemanja Vidic moved upfield, you looked at him and thought he's the only way United can score. Everton reckoned likewise and their biggest defender, Joseph Yobo, attached himself to the Serb.

At this point everyone, except Vidic, had settled for a draw. Fairness demanded it. Both teams had played for almost an hour and a half, competing fiercely, and yet neither goalkeeper had been asked to make a worthwhile save. United were neat in everything they did, they played with a lot of energy too but it was artistry without substance.

Everton were less pretty but efficient. They knew how to counter United and it was quite an achievement to introduce a new goalkeeper, Stefan Wessels, and then ensure he had an almost idle afternoon. Alas for Everton, their industry and organisation didn't create much at the other end of the pitch. Yakubu and Andy Johnson started as if they meant business but, by halftime, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, had lowered their expectations.

So that's where it was as Nani delivered that late corner. Standing centre of goal, Vidic surged towards the near post, Yobo went with them but as the ball arrived, Vidic jumped early, hung momentarily in the air and then powered a header into the roof of the net. It was the game's outstanding moment and coming from Vidic, about as predictable as these things can be.

Everton's manager David Moyes complained about the lapse of concentration that allowed United to score but that was harsh because Vidic's movement was outstanding and Yobo wasn't exactly dozy, just beaten to the draw by an outstanding opponent. Sometimes, you've got to say the other guy was damned good and, apart from John Terry, what Premiership player goes after corners like Vidic?

Those with thoughts of taking United's title will have noticed the defensive record. And when you consider that one of the centre-backs is just about the team's most likely scorer, the temptation is to genuflect at the Altar of Nemanja. Well, how about agreeing that in the catalogue of Ferguson signings, at £7.5m Vidic rates as one of the best pieces of business the manager has done.

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Manchester United did what they nearly always do yesterday, they won at Everton. This was their 13th win in the 16 occasions they have played in the Premier League at Goodison but there was one difference: it is difficult to remember when they last showed so little panache.

A 1-0 win is famously associated with George Graham and Arsenal but Sir Alex Ferguson's team recorded their third single-goal win in succession to go top of the League, albeit for 45 minutes. Boring, boring United? At the moment they are heading in the right direction but the swashbuckling cavaliers of 12 months ago have been replaced by the severest roundheads.

Compare this to the corresponding fixture from last season and you get the idea. Last April, United, 2-0 down, tore at Everton in the final 30 minutes to win 4-2 for a defining performance that, in effect, clinched them the title. Yesterday's game might also define their campaign, but Old Trafford will not be selling many 2007-08 DVDs if it does.

It was decided by an 83rd-minute goal but, in tune with a season in which they have misfired it was not a striker who got the goal, but Nemanja Vidic. They seem to be running out of ideas about how to score, too, because the deciding moment was a carbon copy of the strike that gave them a win over Sunderland. Then, glory be, it was a forward, Louis Saha, who headed in at the near post from a corner; yesterday it was the Serbian centre-back, who crowned an exemplary performance in United's rearguard, to outpace and outstretch his marker and thump the ball beyond Stefan Wessels. Job done, pity about the lack of thrills.

"It was a great result," Ferguson, the pragmatist, said, listing qualities that included effort and good defending. "We know we haven't got our strongest team at the moment but when we get our forwards back we'll be all right."

Well, may be.

Of course Wayne Rooney, who traditionally acts as the blue touch paper on this occasion, was missing, but even without the former Evertonian there was a lack of fluidity about United and it is breeding frustration within the team. Paul Scholes could have been sent off for two bookable offences and Cristiano Ronaldo was cautioned for diving which brought predictable robust defences from Ferguson but, nevertheless, underlines a tension in the champions. On Scholes' booking, Ferguson said: "The crowd got him that yellow card. The referee's view was blocked but he heard the crowd and gave him a booking." On Ronaldo he was equally forthright. "It was outside the box but he definitely caught him. To get a yellow card for that is ridiculous."

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

It was hardly the kind of flamboyant attacking display that swept Manchester United to the title last season, but Sir Alex Ferguson was a happy man after his side's third successive 1-0 victory. For 45 brief minutes yesterday United even found themselves back in familiar territory on top of the table. Slowly but surely, normal service is being restored.

That it took a goal by a defender from a set-piece seven minutes from time sums up United's problems this term. Although they could not be faulted for effort against an Everton side who were never allowed to get a grip of the midfield, a breakthrough was looking more and more elusive until a lapse of concentration by defender Joseph Yobo let Nemanja Vidic drift in unchallenged and get his head to a Nani corner, squeezing it home at the near post.

