A Disappointing End to the Year

United 2-3 Blackburn. For the second season in a row, United interrupt a good run of form with a loss to the last-place team. Last season was Wolves, this year obviously Blackburn Rovers. The match took place on Sir Alex Ferguson's 70th birthday, and every United fan worldwide was expecting 3 points as a gift. Wayne Rooney was rested and left out of the side entirely, but that left no shortage of attacking power on the pitch. Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez were up top, joined by Nani and Danny Welbeck in midfield, and Antonio Valencia at right back. Rafael and Anderson both made returns this week as well, with Rafa in midfield to start, and Ando on the bench. The rest of the bench selection, which featured almost entirely youth players, concerned me a bit, but I figured we would have this match well in hand. As it turns out, my concern would be well-warranted.
United dominated possession to start, but the whole mood of the game changed in the 14th minute when Berbatov hauled down Chris Samba in the box to give away a very stupid penalty. Yakubu easily converted, and Rovers were a goal up. United regrouped and pured on the pressure for the rest of the half, creating an onslaught on chances, but excellent play from keeper Mark Bunn and the rest of the Blackburn defense kept United out of the back of the net for the duration of the half.
The second half brought some changes for United. Anderson came on for Hernandez, Welbeck moved up top, Rafael dropped to right back, and Valencia assumed his normal role on the right wing. The formation change would not yield instant success, however. Five minutes from the restart, Yakubu carved through our defense and fired past David De Gea to double the lead. Things looked very bleak, but a mere 75 seconds later a mis-hit shot from Rafael fell directly to Berbatov, who put it into the back of the net. The sudden response invigorated both team and crowd as hope was restored. Ten minutes later, Valencia steamed into the box and picked out Berba once again, who converted to bring the scoreline level.
With the momentum now clearly in our favor, we poured on the pressure once more. We created good chances, but Blackburn's defense remained steadfast. A draw seemed fairly imminent, but then everything went tits up ten minutes form the end. A terrible attempt at a punch out from De Gea resulted in a cluster fuck in the box, and Grant Hanley headed in to put Rovers up 3-2. United scrambled like madmen to get another equalizer, and nearly had it in the closing minutes. Phil Jones fired a hard low shot that seemed sure to find the back of the net, but it careened off another United player on the goal line to deny the attempt.
It was a disappointing loss to say the least. Only one of the goals (Yakubu's second) should have happened. The penalty was unnecessary, and the third goal was purely a result of David De Gea's shoddy goalkeeping. De Gea's shortcomings have been evident this year, but never so much as in this match. Yes, he's got raw talent, but he's scrawny. He has good height, but is rail-thin and nowhere near strong enough to play in the Premier League. Someone needs to get that boy on a weight regime and some protein supplements right quick. If he bulks up and improves his strength, I think he has what it takes to be great. For now, however, I think we need to hand the number 1 shirt to Anders Lindegaard, who has been solid so far.
So this was a missed opportunity. Fortunately, as I was typing this, Sunderland pulled a very late winner against City to keep the points level. We've got a tricky trip to St. James Park to play Newcastle on Wednesday, and we need a decent result to keep the pressure on. Losing against Rovers was a setback, to be sure, but we'll hopefully learn and grow from the misstep and soldier on towards title number 20. That's all for now, see you lot mid-week