What a debut for Sir Alex's newest £12,000,000 million striker. Playing in the number nine shirt, Louis Saha bagged a brace of assists in his first game since transfering from Fulham. His first contribution came from a freekick that forced an own goal off a Kevin Phillips' deflection. The second came from a skidding bomb of a shot that forced Southampton keeper Antie Neimi to cough up a rebound and give Paul Scholes a sitter. I was surprised when it became clear that United were beating down the door for Saha. I've always thought that the French striker was an exciting player, but I lost track of him in the wake of Jean Tigana's departure from Fulham. However, combine Saha's resurgent play under Chris Coleman's lone striker tactic with a lack of proven Premiership goalscorers available on the trasfer market--who are also not cup-tied for European competition--and Sir Alex's newest signing makes good sense. Face it, United's transfer policy has always been sound: spend-big if and only if the player in question is a hot prospect who is only beginning to enter into the prime of his career and his wages are reasonable within the club's existing wage structure. I too would love to have seen the likes of Christian Vieri or David Trezeguet don Red Devil jerseys. However, with the economics of the transfer market being what they are, the addition of Saha is a fairly clever decision that I can happily live with--especially if he continues to play with the form he showed today. There is a realistic possability that Saha, now handed the oppurtunity to impress on the grand stage of the Champions League, could factor into the French National Team's squad for Euro 2004. h3. Man of the Match: Cristiano Ronaldo The young portuguese forward didn't score two goals as Kevin Phillips did, nor did he bag the winner as done by Van Nistlerooy. What he did do was simply run his markers ragged as he dribbled up and down either touchline. He does dive--or simulate as FIFA amusingly terms it. But on this day, the majority of the fouls incurred against Ronaldo came down to late tackles and fustrated lunges from his defenders. Often a deft touch or two from the teenager led to a swerving Ryan Giggs-like run that put the teeth in the United attack. In fact, it will be quite a treat to see Sir Alex able to field a 4-4-2 formation in Europe again. With speed down both flanks and a legitimate striking tandem up front, it's going to be difficult to wait until Feb. 25th to take on Porto.