Manchester United play their first game of the new season against Birmingham at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

Even without the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sir Alex Ferguson has one of the strongest squads in the league at his disposal and, more importantly, the Scot has the experience and the respect to carry the club into their next challenge.
However, this year they have a new problem to overcome.
Unquestionably, the squad is weaker without the talent (and goals) of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez and it would be churlish to suggest that two players of such immense talent will not be missed. A lot of the pressure to fill the void will fall on the shoulders of Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney. Ferguson will also be able to call on Macheda again - although the youthful striker has lost some of the 'unknown' characteristics that may have given him the jump on his opponents - but the Italian teenager will probably be beaten to the role of 'super-sub' by Michael Owen.
Ferguson's other summer signings, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan, will also bear the responsibility of scoring but more importantly, creating, goals.
In defence, the rise of Jonny Evans has allowed Ferguson to sleep easy if Rio Ferdinand or Nemanja Vidic are injured. The Northern Irishman will not take a starting spot unless one of the two best defenders in the league suffers a catastrophic loss of form, but is an excellent replacement along with the experienced and versatile Brown and O'Shea.
With club stalwarts Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs coming to the end of their careers, Ferguson will have to rely more on the younger players like Anderson, Nani, Park, Fletcher, Carrick.
So, United is still a team to contend with this season, mainly because of their squad depth and the amount of skill present. It will be interesting to see how they tackle Birmingham on Sunday.

Birmingham are back for their sixth Premier League season. They spent four consecutive years in the division between 2002-06 but have since reverted to being a yo-yo team.
The signing of Barry Ferguson was probably their most eye-catching move of the summer.  .  . much will depend on the midfield work of both the Scottish international and former Arsenal youth Sebastian Larsson.
There appears to be a real lack of quality in the final third, with no striker standing out. Ecuador international Christian Benitez is yet to prove his fitness and will have to find form quickly if he is to have a positive impact, while Marcus Bent, Cameron Jerome and James McFadden have struggled to prove their worth in the past. Kevin Phillips is a proven forward in the Premier League, but at the age of 36 will be used sparingly.
Okay, perhaps Birmingham ain't so bad, but they've got a lot of issues. One good thing about the team though is that they play with all they've got, no matter how limited.
United just might not have it so easy against them.

It's part of my 'job' description o. Oga's orders.

Why not have one thread for all fixtures in a league and reserve dedicated threads for clashes between the big clubs.
With the current approach the first page will soon be littered with expired match threads.

although the youthful striker has lost some of the 'unknown' characteristics

what has he lost o crizzle?

yeah, wil surely hammer them 3 nil i predict

0-0

No Cristiano Ronaldo. . .no more awuuf goals.

Krayola2:

0-0

No Cristiano Ronaldo. . .no more awuuf goals.

We didn't need Ronaldo to Arrow Valencia and Boca Juniors.

No points at stake. . .Birmingham is goin to park the bus.

Krayola2:

No points at stake. . .Birmingham is goin to park the bus.

and Luiz Nani is going to run over the bus. . . . . .
United will rip Birmingham apart.

Those malnourished leg-overs of his aint breakin down no bus. . . this ain't riverdance, na professional football

Krayola2:

Those malnourished leg-overs of his aint breakin down no bus. . . this ain't riverdance, na professional football

When e come be professional footie nko? Nani is going to send critics like you to Psyche Ward before the end of the season when those stepovers get mad ass goals. Even if Birminham bring bring the bus, the kitchen stick and even import DikE's leftover german bunkers, We'l still nick the three points.

Emperoh:

the invincibilty that shrouded him as a green horn. . . .people will now recognise him as a potent danger.

Yeah, his potential is right there for the whole world to see now, he'll be kicked, bullied and hassled everytime he touches the ball. If he's able to survive it enough to bang in the goals, the fear of Kiko will be the beginning of wisdom. Chei, I can't wait!!

Birmingham will be decimated whether they park a bus or not. United has the Indian sign over them. A 3-0 victory for United.

If OWEN starts the match he'll score a brace.

Rooney will nick 1 goal too.

Its a United win 3 zero at the theater of dreams.

UTD 2 -1 birmingham City

a draw wld be cool too

I hope the enthusiasm of the newcomers will come in handy in this match. That, coupled with manure's newfound weakness will make an interesting spectacle.

4-0 Man United!

@shikena,get ur fucking ass out of dis thread. Man utd 4 - Birm'h 0

We started off with a draw @home last season.
I'm not scared cos' i know we goin' to be top dogs at the end.
Just wanna see great goals especially by Berba,ok.

looking forward to some acrobats goals he has.,.,. am sure he will deliver that

Krayola2:

0-0

No Cristiano Ronaldo. . .no more awuuf goals.

correct talk jare. Don't mind all dis fans shacking ogogoro

Krayola2:

Those malnourished leg-overs of his aint breakin down no bus. . . this ain't riverdance, na professional football

thank GOD u noticed it too. I think say na only notice him get KWASHIORKOR

My fellow peeps, 4 in a row, lets do it again

The pressure is on Utd now. If you don't win tomorrow City will be on top of u on the table for a week. . .and if they win next week against wolverhampton it'll be 2 weeks. . .The Manchester press will humiliate you, and Adebayor and Tevez will be all over the papers. I can even see an Adebayor billboard going up across the street from the Tevez one. It's not even like u guys still have Cristiano Ronaldo to be using to do shakara anymore. . . Anyways, best of luck tomorrow. 

No more talking. The gunners have put down a marker. Let Nani show us why he's Sauron's footballer of the year.

The problem with united is that they refuse to realise that there's a great void that has been created in the team with the departure of C.
Nani will not fill that void at least not now. Its imperative he plays his own game and waits for his game to mature because IT HASNT!
Altho i must say, Nani can look like ronaldo in a number of ways:
* Ineffective step-overs done within a mile of any opposition
* Dives Within and Outside the penalty box
* Petulance
* Feigning Injuries
* Shagging everyone and anyone
I could go on and on

very funny

Anything short of a 12-2 performance will be below par by Arsenal standards. But then again, there can be only one Arsenal in the league.

~Borat~:

Nani can look like ronaldo in a number of ways:
* Ineffective step-overs done within a mile of any opposition
* Dives Within and Outside the penalty box
* Petulance
* Feigning Injuries
* Shagging everyone and anyone
I could go on and on

bravo!! Reading that was just like looking at a life size portrait of Nani. U are gifted, mehn. . u just painted a perfect picture with words.