adminLONDON. — It wasn’t as spectacular as last season’s opening-day demolition, but champions Manchester City got the job done 2-0. Just like last August it was David Silva who opened the scoring, before substitute Sergio Aguero made sure of the three points in stoppage-time, City having withstood a late rally from the hosts.
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew handed debuts to Jack Colback, Remy Cabella, Daryl Janmaat and Emmanuel Riviere and switched Moussa Sissoko to a central role in a bit to combat the physical threat of Yaya Toure and Fernando.
The latter — a £12million signing from Porto — was the sole debutant in Pellegrini’s City side, while Joe Hart, dropped for last week’s Community Shield in favour of Willy Caballero, was restored in goal.
Stevan Jovetic — who missed the bulk of last season because of injury — is as good as a new signing this season, however, and it was he who carved the first opening for Edin Dzeko.
A cute chip sprung the Bosnian clear but he was quickly closed down by Tim Krul and the goalkeeper smothered at the striker’s feet.
Krul was again called into action soon after as Samir Nasri took aim from 20 yards and stung the palms of the custodian.
Despite offering a combative resistance to City’s early possession, the best United could muster at the other end was a Cabella dink which landed on the roof of the net — Hart, though, was never worried.
He may have been, however, had Riviere not snatched at a half chance after Cabella’s trickery presented him with a half a yard inside the area, the forward slicing his effort well wide.
The opener arrived soon after, Silva showing Riviere how it is done. Yaya Toure lifted a routine ball in behind the Newcastle backline and, when Dzeko’s back-heel split centre backs Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini, Silva applied a cool, left-footed finish from 10 yards.
The concession was perhaps undeserved given United’s resistance until that point and the Magpies were equally spirited after the break.
Yoan Gouffran should have done better when Cabella’s corner bounced his way at the far post but a moment’s hesitation cost the Frenchman his chance and a snap shot was blocked.
Cabella then lifted over the bar from 12 yards under pressure from two blue jerseys and Colback failed to trouble Hart having ghosted in unmarked to plant his forehead on Cabella’s free-kick.
Meanwhile, Liverpool beat Southampton 2-1 Yet times have changed at Liverpool. Despite the loss of Luis Suarez, there is now great expectation. Serious money has been reinvested, serious strengthening work done.
As last season’s runners-up, Rodgers knows what is now expected and for much of the second-half his team looked barely capable of delivering it. Southampton, pillaged by the Premier League elite in the close season, were the better side from the restart and were playing as if capable of collecting the most unlikely away win since, well, Swansea City’s at Old Trafford on Saturday.
At which point, with 11 minutes remaining, Daniel Sturridge scored the winner. Rodgers, who stands in the technical area throughout games, greeted this news with such explosive jubilation that he could be seen sheepishly returning from what would be the Southampton right-back’s position some seconds later. He knew what was at stake.
With an away match at Manchester City next, not to get off to a winning start here might have given Liverpool an acute case of the collywobbles. No manager wants a nervous start to the season.
Considering the number of new arrivals this summer, Rodgers might be tempted to claim this will be a season of transition — except nobody is anticipating a lowering of standards. Just as Andre Villas-Boas and Tottenham Hotspur were predicted to ride the loss of Gareth Bale due to the quality and number of replacements last season, so Liverpool’s money men will feel they have secured life after Suarez.
Maybe they have — but Sunday’s opposition confirmed nothing in the Premier League comes easy, despite the best-laid plans.
Had Southampton chosen a different path, they could be dark horse title contenders by now. Instead they contrived to lose an ambitious chairman, the manager, and then five influential players, with perhaps more to follow.
It is testament to new coach Ronald Koeman, then, that he has managed to marshal what was left, what could happily be promoted, and a few recent additions, into a team that took Liverpool all the way on their first competitive outing.
They might even have earned a draw afforded better luck with two minutes to go, when a powerful shot by Morgan Scheiderlin was tipped onto the bar by Simon Mignolet in Liverpool’s goal. The rebound fell to substitute Shane Long, yards out, but he could not even get his header on target – a worrying stumble, considering his £12m price tag. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter