100 Minutes of Glory: Manchester United v. Blackpool

Manchester United faced one of their toughest opponents of the season yesterday, and surprisingly it was Blackpool. Blackpool have had a great season for a team who has just been promoted from the championship. I'm going to start off by saying; Ryan Giggs should have been in the starting line-up. He has been playing phenomenally for the past few games and with an undefeated record that United have, they must play the best possible line up at all times. On the other hand, every player needs to get their rest, and Ryan has been playing a lot since Valencia is out with an broken leg.

Score board Courtesy: Fox Soccer Channel

As the game started, United just didn’t seem confident. At first, Berbatov and Rooney couldn’t set up plays for each other like they normally do and Nani could get by Blackpool’s defense. Other than that, United just didn’t seem up to par defensively. They had a lot of mishaps one of which converted into a goal in 14 minutes. United gave away a corner and Craig Carthcart. After such an early goal, United seemed to have broken down even more. They could barley hold of Blackpool back from attacking. United had been giving away corners and throw-ins constantly in their third of the pitch, and by giving away these opportunities to Blackpool, they extended their lead to two right before the half. The goal was assisted from another corner, and DJ Campbell was there to provide. At the start of the second half, Ryan Giggs was immediately subbed on for Darren Gibson. Immediately, United had had the attacking edge of the game. Once 72 minutes of the game were gone, Berbatov scored the first goal to give united a chance to win. Two minutes later, Chicharito, who had been subbed on for Rooney, scored the equalizer. Then Rafael, United’s Right Wing Defender, was injured. He was subbed out for midfielder Anderson, and Darren Fletcher took over the defending position. Berbatov soon scored again to take the lead in the 88th minute. Since Rafael had been down for so long, there was ten minutes of Injury time. The most I have ever seen. The game lasted just over 100 minutes. United defender for the next ten minutes and took the win, leaving the other title contenders in the dust with a five point lead.

As of today, January 26, 2011, this is the Premier League table. --->

(Premierleague.com)

Update: Rafael has a concussion, but it hasn’t been determined on how severe it really is.

“He has gone to the hospital and will have some X-rays,” revealed the United chief. (Sir Alex Ferguson) “He has got some concussion but hopefully there is no other damage. It was a worrying moment because he is just a kid.” (Premierleague.com)