Take this from The Mail on Sunday:
Yet, honest endeavour will only get you so far. A combination of the
world's greatest players and weak refereeing is unbeatable and though
the prelude for the opening goal was delightful, as Berbatov and Rooney
combined to force a sharp save from Brown, the finale was ugly.From
a short corner, Rooney sent a swirling cross to the far post. Vidic
jumped forcefully at Blackburn's keeper Brown in a manner more
befitting a 1950s centre-forward and knocked him off his stride. In the
same moment, Wes Brown stole in behind to send his looping header in at
the far post.
I watched the game and this is just not what happened at all, I don't even think Vidic left the ground, he certainly didn't jump at the Keeper. From my view, it seemed as though the Keeper, with his eye on the ball, ran into Vidic, who, also with eyes on the ball, was going backwards. It wasn't a deliberate jump into the keeper by any stretch of the imagination. And I admit that it's the type of the decision that the keeper often gets, but it's also the type of decision that the commentators generally say "the keeper was lucky to get away with that one". To me the usual mode of referees automatically giving that type of decision to the keeper is weakness, the easy option. Bennett, who certainly didn't referee the game in our favour (how many times did he turn a blind eye to fouls on Ronaldo?), at least had the balls to let it go.
The Telegraph go for this view as well:
Blackburn protested that Vidic had fouled Jason Brown but, for once in the
modern game, the goalkeeper had not been given the benefit of the doubt.
Ince accompanied Steve Bennett off at half-time, but his breath and his
protests were utterly wasted.
Although starting their report with comparisions to last week's Bolton game, perhaps undermines this realism:
Then, United benefited from a fortunate penalty; here at an Ewood
Park soaked in wintry rain, their first goal might have been ruled out for a
foul on the Blackburn goalkeeper, Jason Brown.
The Sunday Times description gives the wrong impression as well:
Blackburn’s goalkeeper tried to claim it
but Nemanja Vidic, turning his back in attempting a header, caught the
goalkeeper on the jaw with his arm. The foul seemed unintentional but a foul
just the same but there was no whistle from Bennett and Wes Brown nodded
home from two yards.
Again the active party is Vidic, the passive, Brown.
The Independent's report nicely makes light of the challenge, simply registering that Brown felt aggrieved.
The best reporting of the incident comes from The Guardian:
That ought to have done wonders for the reserve goalkeeper's
confidence, but he rather spoiled the effect by allowing United a soft
goal from the resulting corner. Even if there was a strong suggestion
he was shouldered out of the way by Nemanja Vidic as Wes Brown nodded
in Rooney's cross at the far post, the Blackburn Brown should still
have made a more determined attempt to reach the ball first and was
entitled to a lot more protection from his central defenders
Goalkeepers are renowned for blaming everyone but themselves for goals so is it any wonder he covers himself by protesting?
Onto the rest of the game and the papers generally single out Berbatov for praise with Rooney also getting some good press for once. The Telegraph oddly have Wes Brown as Man of the Match on their stats thing, while The Star heap praise on Ronaldo, who did look like he was coming back to full fitness:
Manchester United’s Portuguese superstar proved to be a real pest for
Blackburn boss Paul Ince too as he made all the difference on a
rain-sodden day at Ewood Park.
His
teamwork couldn’t be faulted. His build-up play awesome. His
effectiveness unquestioned.
The only
criticism would have been his lack of clinical finishing which, by his
high standards of last season, was well below his best.
Here's The Times on Berbatov:
Manchester United deserved victory and the be-gloved guile of Dimitar
Berbatov was sublime.
The memory of slow starts are fast-fading. Berbatov began quietly for United
but now looks a fully functioning part of the shredding machine which, on
good days like these, is their attack.
And The Independent praising Rooney and Berbatov:
there was no arguing with the second one, scored by Wayne Rooney, which
provided a bonus for the England manager Fabio Capello. He had rushed
from watching Emile Heskey at Wigan to Ewood Park, to see Rooney
unexpectedly start and give an outstanding performance. Having broken
his scoring duck in midweek, Dimitar Berbatov was equally good,
providing all the craft as a leader of the line that Ferguson had hoped
for when acting as taxi-driver to facilitate the Bulgarian's £30m move
from Tottenham on the last day of the summer transfer window.
One other story is in The News of the World, Sir Alex bans the Christmas party:
The United boss has ruled out a repeat of last year’s private gig when they
bussed in groups of women to a luxury hotel in Manchester city centre.
And there's this from Paul Wilson in The Observer, which criticises Sir Alex's criticism of the media, but I shall just quote from the bit on Arsene Wnger, because it's funnier:
But at least Ferguson did not say he felt physically sick, which as
unsporting reactions to unexpected home defeats go is almost as bad as
confusing Hull City with West Brom. Sour grapes in the immediate
aftermath of Hull's stirring performance at the Emirates could just
about be excused, though when Wenger was still moaning two days later
it just sounded plain sour. Especially when he expressly stated, the
day before Porto were rolled over 4-0 in a one-sided match much more to
Wenger's liking, that Champions League opponents know they have a
responsibility to play, whereas Hull's first responsibility was not to
lose.The famous Wenger habit of missing crucial incidents
appears suddenly to have been extended to whole games. In the match
most people saw last week, Hull adventurously turned up with three up
front and then bravely bounced back from an own goal, playing with such
panache throughout that the home crowd applauded them off at the end.
Wenger seems unable to work out how this could have happened. If
Arsenal lost they must have been kicked off the park or stifled by a
10-man defence. It was as if Hull simply had no right to win. Wenger's
reputation as a fair-minded devotee of attacking football has just
taken a knock, as will his reputation as a manager if he cannot sort
out his defence.
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