WE CAN DO IT AGAIN !

United lift-off nears as parts fall into place
Blackburn 0 Manchester United 2


James Ducker
The good news for the other Barclays Premier League clubs is that Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves are injured and Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to find his best form. The bad news is that Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are starting to hit the high notes, Darren Fletcher and Anderson are no mugs in central midfield, Ryan Giggs continues to defy the years, Rio Ferdinand appears to be impregnable at the back and Ronaldo will start destroying the opposition, as he did so often last season, soon.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, suggested that it may be November before his team “really get going”, although if that is the case, West Bromwich Albion, Celtic, Everton and West Ham United should count themselves fortunate that they are playing the English and European champions this month.

It has been a slow start to the season for United, but after four successive wins in all competitions, they remain the team to beat. Paul Ince, the Blackburn Rovers manager, could point to Steve Bennett’s failure to award a foul on Jason Brown by Nemanja Vidic that allowed United their opening goal, but a correct decision from the referee would merely have postponed the inevitable.

United had taken six points from 21 on their seven previous league visits to Ewood Park, but on Saturday the three points were only ever going to go to one team, and they did not play in blue and white. This was about as comprehensive as 2-0 wins get.

Ince suggested that Blackburn were fortunate not to have been on the end of a cricket score and that against a team with acres in reserve. For 11 minutes in the second half, United had Berbatov, Rooney, Ronaldo and Carlos Tévez on the pitch and Blackburn did not know what had hit them.

“It’s scary, isn’t it?” Ince said. “You can spend all week discussing tactics and personnel, and I probably thought about playing 20,000 different teams, but at the end of the day when a team is that good, sometimes you can’t do anything about it. We tried hard and went in there with a lot of confidence, but when they play like that they’re awesome.”

If United’s first goal owed something to good fortune — Vidic planted an elbow on the jaw of Jason Brown that Bennett failed to spot and with the Blackburn goalkeeper out of the equation, Wes Brown nodded home Rooney’s cross — there was nothing lucky about their second.

Berbatov has been criticised for apparently not working hard enough, but it was the Bulgaria striker, deep in United’s half, who intercepted a pass from Stephen Warnock and triggered a classic counter-attack. Thirteen touches and 18 seconds later the ball was in the Blackburn net, a sweeping move involving Fletcher, Anderson, Giggs, Brown and Ronaldo finished with aplomb by Rooney, who arced a shot into the far corner for his third goal in as many matches for United.

Rooney and Ronaldo could have had hat-tricks, while Berbatov was at the heart of everything that United did well, his passing visionary, his speed of thought imperious.

Jason Brown had woken at 5 that morning panicking about what he was about to face and his apprehension was well placed. “I was watching Sky Sports at 5 in the morning,” the Blackburn goalkeeper said. “I was looking at it and they were saying Rooney was doubtful, so I was thinking, ‘OK, they’ll bring in Berbatov and Tévez, there you go.’ The nerves obviously sometimes get the better of you a little bit, but that’s all part and parcel of it.”

He is unlikely to be the only one suffering from sleepless nights before a match against United this season.

Blackburn (4-4-2): J Brown 7, A Ooijer5, C Samba 5, R Nelsen 5, M Olsson 4, B Emerton 6, Tugay Kerimoglu 5, S Warnock 6, M G Pedersen 5, R Santa Cruz 6, M Derbyshire 5. Substitutes: J Roberts 6 (for Santa Cruz, 50min), K Treacy 6 (for Pedersen, 58), K Andrews 5 (for Tugay, 68). Not used M Bunn, A Mokoena, C Villanueva, R Fowler.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): E van der Sar 6, W Brown 7, R Ferdinand 7, N Vidic 6, P Evra 6, D Fletcher 7, Anderson 7, W Rooney 8, R Giggs 7, C Ronaldo 7, D Berbatov 8. Substitutes: C Tévez 7 (for Giggs, 66min), J O’Shea (for Evra, 71), Park Ji Sung (for Rooney, 77). Not used: B Amos, Nani, Rafael Da Silva, J Evans.









