Van der Sar - Ferguson says there’s no one better – but the United manager himself could have kept goal against Blackburn, such was Rovers’ lack of threat. 7
Evra - Was allowed to get forward as often as he liked and how he punished Blackburn with one probing run after another. It was his cross-come-shot that set up Berbatov’s goal. 8
Brown - Lucky to get away with a miscue when under the challenge of Di Santo, but otherwise untroubled at the back. 7
Evans - Clattered when challenging Samba early on, but that was about as tough as it got for the Northern Ireland international, who will hope he now gets an extended run in the first team. 7
O’Shea - Brilliant tackle denied Diouf when through on goal early on, but much of his good work was done supporting Valencia in attack. 7
Nani - Endured some rough stuff from Rovers’ defenders, but kept getting up gamely. Still frustrates when in promising positions and should have done better with a first half header. 6
Carrick - Neat and tidy without every finding the defence-splitting passes he is capable of. Alongside Anderson, controlled the midfield. 7
Anderson - Harassed and harried in midfield to boss the centre of the park and it was his cross that led to Rooney’s goal. 7
Valencia - Increasingly looking at home in the red of United. Missed one good opportunity early on, but his inch perfect first half cross to Berbatov deserved a better finish from the Bulgarian. 7
Rooney - Responsible for the pass of the match when finding Valencia out wide with a perfectly-weighted volley, and a delightful finish killed off what little chance Blackburn had of mounting a comeback. 7
Berbatov - Superb touch and finish fired United ahead and helped erase thoughts of a first half in which he might have scored a hat-trick, if not for some wasteful finishing. 8
Substitutes
Obertan (for Nani, 63) - Making his home debut, could have made himself an instant hero when presented with a golden opportunity in the last 10 minutes, but shot wide from eight yards out. Still some good touches added up to a promising start. 6
Owen (for Berbatov 79) - Should have scored his second goal in a week but fired late chance wide. 6
Subs not used: Scholes, Fabio, Fletcher, Kuszczak, De Laet
Blackburn: Robinson, Samba, Givet, Nelson, Emerton, Dunn (McCarthy 83), Nzonzi, Andrews (Pedersen 57), Diouf, Di Santo (Kalinic 76), Chimbonda
Subs not used: Grella, Hoilett, Salgado, Brown
Referee: Phil Dowd – always in control. 4/5
Attendance: 74,658
Agree with the ratings? Have your say.
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Gilly, Belgium (31/10/2009 at 19:44)
Serge, Europe (31/10/2009 at 19:48)
If Berba and Rooney keep linking like this theyll get a tasty tally for the season. Berbas touch for the goal was top drawer.
danny, WILMSLOW (31/10/2009 at 19:52)
Aneesh , Canada (31/10/2009 at 19:53)
BigumRF, Denmark (31/10/2009 at 20:27)
Rawtenstall Blue (Formerly of Bandit Country), Rawtenstall (31/10/2009 at 20:28)
God it was hard work watching that, nearly turned over to X-Factor.
As for those ratings you've got to be kidding me!
Shorty and the Other Fellers, Saskatoon (31/10/2009 at 21:08)
T@C please continue to comment on formations, strategy, and the other teams strengths and weakness you add a lot to the forum.
neal 07, south stand lower (31/10/2009 at 21:37)
O'Shea...Mr average at best, needs to take a good long seat on the bench and let Rafael/Wes take over
Wes...great to have him back, the best natural defender we have
J Evans...deserves a prolonged run in the team
Patrice...back to his usual maruading self
Valencia...please tell him to be more direct and attack his full back more, he likes to stop, slow and pass back too often, becoming too predictable
Anderson...MOM for me, he is taking control of things now and seemingly enjoying the challenge...please keep him in the team now, he does not need rested, he needs games, games, games
Carrick...sadly mediocre and on current form not deserving of his place
Nani...as a fan of his, he is always a threat and just needs a break and also to pick his head up more
Rooney...needs to practice his free kicks more in training, but fantastic finish for his goal and lets hope he goes on another run of goals now
Berbatov...what a stunning goal, what a touch and control, and strike!!! Becoming more and more of an influence and Im loving him more
Subs...
