If only Fabio Cappello could come to watch Michael Owen every match he plays. In all seriousness though, United always take a few games to get going.

So…really, though?

(goddamn, my DVR can’t get here fast enough.)

You may be right, SKoF, but I’m sure this was still rather ego-bruising for them.

But wow, how awesome for Burnley, LOL - practically every relegation prediction I’ve seen has included them to drop right back down, and while of course the first game of the season doesn’t necessarily indicate anything, it still must feel pretty damn good for them, against all the naysayers

And yeah - I was following match commentary via a few people on Twitter, and when Carrick went up to take the PK, all of them were like…huh?? Hahaha…

I have to say, that was one of the best EPL matches I’ve seen in a long time.

The atmosphere was A-Mazing. The commentator mentioned the fact that the entire town of Burnley would fit in Old Trafford with room to spare, but the passion and the noise that the 22k+ people there produced made it sound like El Clasico in Buenos Aires. The players were feeding on it, too. By the end of the game the Burnley players were dead on their feet, barely able to close anyone down. It seemed like the inevitability of the loss killed off the drive of the United players as well at the end there. Heads down, whingeing at half chances missed and mistimed runs.

As far as United go, they had some big problems on the pitch tonight for a title-holding side. Wes Brown lacked match fitness and got subbed early for his poor performance. Anderson looked strong, fast, determined, and wholly ineffectual on the left side. Park Ji Sung again displayed why he is the world’s greatest squad player by bustling around a lot, getting into good positions and then completely sucking up the attacking momentum. He was a creative black hole. Giggs, on the other hand, was the consummate professional. You could tell he didn’t care how damn important it was to the Burnley fans and players, he just wanted to win and knew his side was good enough to do it.

Fantastic match. One I would show to people who deride soccer’s low scorelines.

Oh yeah. Anderson or Giggs should really have taken that PK. Giggs for his calm and Anderson for his sterling technique. Don’t remember exactly when last season but I saw him knock in some unstoppable spot kicks.

Owen and Defoe faced roughly equal opposition last night.

Owen: useless
Defoe: hat-trick

That can’t have helped Owen’s case with Capello.