Until then, United had posed little in the way of attacking threat, despite their overwhelming possession and the tireless work of their most creative player, Carlos Tevez.

Vidic shot wide from close range and Paul Scholes spooned a volley over the bar. But they were isolated efforts, not the tidal wave of attacking dynamism that characterised United last season. Not even the return of Cristiano Ronaldo after a three-game ban could galvanise them. The Portuguese, well policed by the excellent Leighton Baines, was anonymous until he achieved instant infamy in the eyes of the Goodison Park fans when he was booked by referee Alan Wiley for diving for a penalty in the second half. It was the cue for the familiar pained, hands-on-head expression, but TV replays indicated no contact from Leon Osman.

Wayne Rooney, the other missing link in United's unconvincing start to the season, was not risked yesterday despite reports of his rapid recovery from a broken foot, though Ferguson confirmed that he would be fit for the Champions League trip to Sporting Lisbon in midweek. His return cannot come quickly enough for United.

In his absence, it was left to Ryan Giggs to continue as the main striker - a role that he patently finds uncomfortable, for it was only when he ventured to the comfort zone of the flanks that he came to life. After an hour, he was replaced by a Louis Saha, who was similarly anodyne.

THE OBSERVER

This was not the most inspiring of games, nor the most convincing of performances from either side, but at least Manchester United have achieved their first objective of the season. They are now higher in the table than Manchester City.

After 12 defeats in the 15 previous League meetings between these sides at Goodison, Everton must have expected this result. They could not have been surprised at the way it came about either, since Nemanja Vidic's winner was a carbon copy of the one Louis Saha scored to kill off Sunderland at a similarly late stage of United's previous win. A well-taken corner by Cristiano Ronaldo, a near-post run and firm header from the Serbia defender and United had their third consecutive 1-0 victory after the two draws and a defeat with which they started the season.

If that doesn't sound like Manchester United, this didn't look much like them either. Again playing without a recognised centre-forward, until Saha came off the bench just after an hour and promptly threatened the corner flag with his first shot at goal, Everton's back four were dealing comfortably with the tricks and twists of Carlos Tevez and Ronaldo until a momentary loss of concentration at a set piece cost them the points.

Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo were towers of strength in Everton's defence, and Leighton Baines deserves special mention for keeping first Ronaldo, then Ryan Giggs and Nani quiet. The only problem was that defending capably seemed to be Everton's only plan. This was Yakubu's home debut and Goodison's first sight of the £11m new signing's potentially exciting partnership with Andy Johnson, yet the pair might as well have been in a glass case in a museum for all the contribution they made to trying to win the match.

It wasn't their fault either. Everton defended deep in two lines of four, with even the normally creative Mikel Arteta lacking influence out on the right wing, and the gap between midfield and attack proved too wide for anyone to bridge. Most of the times Yakubu or Johnson received the ball they were the only Everton players in the United half and when the home side tried to advance through midfield they ran out of ideas or passing accuracy as soon as they entered the final third. Just as anyone unfamiliar with rugby watching England on Friday would have been hard-pressed to work out that scoring points was the object of the exercise, Everton's attack looked capable of playing all day without ever threatening to score a goal.

With no Wayne Rooney to liven up the proceedings with a friendly wave to his former supporters - Sir Alex Ferguson promised he would be back on Wednesday in Lisbon - a fixture that normally fizzes with incident was in danger of turning into a soporific stalemate. Perhaps that was what the police intended all along when demanding a lunchtime kick-off.

Yakubu showed a tidy turn to beat Rio Ferdinand as early as the fourth minute, but could not find a finish to match, then, after Patrice Evra shot into the Everton side-netting, Ronaldo went close to scoring with a sharp shot on the turn from Michael Carrick's precision pass. Evra started on the left wing, only moving to full-back when Mikael Silvestre badly twisted knee ligaments and had to leave on a stretcher just before the interval.

As Ferguson pointed out, however, Everton had only one chance, in the frantic final minutes when Edwin van der Sar saved from James McFadden and Ferdinand scrambled to block Victor Anichebe's follow-up. 'Defending like that wins you titles,' Ferguson said. 'We'll be all right when we get our forward players back. The referee made two bad decisions, though. The crowd got Scholes booked and Carlos Queiroz has seen the replays and says Ronaldo was definitely clipped. To get a yellow card for that was ridiculous. I think the referee thought he might have to give a penalty kick, so he booked him instead.'