Papers: Nani states his case
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Nani has insisted that he is ready to take his game to a new level and become 'the man' for Manchester United this season.
The Portuguese winger has only shown glimpses of his undoubted quality since moving to Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon in 2007.
He admits the inconsistency of his performances has been frustrating at times but he is looking forward to the new campaign and is confident he can make a significant impact.
"I am thinking only about this season. Forget the past. I want to be the man," Nani told the Sunday Telegraph.
"I think I have a lot to do to show my best, because I haven't done that yet.
"I played a lot of games and did some good things but I need to improve.
"I want to get to the point where I have the confidence of the manager, the players and the fans."
Nani has been overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years but his Portuguese compatriot has now joined Real Madrid in a record-breaking move.
Nani hopes to help fill the void created by Ronaldo's departure but has played down comparisons, saying he also learned from several of United's other players.
"I know a lot of people compare me with Cristiano but I don't want that because I am different," he explained.
"I want to hear people speaking about Nani and not saying things like 'look, he does that like Cristiano'.
"It made me a better player, training and playing with him, but I also learned from the others, from Scholes' passing, from Giggs' intelligent movement and from Rooney's finishing."
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he scored a nice goal today and hopefully he will fulfil his potential from this season onwards.
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he needs to learn how to control his temper first
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He's more or less what Ronaldo was when he first came. But to expect him to turn out like Ronaldo I think would be asking too much
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Nani's star quality shines through, but can his sustain it?
The Manchester United career of the Portugal winger Nani has mirrored his goal celebration. Up and down. There have been some sparkling moments. Goals just like yesterday’s, struck with alarming venom and accuracy from distance. Unfortunately, there have been too many low days. Times when fundamentals such as attitude and endeavour have dropped off the scale. A poor man’s Cristiano Ronaldo? He has not even been that. It is possible, though, that 2009-10 could be his season. If he is to have any kind of career at Old Trafford at all then it pretty much will have to be. It is expected that the Ecuador midfield player Antonio Valencia will occupy the departed Ronaldo’s position down the right-hand side, but Valencia is a different type of player, a modern wide man bought to bring some balance and reliability to the 4-4-2 formation that United will use this season. He does not possess Ronaldo’s unpredictability and versatility. Nani, on the other hand, does. It is only a matter of being able to produce it on a regular basis, something beyond him in two seasons at Old Trafford so far. Certainly, the hour that Nani spent on the field yesterday will have encouraged Ferguson.
Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail
All the papers analyse the controversial incident involving Patrice Evra and Michael Ballack which led to Chelsea's second goal in the Community Shield win over United.
In other news, Michael Owen has vowed to force his way back into the England squad, despite his latest snub by Fabio Capello. But he said: "I have just got to continue doing well and see where that will take me. I have been in the provisional squad quite a few times, though the final squad is the one you want to be in. -
capello hate owen la
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It was the kind of goal that must have made Manchester United's supporters wish Nani could always be so beguiling. The shot was speared into the bottom left-hand corner of Petr Cech's goal but there was so much more to admire - the balance, the drive, the star quality as he took down Darren Fletcher's long ball and set off on that jinking, diagonal run inside Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Essien to manoeuvre himself into a shooting position. It was a goal that was classy in its creation and clinical in its execution.
When Nani is capable of producing moments of such distinction it can be tempting sometimes to forgive him for all those other times when distinctly less flattering adjectives – "bewildering", "erratic", "frustrating" to name but three – have been applied to a man who was accused of staying too young too long when football, at times, needs to be played with an adult intelligence.
His misfortune was that he should land so heavily after John Terry's challenge just over an hour into a match in which he had gone a long way to demonstrate why Sir Alex Ferguson had chosen against selling him during the summer. A dislocated shoulder meant Nani would leave the pitch with his left arm in a sling when, until that point, his had been a performance to make United supporters wonder whether this might be the season when this raw but talented player shows he can play a significant role in helping the club to get over the grieving process after Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid.
Even ignoring, for one moment, the wonderfully taken 10th-minute goal, he had been a constant menace for Ivanovic, a centre-half playing at right-back and lacking the mobility to be comfortable against a player of such nimble feet and turn of pace. One challenge, in the 14th minute, was late and cynical enough to warrant a yellow card, but Ivanovic was not the only Chelsea player to find Nani a difficult opponent. Three more defenders were bypassed when the winger set off again in the 34th minute and, shortly afterwards, when he went over to take a corner it was noticeable how the United supporters at that end of the pitch stood to acclaim him – as if they, too, recognised his potential value to the club this season.
They have been here before with Nani – the odd flash of excellence, a moment when he does something that is beyond the average player – and it is not the first time they have wanted to believe the Portugal international is finally going to flourish into a more accomplished package. The evidence of the past two seasons suggests they should refrain from snap judgments. But maybe this is, indeed, the season when he ditches that image of the playground show-off. Maybe, now he is no longer in the shadow of Ronaldo, he can fulfil the potential that persuaded United to spend £17m to sign him from Sporting Lisbon, at the age of 20, two years ago.
Nani's performance was certainly one of the more gratifying aspects for Ferguson on a day when his finger-jabbing at the referee Chris Foy summed up United's frustrations about the events leading up to Chelsea's second goal.
Last season you could sum up Nani's startling lack of development by the fact he started only seven games in the Premier League. He had become a Carling Cup player, appearing in all six of the club's ties – which, at Old Trafford, is not something to be proud of. He was dangerously close to becoming the player the fans liked the least. He was said to be disillusioned and stories started to appear in the Portuguese press that he would leave in the summer with Italy his destination of choice.
Instead, Ferguson has told Nani that he still has a big part to play at Old Trafford but that it is time he started to turn potential into something of greater currency. Ferguson believes we might see that twisting somersault goal celebration at least 10 times this season. Fletcher, too, wanted to express his confidence in his team-mate as he caught him up after the goal and, in front of the United end, started pointing at the back of Nani's shirt where his name was emblazoned. It was a kind of "he's the man" moment – and now it is up to Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha to show it was not just a one-off.