The Premier League game between Manchester United and Burnley at Old Trafford on Saturday Jan 16, 2009.
Dimitar Berbatov overcame the visible pain of a long-term knee injury to drag Manchester United to victory against Burnley as the home supporters vented their fury at the club’s owners, the Glazer family, at Old Trafford.
The Bulgarian forward, who has been delaying knee surgery in recent weeks, overcame a below-par first-half performance to set United on their way to the points with his seventh league goal of the season. But United were by no means convincing against a team who have collected just one point away from home this season.
And with the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City looming on Tuesday, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team must raise their game quickly if they are to progress to Wembley.
The victory was one positive for the supporters in a bleak week for the club dominated by the proposed £500m bond issue planned by the Glazers.
Anti-Glazer chants were prominent and a banner which read ‘LOVE UNITED, HATE GLAZER’ was unfurled by supporters, who ended the game chanting ‘We Want Glazer Out!’
On the pitch, however, United struggled to trouble Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen in the first-half and it was the visitors – in manager Brian Laws’ first game in charge – who had the better early chances.
Scottish forward Steven Fletcher should have put Burnley ahead on seven minutes when, after a break that left the Clarets with three men against one, he shot wide from six yards after being released by David Nugent.
United survived that scare, but Nugent was inches away from having a free shot on goal 13 minutes later when he narrowly failed to connect with Fletcher’s long pass.
The home side were devoid of any spark or creativity until Nani, making his first league start for almost two months, forced Jensen to save his long-range strike on 25 minutes.
Wayne Rooney then headed a Gary Neville cross over the bar before Berbatov spurned a golden chance from six yards after being teed up by Antonio Valencia’s cross.
Having pulled up with a thigh problem midway through the first-half, it was a surprise to see Berbatov reappear after the interval, but he continued to look troubled by his lack of fitness.
So blunt was United’s cutting edge that, just six minutes into the second-half, desperate chants of ‘Attack, Attack, Attack!’ came from the Stretford End. Patrice Evra and Valencia at least carried threat down the flanks, but their deliveries were wasted time and again by Rooney, Nani and Berbatov, who incredibly hit the post from six yards on 57 minutes.
Four minutes later, Nugent should have scored for Burnley when he raced clear of the flat-footed Neville before poking Chris Eagles’s pass wide of the far post.
Nugent’s miss appeared to wake United from their slumber and the opening goal finally came on 64 minutes when Berbatov put the finishing touch to Rooney’s pass.
Berbatov held off the challenge of defender Michael Duff before guiding a left foot shot past Jensen. The relief on Berbatov’s face was worth a thousand words.
With the dam broken, United doubled their lead five minutes later when Rooney pounced on the rebound after Jensen had saved from Berbatov.
And substitute Mame Biram Diouf scored a third for United in injury time with a header from Valencia’s long ball forward. It was a big three points, but United made their fans suffer for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment