Barrie's View

Whether it’s the board or Arsene Wenger who refused to spend their budget – it’s the manager who must take the blame for today’s 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young in particular were on fire for Manchester United today, with the former scoring a hat trick of set pieces and the latter scoring two himself.

Manchester United tore Arsenal apart from the start. The visitors simply could not cope with United’s attacks.

Thomas Vermaelen was missing through injury in the centre of defence whilst Jack Wilshere was also injured in midfield. Other candidates to protect the weak Arsenal defence, both Alex Song and Emmanuel Frimpong were suspended.

Manchester United were much on top before they finally broke through in the 22nd minute when Johan Djourou foolishly decided to let Anderson’s chip bounce inside the penalty area. Danny Welbeck raced in between the Arsenal defence to head home from close range.

Welbeck would later pull up with a groin injury in the first half and was substituted for Javier Hernandez.

Arsenal, against the run of play were awarded a penalty in the 26 minutes when Jonny Evans brought down Theo Walcott in the box. Robin van Persie who’d been a passenger in the game to this point took a weak penalty that David de Gea turned away.

Not 2 minutes later, United made Arsenal pay as they doubled their lead. Ashley Young cut in from the left wing and bent a peach of a shot into the top left corner of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal. The Polish goalkeeper couldn’t be blamed, in fact he could have done little about many of the 8 goals he conceded today.

Wayne Rooney scored the first of his two free kicks before half time. The first a result of Carl Jenkinson bringing down Ashley Young on the edge of the area.

Arsenal had what looked like a consolation even then when Theo Walcott scored deep into first half stoppage time. David de Gea should never have been beaten in the way he was, in a failed attempt to block Walcott’s low shot with his legs.

Robin van Persie had a volley well saved by de Gea, and minutes later Andrei Arshavin fired wide in a good position at the start of the second half for Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney’s second free kick just after the hour got Manchester United firing in the second half. This time from the right hand side of the box with Szczesny taking a gamble and going the other way between the sticks for Arsenal.

What was to follow was an embarrassment for Arsenal. There was a lack of effort from Arsenal players, even before they went 3 down. No heart. No fight from this Arsene Wenger side. One has to wonder if the players had lost faith in him or just had no belief in themselves today following the recent sales of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in midfield.

Nani scored a delightful lob inside the area after Wayne Rooney put him in against a static Arsenal defence. 3 minutes Park Ji-Sung was given plenty of time just inside the penalty area to fire into the bottom corner to make it 6.

Robin van Persie opened his account for the season 15 minutes from time with a fine volley from close range into the top corner after Manchester United’s defence stood still following a Phil Jones header in the 6 yard box. Patrice Evra had seemingly pushed up as a striker at this point, wanting to get in on the act!

Minutes later Carl Jenkinson was sent off for a second yellow card, this time bringing down Javier Hernandez on the edge of the area. The summer signing for Charlton Athletic who had only played in a handful of League 1 games last season is not ready for the Arsenal first team yet. Rushed in by Wenger for a lack of depth in the Arsenal squad to backup a few injuries in defence. Opposite them, Manchester United have been able to replace the injured trio of Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Rafael with solid defenders Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling.

Wayne Rooney fired the ensuing free kick wide but wouldn’t be denied his hat trick. United were awarded a soft penalty when Patrice Evra went down after minimal contact from Theo Walcott. Rooney duly converted.

Hernandez and Park had missed opportunities to make the scoreline even more emphatic, but Ashley Young added his second when he cut inside from the left hand side of the area and curled another great effort into the top corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Manchester United, the hungrier side of the two on this day have replaced city rivals at the top of the Premier League this evening on goal difference despite Manchester City’s 5-1 victory at Tottenham earlier today.

What next for Arsene Wenger? Who can he sign in the final days of the transfer window following this humiliation at Old Trafford that has left his side narrowly above the relegation zone after 3 games.

What Norwich City achieved last season was remarkable: automatic promotion from the Championship in their first season after promotion from League 1.

That’s back-to-back promotions for Norwich City as they prepare for life back in the Premier League for the first time in six years. Unfortunately, with the high level of ability in the Premier League, I see Norwich as have coming too far in too shorter space of time. Norwich City are going straight back down.

On paper, their defence looks weak. They conceded the most goals of all the top 6 in the Championship last season; almost twice as many as winners Queens Park Rangers (58 compared to 32). Manager Paul Lambert hasn’t made a great deal of defensive signings this summer either.

The captures of Ritchie De Laet and Kyle Naughten on loan from Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively are both good players. However, there is a lack of experience between them, and Naughton is a more attacking full back than a defending one. The rest of the defence that came up with the Canaries looks worrying slow at this top flight.

What got Norwich here will be their best chance of keeping them here. The highest goalscoring team in the Championship last season averaging 2 goals a game. Grant Holt scored 21 league goals last season. A striker who knows how to win a free kick, a lot of Norwich’s success may be built around him this season. But will he be able to step up to the new level?

The same can be asked of Steve Morison, signed from Millwall this summer. As to Simeon Jackson who came good in the final few weeks of the season to help seal Norwich’s promotion.

A striker with some top flight experience Norwich have brought in is James Vaughan. The Premier League’s youngest ever goalscorer, Vaughan has consistently suffered from injuries since bursting on the scene in 2005. Last season at Crystal Palace was the first time he’d played more than 14 games in a season (30) and scored more than 4 goals (9). He has just 7 Premier League goals to his name after the past 6 years, but never had a long run in the first team at Everton.

A slow and inexperienced defence and a strike force that may not be able to step up to the top level. However, they do have a good shot stopper between the sticks in John Ruddy. And that’s what you need as a promoted team coming into the Premier League. Queens Park Rangers certainly have that with Paddy Kenny, and it goes without saying that Ruddy needs to play well if Norwich are to have any chance of finishing in the top 17.

I don’t expect Norwich City to achieve that. The Canaries are 8/11 to be relegated and 11/4 to finish bottom.

Since his arrival in January, Luis Suarez lit up the Premier League and helped get Kenny Dalglish his permanent job back at Liverpool.

The Uruguayan, who may miss the opening game today through fatigue after being a key player in Uruguay’s Copa America success over the summer, is widely expected to continue where he left off last season.

A goalscorer who netted 35 goals in 33 Dutch Eredivisie games under Martin Jol in 2009/10 showed both his goalscoring and creative capabilities last season, being involved in 9 goals in his 13 appearances (4 goals, 5 assists). Liverpool’s goal tally on the whole impressively increased following his arrival, coincidently.

What came as a shock to me is that Suarez appeared to lose his diving instincts overnight when he signed for the giant Merseyside club, as well as dropping the argumentative element that he previously had. Whether we’ll start to see those sides to his game come back this season, only time will tell.

His pace, dribbling skills and ability to drift past opponents make him one of the Premier League’s most deadly players when he hangs out on that left side of attack. Needing to learn to link up with both Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing will be his initial challenge, but I’m expecting a large number of goals from the Uruguayan.

Paddy Power have Luis Suarez at 16/1 to be this season’s PFA Player of the Year, and is 12/1 to lead the league in assists.

An unpopular choice for the Aston Villa job, Alex McLeish will need time to win his new set of supporters over.

The former Birmingham City manager was able to walk straight into Premier League rivals despite being at the helm of the Blues relegation last season.  To win over his new sets of fans, he must change from his defensive approach and get Aston Villa off to a successful start.

The two-time Scottish Premier League winner as manager of Glasgow Rangers refused to change Birmingham’s failing tactics in the second half of last season, or more-precisely, after they won the Carling Cup. Sticking to the one-up-top, rely-on-defence tactics that had proven to be a success in the first half of the season, and after a successful first season in the Premier League, his failure to have a plan B backfired as the club limply dropped out of the English top flight.

Alex McLeish cannot afford that at Aston Villa. And surely he won’t. His current side have a much better attacking threat that his former club, with Darren Bent being supported by Charles N’Zogbia and Marc Albrighton.

Gabriel Agbonlahor’s pace on the counter attack has been used to moderate success by previous managers and no doubt McLeish will want to improve on that, despite the loss of Ashley Young down the opposite flank.

It will be interesting to see how many of the young talents the Scot will play that Villa have coming through. Fabian Delph has been around for a couple of seasons now, whilst Nathan Delfouneso has been on the cusp of breaking through for two.

Defensively, the heads of Richard Dunne and James Collins should be able to cover Shay Given’s weakness at dealing with set pieces whilst the arrival of Ireland’s number 1 makes for a straight stop with the outgoing Brad Friedel.

How will Alex McLeish play it? They open their season with a trip to Fulham today.

Newcastle United fans head into this season with the fear of relegation in their mind amongst additional anguish caused by Mike Ashley.

The Magpies have yet to replace Andy Carroll who was sold in the winter transfer season and today is the day they open their Premier League campaign. Without Carroll and Kevin Nolan who was strangely sold on the cheap to West Ham this summer, it’s hard to see where the goals are going to come from the side that finished in a respectable 12th position last season.

New signing Demba Ba is both capable of scoring in an excellent game, and also being anonymous. I can see his inconsistencies and selfishness causing frustration to the home faithful throughout the season, especially when things aren’t going their way.

Where else the goals are coming from, I’m not so sure. For a decade, Shola Ameobi has shown he is incapable of playing the main striker role for a Premier League side. Yet to score double figures in single-season in the top flight, his 6 goals last season were quite impressive for Ameobi’s standards.

Peter Lovenkrands isn’t the best striker in the world to say the least. He’s lacking any real pace these days but credit to the Dane, he does get himself in goalscoring positions. However, there aren’t too many players around him to rely on getting him the ball.

Leon Best scored a hat trick against West Ham last season but done little else. Still adapting to top flight football? We’ll see how much action Alan Pardew allows him before we write him off.

Another player who certainly needs more time is Nile Ranger. An embarrassing 0 goals in 24 Premier League appearances last season (to go with his 2 in 25 in the Championship the season before), Ranger is young, but there can only be so much time a manager can give him forwards before he writes them off completely.

One player written off at Manchester United who makes his way to St James’ Park (is it still called that?) this summer is Gabriel Obertan. This transfer excites me. They’ve done the deal cheaply. When he arrived at Old Trafford there was plenty of excitement around the pacey French winger. However, he turned out to be another Diego Forlan in that nerves got the better of him. Whilst his new home stadium isn’t much smaller, they’ll be less attention on Obertan this season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him shine.

Overall, a tough season ahead for Newcastle. They need to find a goalscorer, whether that be a player currently in the squad, or in the transfer market.

You can currently back Newcastle at 6.0 with Betfair for relegation. I recommend this, not because they’re a favourite to go down, but because there should be great opportunities to trade throughout the season; expecting them to drop in or at least around the bottom 3.