Fergie warmed by Scholes standards

Manchester United 3, Newcastle 0

SIR Alex Ferguson feels Paul Scholes is putting the smile back on the face of football.

Eight days after his man–of–the–match display in the Community Shield at Wembley, Scholes was at it again as Manchester United opened their campaign with an impressive 3–0 win over Newcastle.

Scholes created the opener for Dimitar Berbatov, then set up Ryan Giggs late on.

Ferguson admitted that Scholes, who turned down the chance of an international comeback before this summer’s World Cup, has a talent to be cherished.

“There is still a lot of good in the game and Paul Scholes produced some of it here,” Ferguson said.

“He has a marvellous range of passing and his vision is still good. Anyone who gets to that age and retains that appetite is blessed with something special.”

Darren Fletcher followed up Berbatov’s well–taken effort and Ferguson was relatively pleased with the performance.

That included another blank for Wayne Rooney, who has now gone 13 games for club or country since he last scored.

But Ferguson doesn’t seem too worried, despite replacing the 24–year–old with new signing Javier Hernandez after an hour.