Obertan...missed a pure sitter, but wow he is quick and someone who gets me excited everytime he gets the ball. He is going to terrorise a few defences
Owen...needs more minutes, but should have scored at the death
Lacklustre, sloppy first half performance, which is a concern and even with a 1-0 lead, I never felt over comfortable, espcially based on home performances so far this season
But a win is a win and lets please just kick on and pick the team/squad on merit, not on reputations!!!
Jim (31/10/2009 at 21:58)
Matthew Savage (31/10/2009 at 22:00)
I think Obertan could be class. It was difficult to judge on this evening as he was clearly very keen to make a good impression, which may have manifested itself in decision making occasionally but the signs are far better than I expected in all aspects and he clearly enjoys football, which is always good.
tooth&claw, manchester (31/10/2009 at 22:33)
Midfield were in control but didn't have drive. Anderson was strolling when he should have been pushing on. Carrick was OK, improving, but he has a way to go yet. Valencia was ordinary. Nani was better but the final ball.... Rooney and Berbatov aren't a pairing yet.
Overall a good win and room for improvement.
mike , denver (31/10/2009 at 22:57)
TCPerth, WA (01/11/2009 at 03:52)
Roy (01/11/2009 at 04:28)
Anderson is a bundle of energy and I love his runs at teams. He will, one day, do a John Barnes-vs-Brazil goal. Obertan is another possible energy source and looks interesting. He did enough to suggest Nani should be worried.
Lastly, it was down to Evra's (mis)shooting again that led to the goal (the equaliser against Sunderland was the other). When teams defend with 10 behind the ball, shooting is a key tool to break teams down - Carrick won't and Anderson can't. More shooting please.
tripone, canada (01/11/2009 at 05:43)
the game against Moscow when some said he had a good game, I could not believe that, so I watched just to see "good Nani" and maybe i could feel that i am tough on him...! well, HE was FRUSTRATING AS ALWAYS, so its official, the guy is GARBAGE.
Shola, Helsinki, Finland (01/11/2009 at 06:49)
oweniit Sri Lanka (01/11/2009 at 07:14)
RemiMoses, Ireland (01/11/2009 at 08:28)
bobbydazzler (01/11/2009 at 08:31)
opie 5 good passing game ( for blackburn)
wes 7 solid wellcome back.
evans 6
evra 7
valencia 6
carrick 7
andersen 7
nini 4
berbatov 6
rooney 5
Tony Boyer (01/11/2009 at 09:18)
Robbo, N2409, M16 (01/11/2009 at 10:26)
We're a very poor team right now. Some good players are playing badly, some average players are playing averagely; we've no style, system or coherence. The body language is poor and the players, even the ones who do actually speak English, don't seem to be communicating.
Seriously, you do have to ask questions about Micky and Rene as these turgid non-events have become an increasing pattern (the norm, arguably) ever since they took over the, cough, 'coaching'.
VDS: 6 - Calm. Would make an excellent hostage negotiator.
JOP: 3 - Can't pass, cross, close people down, head the ball or tackle. 'Supports' the attack with the penetrative verve of a 50-year-old Ray Wilkins. He is beyond satire. He is O'Pie. He is RUBBISH.
PE: 6 - Zut alors! Even mon petit Patrice was worryingly off-key.
WB: 7 - "He's big, He's bad, He's Wesley Brown!" Nice to have him back.
JE: 6 - When he lumbers forward, it's like he's being pulled by tug boats.
AV: 6 - As I said, getting my close-up view second half, the O'Shea/Valencia show was like Ray Wilkins playing with, er, Ray Wilkins. Crabbed sideways pass after crabbed sideways pass. We should have a sweepstake about the first time Valencia uses his left foot. I'm guessing March 2012.
MC: 6 - Nothingness.
