China captain Zheng Zhi made his English Premier League debut for
Charlton Athletic on Saturday, sending in some promising crosses
late in the game but unable to mitigate the relegation-threatened
side's 2-0 loss to Manchester United.
Manchester's win keeps them six points clear of Chelsea at the
top of the table, while Charlton are tied for 19th with West Ham on
20 points.
Zheng, brought on for Amady Faye in the 40th minute, described
his performance as "pretty good."
"I had a month here preparing for my first match in the league
and (Saturday's result) was pretty good payback for my hard
training.
"I feel that it is totally different soccer here in terms of
speed and technique, and obviously I need more time to get used to
it."
With Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung of South Korea
scoring in the 24th minute for his second Premiership goal of the
season, Zheng's debut was ultimately outshone by the rival Asian
star.
Park, starting in place of an unwell Cristiano Ronaldo, broke
the deadlock when he rose above Ben Thatcher to head home Patrice
Evra's cross from 12 yards.
Darren Fletcher sealed the win in the 83rd courtesy of a flash
of brilliance from Wayne Rooney.
Zheng said he wasn't cowed by the challenge from Sir Alex
Ferguson's side.
"I didn't consider it - to play against the formidable Man
United or any other team. I just want to play at my level and this
was a very satisfactory way to make my debut."
The 26-year-old from Shandong was given a modest six points by
Skysports for his performance.
Charlton manager Alan Pardew said he was happy with the display
put on by all his new signings at Old Trafford.
"The debutantes were a massive bonus for us today. I thought
Song was terrific," he said. "ZiZi (Zheng's nickname) was another
bonus and our spirit was strong.
"It was a good performance from us and the next two weeks will
be very, very important to us as we prepare the team physically and
mentally to be stronger than anybody else."
Charlton face relegation rivals West Ham and Watford in their
next two games.
Title focused
Sir Ferguson urged his players to focus on the Premiership title
and forget about two-time defending champions Chelsea snapping at
their heels.
He said that worrying about Chelsea's progress could prove
counter-productive.
"The important thing is that we are playing well and not having
to look over our shoulder at Chelsea. We should just look forward
and take care of ourselves.
"When you are going for a title, people always talk about the
team chasing in second place and whether the team in front can last
at the top. But we just need to focus on our games."
He was also full of praise for his latest conquests' battling
spirit. "Struggling teams like Charlton don't usually have the
confidence to come and play, but they did that and they scrapped
all the way.
"We didn't take advantage of our chances when we should have
done and when they put in a free kick that was glanced behind by
one of our defenders, it just showed that 1-0 means nothing and a
goal can be scored in a second.
"But our defence was strong, probably the best it has been for a
while, and it's important that we keep building on the clean
sheets. I want us to start getting six and seven clean sheets in a
row."
United were playing without goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is
recovering from a broken nose sustained in last week's 4-0 win over
Spurs.
(China Daily and agencies February 12, 2007)
