Manchester United 2-1 Blackburn Review

It seems like ages since any team has troubled Manchester United in the Premier League, finally last night a team did. Blackburn Rovers came to Old Trafford to try and get something out of the match, and they could have done.

Before the match, Van Der Sar had kept 14 consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League, but that came to an end yesterday.

There were a few controversial decisions by the referee, they cancelled themselves out over the match, I will talk about them a bit later.

Fergie made quite a few changes- Evans came in for Vidic, that one was expected because Vidic is suspended for the Champion's League match on Tuesday.
Rafael, Nani, Rooney and Kuszczak all started, Van Der Sar was rested.

United started off well, Scholes had a shot at goal but it went well wide. United had another chance when Ronaldo's ball in just needed a touch and it would have been in the back of the net, the follow up shot by Evra went just wide.

Wayne Rooney put Man United in front, Nani was the provider, his cross touched the outstretched leg of Nelsen but Rooney was there and reacted sharply, he knocked the ball past Robinson to make it 1-0 Man United.

When that goal went in you wouldn't have been surprised if United went on to thrash Rovers but to their credit they did attack and due to a few stupid mistakes by United players, Rovers became the first club in the Premier League to score against Man United since the 8th November 2008.

The first mistake was by Nani who let Ooijer take the ball from him, Ooijer slid the ball through to Santa Cruz, Ferdinand was with Santa Cruz but Kuszczak came out instead of taking the ball, he slid into Ferdinand. Santa Cruz took it past two United players and at a tight angle, knocked the ball into the back of the net.

United did score a goal before half time but it was ruled out for some unknown reason. Pederson fouled Rafael close to the corner flag, it should have been a freekick but a corner was given, it shouldn't have been a corner. Anyway, Nani's corner was met by the head of Jonny Evans,seconds later, the whistle was blown and the goal was ruled out. Howard Webb gave Rovers a freekick for some possible pushing by Ronaldo, if there was some pushing it was the slightest of touches. There wasn't much in it at all.

Second half and Ronaldo was trying to get some room on target to get a shot in on goal, he was caught by a Rovers player but stupidly kicked out at him. Ronaldo wasn't shown a yellow at that point but he should have reacted, it isn't the first time he has done that this season.
Not long after, Ronaldo was booked. He was booked for diving, trying to win United a penalty. The freekick was given to Rovers but it was a dive by Ronaldo, he was rightly shown a yellow card , he wasn't touched and I wish that he would stop diving, he is a world class player and doesn't need to cheat.

Rovers did have a few more chances, Pedersen had a shot, his shot took a slight deflection off Ferdinand, Kuszczak also touched it to give them a corner. The resulting corner was taken, Nani missed the ball, so it went back into the penalty area, once again it wasn't cleared and Nelsen's shot hit the post, rebounded back to Diouf back Kuszczak blocked it.

Man United's second goal came from a freekick, Evra was fouled just outside the penalty area by Andrews. Ronaldo prepared himself and his magical freekick went over the wall, past the ball and into the back of the net. It was a stunning goal, in the second half we saw the best and worst of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Whilst Ronaldo and the United players were celebrating the goal, Evan's was being brought off due to an injury, he is now doubtful for the match against Inter Milan on Tuesday, that means we are without Vidic and now possibly Evans.

Rovers should have been given a penalty in the second half when Rafael had his hands all over the back of Pedersen. It should have been a penalty or if Webb thinks it was a dive then it should have been a yellow card.

Berbatov should have settled the game, Rooney's ball in was perfect for Berbatov, Berbatov's header went over the bar.

Overall, I think we just deserved the victory, we did have a perfectly good goal ruled out and Rovers should have had a penalty.

Over the past few matches we have been in fantastic form but we didn't play well today and if we want to get anything at the San Siro then we have to play alot better.


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