Blackburn Rovers stunned Manchester United with a 3–2 win at Old Trafford in Saturday’s early fixture, thoroughly spoiling Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70th birthday party in the process.
Steve Kean’s basement dwellers clearly had not read the script and amazingly found themselves two goals up six minutes into the second half. Dimitar Berbatov continued his resurgence with a pair of goals to add to the hat-trick he bagged against Wigan, and with half an hour still to play everyone assumed that, having drawn level, the Red Devils would go on to take the three points.
Yet, despite incredible pressure on the visitors, United failed to find a way through the packed Rovers defense, and it was Scottish international Grant Hanley who grabbed the winning goal for the visitors in the 80th minute.
Blackburn would have been encouraged by the fact that both Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs were not even in the squad for this fixture. Former Rovers youngster Phil Jones returned to partner Michael Carrick in a makeshift central defense.
With Rafael Da Silva in the side, it was surprising that Antonio Valencia started at right back, while the former lined up in midfield alongside Ji-Sung Park with Nani on the right flank and Danny Welbeck in unfamiliar territory on the left.
A long injury list and the crowded holiday schedule had produced this unusual United line-up, but the champions still managed to dominate Blackburn in midfield. However, they could not find that final pass to create a clear opening.
After a quarter of an hour United skipper Patrice Evra started on one of his trademark forays down the left flank, but his touch let him down and he was penalized for a foul while trying to regain possession.
The subsequent free kick was taken by Blackburn’s reserve goalkeeper Mark Bunn who simply punted the ball high into the United box in the direction of big central defender Chris Samba. The Blackburn skipper tangled with Dimitar Berbatov and the United striker was adjudged to have pulled Samba down unfairly. Berbatov did have a handful of Samba’s jersey and was guilty of the penalty.
Sometimes these penalties aren’t given though and even though Yakubu wasn’t complaining, he confidently hammered the ball past David De Gea. This was in fact the first time in the game that Blackburn had managed to get inside United’s 18-yard box. De Gea had barely touched the ball, let alone made a save, until he was obliged to pick it out of the back of the net.
United continued to control the midfield but still could not find a route to goal with Javier Hernandez and Nani reduced to shooting from distance and missing the target.
In fact it was not until the last minute of the first half that Bunn finally had to make a couple of saves, first from Nani and then Hernandez.
Remarkable Second Half
Blackburn managed to preserve their lead until the break, but most of the 75,146 fans inside Old Trafford expected normal service to be resumed in the second half.
They were in for a mighty shock. Only six minutes into the second period, United’s makeshift defense just seemed to switch off and nobody could put in a convincing tackle as that man Yakubu simply powered his way through and beat De Gea rather too easily.
At that point United seemed to wake up to the reality of the situation. Rafael, who had moved to his more customary position of right back, fed Valencia on the wing. The Brazilian continued his run into the Blackburn area, received a return ball from Valencia, and set up Berbatov who made no mistake. It was Manchester United’s 1,500th Premier League goal—the first club to reach that milestone.
With Anderson, back from his injury lay-off and on as a half time substitute for Hernandez, now pulling the strings in midfield, United were looking much more dangerous. Ten minutes later, Valencia again caused havoc down the right flank, cut into the box and laid the ball on a plate for Berbatov to slot home the equalizer.
With almost half an hour still to play the final result looked a foregone conclusion, but the packed Blackburn defense, inspired by the rock that is Christopher Samba, remained firm. With 10 minutes left Rovers had a rare excursion upfield; De Gea came out for a corner, flapped, and missed the ball completely, allowing Grant Hanley to head in the winning goal.
Blackburn off the Bottom
The win takes Blackburn off the bottom of the table for the time being, but more than that, it will be an enormous confidence boost for the players and their beleaguered manager. Perhaps there will be a few less boos and jeers next time Steve Kean takes his place in the dugout at Ewood Park.
United, by contrast, missed the opportunity to go top of the table when even a point would have been enough. Having enjoyed 58 percent possession to Blackburn’s 42 percent, they really should have achieved a result, but without regular central defenders and with a nervous goalkeeper their frailties at the back were all too obvious.
The highly rated young Spaniard De Gea is simply making too many basic errors, and right now Anders Lindegaard is looking like a better long term prospect to succeed Edwin van der Sar.