Fergie's men look like the real 'Guv'nors' - Rovers run ragged

By Rob Draper, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER


He had offered his apologies for past slights and extended the warmest of embraces on his arrival at a gloomy Ewood Park, yet that was the limit of Sir Alex Ferguson's generosity to his former player Paul Ince yesterday.

Ferguson was characteristically giving nothing else away last night. He took all the points back to Old Trafford, leaving Blackburn manager Ince with nothing but a sense of injustice at another controversial opening goal that had helped United on their way.

If the master had trumped the apprentice, it came with help from referee Steve Bennett, who failed to penalise Nemanja Vidic as he barged Blackburn keeper Jason Brown to allow United's Wes Brown to open the scoring.

'That's not our problem, that,' growled Ferguson. 'The goalkeeper had his chance. The ball was in the air long enough for him to come to collect it.'

The United boss judged it his team's best performance of the season and naturally he cared not how the points had been secured at a ground that has been a tricky venue for them in recent years.

But after referee Rob Styles' apologies to Bolton for the penalty that never was, which set United on their way last weekend, the champions were undoubtedly the beneficiaries of another bout of generous refereeing here.

Even if there can be little doubt that the better team prevailed and no doubt whatsoever about Wayne Rooney's superb second on 64 minutes - his third goal in three games - Blackburn will nurse a sense of grievance.

Ferguson had chosen to play an aggressive 4-2-3-1 formation. Surprisingly, the man he once dubbed a 'big-time Charlie' at United had anticipated his every move, as Ince matched the formation man for man.

Round one, it seemed, to the apprentice. Scrappy opening exchanges in the gloom of the teeming autumnal rain were uneasy on the eye. Vidic should have connected with Rooney's deflected sixth-minute corner, which whizzed across the face of the goal when the merest of connections would have eased it across the line.

Dimitar Berbatov, whose workmanship and self-sacrifice might have raised eyebrows at White Hart Lane, was at the centre of all that United did well and on 20 minutes he played in Darren Fletcher, who shot wide with just Jason Brown to beat.

But Blackburn were holding their own. Their big chance came on 15 minutes when Matt Derbyshire was found by Andre Ooijer but, confronted by the imposing Edwin van der Sar, he found the United keeper impossible to beat.

A Brett Emerson shot from 30 yards flew just wide and Roque Santa Cruz, though seemingly isolated miles from his midfield, led the line dutifully until he was withdrawn with a hamstring injury on 50 minutes.


Yet, honest endeavour will only get you so far. A combination of the world's greatest players and weak refereeing is unbeatable and though the prelude for the opening goal was delightful, as Berbatov and Rooney combined to force a sharp save from Brown, the finale was ugly.

From a short corner, Rooney sent a swirling cross to the far post. Vidic jumped forcefully at Blackburn's keeper Brown in a manner more befitting a 1950s centre-forward and knocked him off his stride. In the same moment, Wes Brown stole in behind to send his looping header in at the far post.

Ince said: 'I go to these meetings with the head of referees, Keith Hackett, and he tells me the refs are fitter now and they can get in positions quicker. But if he can't see Vidic put an elbow in the throat of my keeper, he shouldn't be a referee. It was a diabolical decision. I'm not saying we would have won the game, but we were still in it at 0-0.'

The game slipped beyond Rovers when a typically slick United counter-attack found Brown in space down the right flank. He fed Cristiano Ronaldo, who took on the challenge of Martin Olsson and skipped away with the Rovers man flailing in his wake.

His perfect cut-back found Rooney arriving on the edge of the box to finish beautifully with a first-time strike. This time there could be no complaints from keeper Brown, who had no chance.

England coach Fabio Capello, watching in the stands, might even have betrayed a hint of a smile as he anticipated Rooney in this form for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers

Ince's men tried to rally. An Emert on in-swinging free kick looked dangerous and Van der Sar flapped at it, but Blackburn could not exploit the moment of weakness.

With the game won, Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo all went close then substitute Carlos Tevez struck a post late on as United's fans relished their moment. 'Charlie, Charlie, what's the score?' they chanted at Ince. It was a brief moment of ignominy. Ince, once the self-styled Guv'nor of Old Trafford, deserved better and in time his team will receive their just rewards.

















