Fan Report: Manchester United 2-0 Blackburn Rovers

Manchester United recovered from last week’s defeat at Anfield and kept pace with Chelsea with a comfortable victory over Blackburn at Old Trafford.

With Chelsea demolishing Bolton 4-0 earlier in the afternoon, it was a must-win game for the current champions, and they duly delivered through second half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney.

The talk all week has been of a defensive ‘crisis’ on United’s hands without Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, United also had to make do without Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes, who was only on the bench.

Blackburn had problems of their own. Jason Roberts was sidelined with swine flu and influential duo Christopher Samba and David Dunn only just made the team after recovering from the virus themselves.

United dominated the game from the start without really creating a clean-cut breakthrough. They endured a frustrating time for the first half hour of the game before they were able to form what could be considered a real chance. Unfortunately, a combination of bad finishing and defensive strength kept the score line even. 

Dimitar Berbatov was the man with the chances, spurning two good opportunities in as many minutes. Rovers’ Gael Givet made a superb block when it seemed as though he was destined to core from five yards out and Paul Robinson produced an impressive save after Berbatov headed into the floor from a cross by Antonio Valencia.

It was Antonio Valencia that started the move, picking out John O’Shea whose cross fell to Patrice Evra. His shot fell to Berbatov on the edge of the box, who flicked the ball up and fired the ball into the bottom corner in one sweeping movement.

After seeing his side establish a lead, Alex Ferguson decided this was a perfect time to give Gabriel Obertan his first taste of Premier League football. He almost made an instant name for himself when he was put through down the left hand side, only to manage a poor shot when under pressure from the retreating Ryan Nelson.

Once again, Obertan was involved, picking out Anderson with a brilliant cross from the left, who in turn found Rooney to sweep the ball into the far corner past a helpless Paul Robinson. However, there was still time left for both sides to create further opportunities. Rovers had a goal controversially ruled out for offside when it looked as though Kalinic was easily onside after Benni McCarthy’s shot was saved by Edwin Van Der Sar.

Michael Owen also missed a chance in the dying minutes after some brilliant, selfless work by Antonio Valencia.  It didn’t matter though as United provided the perfect response to last weekend’s loss with a dominant, albeit far from vintage display to close the gap on league leaders Chelsea.
By Harry Veal