Manchester United 0 Blackburn 0
Ruud van Nistelrooy's misery magnified that of his team at Old Trafford as
Manchester United's Premiership title challenge finally crumbled.
After three full seasons of terrorising English defences, van Nistelrooy has
endured an injury-blighted campaign but Sir Alex Ferguson had pinned his hopes
of European and domestic glory on the Dutchman's return from Achilles trouble.
Instead, the £18.5million front-man has been a shadow of his former self. In
seven games since his return he has rarely looked like scoring a goal, let alone
managed one, and after 63 minutes of a devastating draw with Blackburn, Ferguson
finally put him out of his misery.
If the move was aimed at galvanising the hosts, it did not work as Rovers,
after surviving a torrid first half, held on for a precious point that continues
to ease them away from the relegation zone.
For United legend Mark Hughes, the unfortunate by-product is a huge effect on
his former club's title ambitions, which are now surely at an end as they even
slip behind Arsenal on goal difference.
The draw must have left Ferguson with an acute sense of deja-vu. The two-week
gap since United's previous outing against Fulham had clearly done nothing to
dull the Scot's memory and the dire warnings about the consequences of his team
failing to take a greater percentage of their chances were repeated in his
programme notes.
"Any continuation of that form will bring changes," he warned, so it is a
fair assumption the paint must have been peeling off the home dressing room at
half-time as he pondered the goalless state of the game.
In fairness, it was more bad luck than bad finishing that was responsible for
United's failure to grasp the initiative but even then Ferguson must have been
an intensely worried man.
The first signs that the day was not going to follow United's preferred script
came after just six minutes when Ryan Giggs went down in obvious pain with
no-one near him just after playing a routine pass.
It soon became obvious the Welshman could not continue, so Roy Keane, demoted
to the bench, was handed an early introduction to the action.
The veteran Irishman was his usual inspired self, although yet again it was
Wayne Rooney who really caught the eye.
Ferguson's attempts at shielding the teenager from unwanted attention are not
being helped by the brilliant on-field performances Rooney keeps producing.
While van Nistelrooy struggled to make any impact on a
well-organised Blackburn defence, Rovers were panicking every time Rooney got
the ball.
They certainly had no answer when he strode on to a van Nistelrooy lay-off and
let fly with a thunderous 25-yard shot that came crashing off the inside of Brad
Friedel's right-hand post.
The American keeper barely saw the ball as it flashed past him on the way out
let alone on the way in and the same could also be said of Keane's fierce drive
seven minutes before the interval which struck the woodwork in virtually the
identical spot.
Prior to that, Friedel was totally responsible for keeping out Rooney's diving
header and a powerful effort from Mikael Silvestre, who shoved his way through a
crowd of bodies to get a firm connection on Paul Scholes' early corner.
The pair combined to even better effect late in the opening period and this
time Silvestre kept his header away from the Rovers keeper. Unfortunately for
United, Morten Gamst Pedersen kept his nerve to make a superb acrobatic
goalline clearance.
That there was still time in the last five minutes of the half for Cristiano
Ronaldo to test Friedel with an angled effort and Scholes to fire an excellent
near post opportunity wide from barely five yards said something about United's
dominance.
Yet Blackburn were dangerous on the counter and should really have taken the
lead themselves when skipper Andy Todd reacted quickest when Tim Howard produced
a superb save of his own to deny Steven Reid, but somehow scooped his shot over
the bar.
With the greater defensive solidity Hughes' arrival at Ewood Park has given
the Lancashire outfit well in evidence after half-time, Ferguson took drastic
action just past the hour mark and called van Nistelrooy off.
In turning to Alan Smith, the United boss was not just paying heed to the
supporters who had spent the previous five minutes chanting his name, but also
calling on the man whose injury-time effort salvaged a draw from the first
meeting between the teams in August.
That was a time when the Red Devils truly thought they would reclaim their
title. But today, as Smith failed to repeat those heroics, they finally realised
they will not.
Teams
Man Utd Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea,
Ronaldo, Scholes, Fortune, Giggs (Keane 6), Rooney,
van Nistelrooy (Smith 63).
Subs Not Used: Phil Neville, Brown, Carroll.
Booked: Gary Neville, Keane, Smith.
Blackburn Friedel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo, Reid,
Thompson, Mokoena (Emerton 68), Flitcroft,
Pedersen (Gallagher 78), Stead.
Subs Not Used: Amoruso, Tugay, Enckelman.
Booked: Stead, Nelsen.
Att: 67,939
Ref: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
