Manchester Utd - 3 Portsmouth - 0 Compared to the hostilities that can be expected tomorrow, when Rangers are in town and the Champions League will once more be engulfed with "Battle of Britain" rhetoric, this was never going to be anything more than a mild skirmish.

Alex Ferguson's men avoided having their noses bloodied, but Portsmouth will take dignity in defeat and the Ibrox spies will not have left believing the champions' armour to be impregnable.

Granted, there will be notes in the reports commissioned by Alex McLeish that will fill the Rangers manager with trepidation. They will tell him of the re-emergence of Ryan Giggs as one of the world's most penetrative players, that the Welshman is no longer playing as though he needs permission to take on his man and that this United side can concoct enough chances to turn a scruffy performance into a convincing win.

But there will also be several chapters of encouragement. It may be churlish to say as much after a 3-0 victory but without the injured Paul Scholes there were times, particularly in the opening half, when United seemed devoid of ideas.

Though he is reluctant to make it a matter of public record, Ferguson has also let it be known he is dissatisfied with Ruud van Nistelrooy's recent performances. And, in defence, where Mikael Silvestre is injured, there were several flaws disguised by the clean sheet. John O'Shea is struggling for form while Quinton Fortune is a winger by trade and, though an accomplished player, he does not have the positional sense of a left back.

As for Rio Ferdinand, whose performance indicated that his off-field troubles might be influencing his usual assuredness, he should be grateful the margin of victory spared his fallibility from being more of a talking point.

Ferdinand's foibles were epitomised close to the final whistle when, as the last defender, he tried to trap a long Pompey punt with the outside of his right boot, only to give the ball straight to Jason Roberts. By then, it would not have mattered too much if the substitute had punished his showboating rather than running into a cul-de-sac and allowing the defence to regroup.

Perhaps it is unfair to criticise too much for there were aspects of United's display, most notably the performance of Giggs as stand-in captain, that will have been a huge satisfaction for Ferguson.

Giggs made the first goal, when he headed Gary Neville's cross into the path of Diego Forlan, and by the time he won the free-kick that led to Cristiano Ronaldo's first goal for the club he was causing mayhem in the Portsmouth defence.

It can be a mystery sometimes why Ferguson opts for Giggs as captain when Roy Keane is rested or injured, especially when it overlooks the leadership qualities of Gary Neville. Yet this was a true captain's performance, notable as much for his tracking back as the surges upfield.

Ultimately, though, even Giggs was trumped when Keane emerged from the bench - Ferguson had chosen to preserve his captain's energy for a third successive match - and produced the game's outstanding moment with a change of direction, a drop of the shoulder and a diagonal left-foot drive to make it 3-0. Keane will be back in the starting line-up tomorrow and that, more than anything, might have McLeish waking tonight in a cold sweat.

The FA is investigating Alex Ferguson's comments that Arsenal "did a deal" before last week's disciplinary hearing into the events that marred September's match at Old Trafford.