A-son-son-son: 7 - At least offered some invention with the odd chipped pass and wheezy surge.
Nani: 5 - Poor Nani. That was the slow walk to the guillotine as he was subbed. I had high hopes this season but that looks like the end.
WR: 5 - He's such a streaky player. Same pattern every season. Where's his touch gone? Hopefully that goal will perk him up. We need him badly.
DB: 6 - Plus one for the goal. Which was just as well, as the crowd were turning nasty. I feared ironic cheers at what seemed an inevitable substitution.
GO: 6 - Clumsily exciting. Bit of a bad miss, it has to be said.
EMO: 5 - Trademark duffed finish.
Anyway, thank god that's over. It would have taken an heroic effort NOT to beat an unspeakably awful Blackburn team and, by jingo, we gave it a good go.
Football being football, we'll probably stuff Chelsea next week. Here's hoping.
Gianni Rossi (01/11/2009 at 10:33)
Unlike you I am not at all impressed with Valencia. I agree he is strong and works hard, but he is far too ordinary when in possesion. Not only is he a one trick pony, but very predictable with it. His crossing is poor and when pushed onto his left foot looks completely lost. I'm sorry but for me £18m should buy you a lot more than just hard work.
I couldn't believe how poor our football was in the first half yesterday once agian, yesterday. Much of this is down to the constant team rotation, but some is also down to the fact that we have too many ordinary or ageing players in the squad.
I really believe that we need to buy at least 2 quality players in January, one of which must be a creative midfielder. But just as importantly, we need to move at least 6 players on, to stop SAF constantly feeling the need to rotate the starting eleven.
In the late nineties if you asked 10 united fans to name their favourite starting eleven, you'd probably get 7 or eight agreeing, if you asked 10 fans today, you'd probably get 10 different answers and this is because we do not have more than probably 5 players that really stand out and these for me are, Van der Sar, Evra, Vidic, Rooney (looking very disheartened at the mo) and Hargreaves (when fit).
I do also believe that we have a number of quality youngsters at the club, but they need a consistent run in the side if they are going to reach their potential.
Mancinitaly, Calabria (01/11/2009 at 10:55)
who ate all the pies?, Tick tock, not long now. (01/11/2009 at 11:12)
Zizi, Coventry, UK (01/11/2009 at 12:48)
O'shea, Evans Wes & Evra- 8 each. Great to have kept a clean sheet after what it seems to be ages.
Valencia 7.5-Boy, I starting to love him!!Strong on the ball and lots of pace to burn.
Carrick 7-Put on some great tackles although without Blakburn any harm.
Anderson 7-Controlled and bossed midfield well.
Nani 5-Exactly what we have come to expect; world class dribbling followed by Sunday league crossing. Hooked for Obertan when his failings became too much to handle.
Berbatov 7-He gets only 7 for scoring that beauty of a goal otherwise his overall performance was terrible considering the number of chances he had had to put the ball into the net.
Rooney 7-Same goes for Rooney. He lacked the cutting edge and was frustrating to watch! He is never going to join the class of Torres, Messi, C.Ronaldo or Eto, isn't he?
Subs:
Owen 2 Considering his experience I expect him to at least make a positive impact on the match if not score a goal. His miss at the end of the match was horrendous
Obertan 2 -I hate to slate him considering the fact that it was his first match. But let's get real: 27 minutes on the pitch; nervous on the ball; wrong decision-making; 2 clear-cut goal-scoring chances missed; 4 crosses which missed their targets; blind runs-these are his stats for his debut. Not impressive at all! Welcome to the Premier League! Welbeck, Macheda and C.Ronaldo and many others were a million times brilliant on their debut. Actually, he made Nani look world-class!!! In my opinion he look to light weight for the Premier League and all the hype about him being a gem is sheer nonsense. Lots of work is needed from him otherwise don't be surprised if he and Tosic are offloaded sooner rather than later! Wish him good luck for the future! Let's hope that by next season he will improve drastically like Fletcher!