THE SUNDAY TIMES
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 100th Premier League appearance with a goal of consummate class that maintained Manchester United's challenge to leaders Arsenal but disguised an unconvincing performance by his team. Only bottom-of-the-table Derby have scored fewer goals than United's paltry accumulation of seven but Birmingham managed also to expose the defensive frailty of Sir Alex Ferguson's side and only a goal was missing from their stellar endeavour.
Sebastian Larsson was magnificent for the vanquished team and Gary McSheffrey, on the opposite flank, was not far behind but for all of the discomfort they visited on United they were unable to make them suffer, which was left to Ronaldo to inflict. Wayne Rooney was a marginal influence and Carlos Tevez is still trying to find his feet but United, for the fourth time this season, won by a solitary goal.
United's lack of ruthlessness in front of goal this season has been put down by the manager to Wayne Rooney's absence through injury, Cristiano Ronaldo's three-game suspension and the late arrival of Carlos Tevez into the squad. All three were starters for only the second time as Sir Alex Ferguson, having changed the entire team for the midweek debacle against Coventry in the Carling Cup, reverted to the 11 men who began last Sunday's game against Chelsea.
A further blow was inflicted on United when Van der Sar, who suffered a leg injury midway through the opening half, failed to emerge for the restart and Tomasz Kuszczak took his place. Then, unexpectedly, came United's salvation. Ferdinand's long ball towards the edge of Birmingham's penalty area ought to have been dealt with by Quedrue but his mistake presented Ronaldo with a sliver of an opportunity, which was all that he needed. He took the ball around Quedrue and glided past Ridgewell before sending a low shot past Taylor. For Birmingham there could have been no crueller blow.
Larsson played a good ball across the face of goal which just eluded Kapo and Kuszczak had to make a great save at his near post from a deflected header by Vidic as Birmingham searched desperately for an equaliser. But they left gaps at the back and Stephen Kelly had to deny Rooney on the line before Ronaldo shot wide from Rooney's square ball.
THE OBSERVER
These are happy days for Sir Alex Ferguson. His team are collecting three points while playing just mediocre stuff, his chief rival is no more and the team left behind appear in disarray. Whatever the public utterances, Fergie will be delighted that Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea and the club he took to consecutive championships now lie five points behind. Here, United were dull and might have lost, yet scrapped away to take the victory from a side set up well by Steve Bruce to resist the champions. If Franck Queudrue had not produced the awful error that allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to again be a match winner, the United old boy might have had at least a deserved point for his shrewd approach.
Last week Bruce squeezed a point from the visit to Liverpool by positioning Mehdi Nafti in front of the defence and asking the Tunisian to lead his midfield in frustrating Liverpool. Here, against visitors Birmingham had not beaten in the league since a 5-1 rout in November 1978, he repeated the ploy. It worked, especially in the opening 45 minutes. As Ferguson said: 'It was very difficult, they played well and deserve full credit. That is the hardest game so far this season for us.'
Before the break Birmingham were certainly the sharper and more cohesive than a United side arguably Sir Alex Ferguson's strongest. The only possible debate was over the omission of Louis Saha who offers a differing option to Carlos Tevez in attack alongside Wayne Rooney. But, it was Birmingham's lone striker Cameron Jerome who stood out before Ronaldo's goal. He might have scored after 27 minutes when a poor Edwin Van der Sar clearance went direct to him. The Dutch keeper - replaced at half-time due to a toe injury by Tomasz Kuszczak -was out of goal and Jerome's curling effort appeared to have given Birmingham the lead before Nemanja Vidic hooked a leg out.
United were disjointed enough for 25 minutes to pass before a first corner arrived. It came to nothing. And though Tevez had earlier dribbled into the area after seven minutes and Rooney should have done better when through on Maik Taylor seconds before, that was about it. The visitors' problems derived from their central midfield pairing of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick. Both failed to break forward in support, which meant there was little fluidity going forward. And as the break neared, Ryan Giggs began dropping inside in an attempt to link. By that point Birmingham had created far more and were unlucky not to be leading. Added to Jerome's near miss had been the 17th-minute effort from Gary McSheffrey that forced Rio Ferdinand to clear his line.
Ferguson, though, resisted making any change at half time and within five minutes saw his team score. Queudrue's Sunday was instantly ruined by his mistake. While the French left-back dithered, the double player of the year muscled in, rounded Taylor, and finished. 'Even I could have scored that,' reckoned Bruce. If that undersold the winger's finish, then the manager's assertion that it was his team's only serious error was correct.
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Points continue to be more plentiful than goals for Manchester United. Once again, one of the latter was enough as Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 100th Premier League start with the finish that lifted the champions back above their greatest geographical rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool, into second place. By no means was it a vintage performance and Birmingham had every right to contend that they deserved to be ahead following some alarming United defending in the first half.
But United's season is being built on 1-0 victories - this was their fourth in the League alone - and, remarkably, the fledgling table shows only the bottom team, Derby, scoring fewer goals. So far in 2007-08, United's eight Premier League games have produced a miserly nine goals in total. It is a bizarre statistic, contradicted by the manner in which Birmingham repeatedly threatened before the break and had Sir Alex Ferguson admitting: "Give them full credit, that's the hardest game of the season and they are a good team with a lot of pace and aggression. Going in at 0-0, I was happy and we retained possession far better in the second half and defended much better."
There was extra satisfaction for United in as much as victory was achieved despite the half-time loss of Edwin van der Sar with a toe injury that makes the keeper doubtful for Tuesday's Champions' League home game with Roma.
The Dutchman had produced two fine early saves to deny Birmingham and his replacement, Tomasz Kuszczak, also performed manfully in the spirited home response to Ronaldo's second goal of the season seven minutes after the break.
The breakthrough was calamitous for Birmingham's left-back Franck Queudrue, who dallied over Rio Ferdinand's hopeful long ball and allowed the Portuguese winger to dispossess him amid his blundering attempts at a recovery. The rest was utterly predictable as Liam Ridgewell was left trailing before a composed side-step of the goalkeeper Maik Taylor resulted in an open-goal finish for Ronaldo. It was finishing of a high order.
Ferguson made seven changes from the Carling Cup eclipse by Coventry City as he went back to the side that accounted for Chelsea last weekend but his A team nonetheless resembled strangers on occasions.
Twice in the opening two minutes, Van der Sar made excellent saves, on the first occasion following an aberration by Paul Scholes. The midfielder, in trying to pick out Ferdinand deep in his own half, instead located Cameron Jerome, whose powerful left-foot shot was palmed aside with difficulty.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
It has been a long time coming but Cristiano Ronaldo finally made his distinctive impression on this season. What with a three-game suspension following his dismissal at Portsmouth and Manchester United's strangely subdued attacking style this term, the Portuguese winger had been peripheral. Until now.
As happened so frequently in last year's title victory, when United struggled, Ronaldo bailed them out. With nine minutes gone in the second half, Franck Queudrue stalled in possession on the edge of the box and Ronaldo was onto him with lupine fervour. Cutting across Liam Ridgewell and the goalkeeper, Maik Taylor, with astonishing acceleration, Ronaldo chipped left-footed into the empty net. It was conducted with the ruthless precision and speed of a professional assassin.
Yet while this was the fifth Premiership game in which United have not conceded, it was a shaky performance from a side who were repeatedly carved open by a Birmingham side playing with an intensity that few of the visitors seemed willing to match.
United sloppiness gifted Birmingham numerous chances. Here was a defensive unit so tight that, according to Sir Alex Ferguson, opponents are lucky to win a corner. Yet within a minute, Paul Scholes passed the ball straight to Cameron Jerome on the edge of the area. The Birmingham striker was denied by Edwin van der Sar's usual competence.
That was just the beginning, though. Ronaldo gave the ball to Gary McSheffrey, whose cross was hit wide by Jerome at the far post. Patrice Evra was next as he tried to shield the ball out but was easily bustled off it by Sebastian Larsson. The Swede picked out McSheffrey and only Rio Ferdinand's interception on the line prevented the goal. Even Van der Sar wanted in on the act, scuffing a clearance straight to Jerome only for the Birmingham striker to strike tamely at goal, easy for Nemanja Vidic to block. Uncharacteristically shoddy from the champions.
Still there were glimmers of inspiration on United's part. Wes Brown's early ball over the top lured Maik Taylor off his line but the goalkeeper had underestimated Wayne Rooney's pace. The England striker got there first but Taylor held his ground and reacted well to stretch and parry Rooney's attempted lob. Crisp passing and movement around the area, from Ronaldo and Tevez especially, intimated what the visitors were capable of but with Birmingham's commitment to breaking at speed, United were vulnerable.
So it followed football's brutal, warped logic that Birmingham's first significant defensive error was punished by a goal. As is his wont, Ferdinand floated an aimless ball up the pitch. Queudrue dithered and Ronaldo pounced. It was over in the blink of an eye.