Rooney's magic helps Ferguson put Ince in place

Blackburn Rovers 0 Manchester United 2: Talisman's brilliant strike thrills watching Capello as United manager gets better of 'big-time Charlie'

By Steve Tongue at Ewood Park
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Independent.co.uk


Whatever else he hoped to achieve as a manager, starting a game in October four places and two points ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United was something for the former Old Trafford warrior Paul Ince to savour. By half past seven last night, however, his old club were not only back in front after a comfortable victory, but also in the top six for the first time this season. Moving to Liverpool appears to have cost Ince his hero status as well. "Charlie, Charlie, what's the score?" United's supporters chorused at the man Ferguson once called a "big-time Charlie" – for which he had the good grace to apologise on Friday.

Wes Brown, who had won back his place at right-back from Gary Neville and Rafael da Silva, nudged them ahead with a bitterly disputed goal, but there was no arguing with the second one, scored by Wayne Rooney, which provided a bonus for the England manager Fabio Capello. He had rushed from watching Emile Heskey at Wigan to Ewood Park, to see Rooney unexpectedly start and give an outstanding performance. Having broken his scoring duck in midweek, Dimitar Berbatov was equally good, providing all the craft as a leader of the line that Ferguson had hoped for when acting as taxi-driver to facilitate the Bulgarian's £30m move from Tottenham on the last day of the summer transfer window.

The champions made light of persistent driving rain as well as an apparent shortage of midfield options in the absence of three England internationals, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes all hors de combat. With Darren Fletcher and Anderson sitting in central midfield and an attacking trio of Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo, Blackburn were only in the game for the first 25 minutes. It took longer than that nevertheless for United to force a save from Jason Brown in Rovers' goal. Being reserve to Brad Friedel must be the most redundant position in the Premier League after more than 150 successive appearances, but since Friedel's departure to Aston Villa, the replacement Paul Robinson has picked up an injury, offering Brown his chance.

He distinguished himself here by pushing Ryan Giggs' fierce drive over the bar. From the resulting corner, taken short on the left, Rooney's cross to the far side was met by the merest nudge from Wes Brown as Nemanja Vidic leant on the keeper. Jason Brown protested furiously but in vain and was soon having to fall at Rooney's feet to prevent a second goal as United assumed a grip on the game that they never relinquished.

Until that time, possession and chances had been equally distributed. There were good moments for the home side when Matt Derbyshire forced Edwin van der Sar to save following a low cross by Andre Ooijer and when Brett Emerton's 25-yard shot passed close by a post. At the other end Ronaldo, quickly establishing himself as the pantomime villain for the home supporters after playing unsuccessfully for two early free-kicks, showed greater determination in winning a corner on the left that flashed across the six-yard box, Vidic making only enough contact at the far post to jab the ball wide.

Then Berbatov deftly set up Darren Fletcher for a shot pulled across goal. The half finished with Rooney heading wide a cross by Brown and with several thousand United followers in good voice despite the rain. Ince appeared to be raising his voice, confronting the referee Steve Bennett to make his views known about why the goal should have been disallowed.

Despite having an excellent record when they make the short journey north to Bolton, United have normally had less joy up the A666 at Blackburn, winning only once in eight visits since 1999 before yesterday. Their prospects of a second success further improved soon after the interval, when Ince had to substitute Roque Santa Cruz, who had been more than holding his own in a physical battle with Vidic. Although his replacement Jason Roberts is just as vigorous a striker, Rovers were achieving nothing in attack and it was hardly a shock when United broke through again.

The goal was beautifully constructed from the moment that Berbatov, foraging deep in his own half, won the ball back. Brown carried it forward across the halfway line and found Ronaldo, who had switched to the right. The winger easily outpaced his full-back, Martin Olsson and cut back a cross for Rooney to curl right-footed high into the net. When Ronaldo wriggled in from the wing again just before full-time, Carlos Tevez, on for Giggs, struck a post. Three-nil would not have been flattering but two was more than sufficient.








