Man Utd’s visit to Turf Moor turned into a nightmare as Premiership minnows Burnley shocked them with a win that will go down in the annals of that club’s history. 41 years had elapsed since Burnley’s last victory against Man Utd at home.
Robbie Blake smashed home a thunderous volley after Patrice Evra’s failed to effectively clear Stephen Jordan’s cross in the 18′ minute. An effort that would have made Cristiano Ronaldo proud. It came after sustained pressure of a minute as the Man Utd defense was stretched thin and unable to clear the ball.
The same Robbie Blake could have become a villain after Owen’s pass found Evra in the box and the goalscorer fouled the Frenchman just before the half was over. Michael Carrick stepped up and goalkeeper Brian Jensen became another Burnley hero as he stopped the shot. Utd had missed a golden opportunity.
Michael Owen missed two clear chances as he failed to head Evra’s cross in the first two minutes of the game and then headed Wes Brown’s cross wide with Man Utd behind. He was substituted after 62′ minutes by Berbatov ending his evening of frustration.
Later Sir Alex bemoaned the missed opportunities and bad calls:
“We were too frivolous with the chances we had,” Sir Alex told MUTV.
“Sometimes we were taking touches on the ball instead of shooting quickly. And in the last twenty minutes, we rushed and made one or two bad decisions.”
However it was too early to hit the panic button as Sir Alex took heart from the number of missed chances. “Hopefully we get as many on Saturday.”
Utd will travel to Wigan on the 22nd before returning home to face Arsenal on the 29th.
For Burnley, kudos on their victory. They were magnificent. Brian Jensen was truly a Beast stopping everything that Man Utd threw at him.
Even Sir Alex acknowledged what a special moment this was for the Clarets.
“You can’t deny them their victory. Every member of their team worked their socks off and the fans were fantastic, they got behind them all night, cheering every kick of the ball.”