Injustice benefits Manchester United again as Blackburn Rovers' will is broken

By Tim Rich at Ewood Park


One Saturday with Manchester United. Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuel tackles Cristiano Ronaldo cleanly and bravely in his own area at Old Trafford. The referee, Rob Styles, awards United a penalty. Bolton’s resistance is broken. The champions run out 2-0 winners.

The next Saturday with United. The rain driving into his face, Wayne Rooney looks up and sends a ball across the Blackburn goal. Here, their keeper, Jason Brown, takes up the story. “The ball was quite close to me so I went up and the next thing I knew I felt an elbow come into my jaw and I was on the floor, the ball was in the back of the net and everybody was celebrating.

“I was thinking: ‘Will the referee give it?’ and when he did I was a bit puzzled because there were a lot of bodies and I wasn’t sure if I had been struck by one of my own players. But on the video you can clearly see that Nemanja Vidic elbows me in the jaw.” The referee, Steve Bennett, awards Wes Brown’s headed goal and Rooney’s second-half strike then settles matters.

In both matches United benefited from an injustice. The Blackburn manager, Paul Ince, who spent a decade playing for United, Inter Milan and Liverpool, made the point that, “the bigger teams get the bigger decisions and I should know. I benefited from them. But I still think that when it is a clear-cut decision like that they can’t possibly get it wrong”.

Ince argued that the kind of errors Styles and Bennett committed should be punishable by lengthy bans.

However, for this to have been a deep and lasting injustice, Bolton and Blackburn would have to argue that they would have held out against the European champions without the intervention of the officials. Bolton might have done so. They had resisted for an hour when United were awarded their ghost penalty but, although Brown was inspired in Rovers’ goal, it is very hard to imagine Blackburn could have survived.

Even deprived of their first-choice central midfielders (Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick), United finally looked like the champions of a continent. Since Blackburn’s return to the Premier League in 2001, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have found Ewood Park a vastly more difficult venue to negotiate than Anfield. Here, in the kind of conditions that made it difficult to see straight, let alone pass a football, they might, on the Blackburn manager’s own calculations, have scored five.

The theory that Dimitar Berbatov could have the same impact on United as Eric Cantona did – a statement that Ince finds faintly ridiculous – looked as if it might hold the kind of water that flooded the surrounding car parks. Rooney, whom Ferguson had doubted would be fit for England’s World Cup qualifier with Kazakhstan on Saturday, virtually demanded to play and co-ordinated the kind of performance his manager described as “emphatic”.

“We never really settle until the October international break is over,” said Ferguson. “Once it is, we will get back into the rhythm quickly enough with West Brom at home and then, in November, you can expect us to really start going.”

A statement that for the managers of Hull, Arsenal, Stoke, Aston Villa and Manchester City – their opponents next month – must feel like a sliver of ice had been inserted under their skin.

Three

Man Utd have won all three games in which Wayne Rooney has scored this season, but only one of the other six when he has not found the net.














Berbatov's Cantona impression gives United the maverick touch

Mike Adamson at Ewood Park


This was a glimpse of the future. For 11 minutes here, Manchester United's forward line read Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Dimitar Berbatov, the first time the fab four have been fielded together. It was short-lived but the quartet sparkled both individually and collectively, suggesting they will soon become the world's most devastating attack. "It's scary, isn't it?" said Paul Ince, the Blackburn Rovers manager. "You can spend all week, as I have done, discussing tactics and personnel, but when a team is that good sometimes you can't do anything about it."

Despite this glowing assessment, Ince reiterated his belief that the 1993-94 Double-winning United team he was a part of was Sir Alex Ferguson's finest since the Scot became manager almost 22 years ago. They certainly had strength and guts in himself, Roy Keane and Mark Hughes, deadly pace through Andrei Kanchelskis and Ryan Giggs and a little je ne sais quoi with Eric Cantona. But that team was a simpler beast than Ferguson's current crop, one designed for the straight lines of the Premier League rather than the sophistication of the Champions League.

The 2008 model, by contrast, is as chic as a Parisian boutique. It was Rovers who helped dismantle Ferguson's first championship-winning team by pipping them to the title in 1995, and it was Rovers here who more resembled their uncomplicated setup. But Matt Derbyshire is no Cantona, and Old Trafford may come to cherish a new maverick in Berbatov. He alone of United's outfielders wore black boots, and he alone ignored Ferguson's directions for defensive discipline.

Whereas Giggs, positioned in the middle, marked Tugay Kerimoglu, who so often pulls the strings for Rovers, and Ronaldo and Rooney, positioned wide, tracked the all-too-infrequent forward runs of Blackburn's full-backs, Berbatov regularly left his station of central striker, dropping deeper and consequently moulding numerous opportunities for his team-mates.

His reluctance to conform to expectations paid dividends for United's stunning second goal. Berbatov it was who won the ball in, of all places, a left-back position. Twenty seconds later it was in Blackburn's net after Ferguson's nominal wingers combined, Rooney sweeping Ronaldo's cutback into the top corner. "We're getting back to the way we know we can play now," said Rooney after a fourth successive victory and United's best performance this season.

That the England forward, who declared himself fit for the coming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus despite a troublesome ankle, excelled in the wide position where he has often been ineffective was due to the fluency and fluidity of United's play.

With the full-backs providing extra width and Anderson and Darren Fletcher offering protection in midfield, Rooney and his accomplices could drift where they pleased when the ball was in their possession.

Even in the most English of conditions, United's attack was based on continental principles - rapid interchange of positions and transference of the ball, kaleidoscopic movement and angles, and no shortage of skill. Dazzling to watch, impossible to defend.

Tevez entered shortly after the second goal, replacing Giggs, and United's four playmakers briefly took it in turns to create chances for one another. At times they were so tightly knit that a designer blanket could have been thrown over them.

Blackburn's goalkeeper, Jason Brown, who continues to deputise for the calf-strain victim Paul Robinson, was named the home side's man of the match for restricting the score to two, but the groundsman might have been a more deserving recipient for gifting United a pitch on which to exhibit their advanced brand of football despite the torrential rain. But as much as their style has evolved over the last decade and a half, there are some things that perhaps do not change.

Wes Brown scored United's opener after a foul by Nemanja Vidic on the Blackburn keeper that was not spotted by the referee, Steve Bennett, an oversight typical of a recurring pattern, according to Ince. "I think the bigger teams get the bigger decisions," he said. "I'm not just saying it because of today, but I played for Man United so I know."

It was the second successive league game United have benefited from a refereeing mistake after Rob Styles's award of a penalty against Bolton. But the decision only made their fans delight even more in Ince's misfortune, as if in their quartet of forwards they did not already have enough to gloat about.

Man of the match Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester Utd)










Blackburn 0 United 2: Players ratings

5/10/2008


Van der Sar: Could have carried a brolly with him to shelter he had so little to do 6

Brown: Accomplished answer to young Rafael’s midweek Euro challenge, defensively and as a scorer 7

Ferdinand: Contained Santa Cruz and when he went off early it was an even easier afternoon 7

Vidic: The big Serb was on to of what little Rovers offered in attack 7

Evra: Never seriously tested 7

Ronaldo: Missed chances and fought losing battle getting anything out of his old pal Steve Bennett 6

Fletcher: The increasingly sodden surface never sapped his energy 7

Anderson: The Copacabana may be better than damp Blackburn but the weather didn’t put him off 7

Giggs: The first half he rolled back years to the days when Paul Ince was a team mate 7

Rooney: Kept his scoring purple patch going – not bad considering he was a big doubt! 8

Berbatov: First 45 minutes was a virtuoso display of control and vision 8

Substitutes:

Tevez (Giggs 65) Hit post 6

O’Shea (Evra 70) Easy 20 minutes 5

Park ( Rooney (78) Nothing to do 5

Not used: Nani, Rafael, Evans, Amos

Bookings:

Blackburn: Samba (85)

United: (Fletcher 69)

Battle of the bosses: Fergie’s initial 4-2-1-3 system swept aside early Rovers fight

Referee: Steve Bennett – Didn’t give Reds much but fortunately they didn’t need it. 5

Attendance: 27,321