Suddenly it did not seem such a good idea to rest Wayne Rooney, try Rafael da Silva in midfield and use Michael Carrick as a centre-half, even if the last decision was forced on Ferguson by circumstance. United were not forceful enough in midfield to chase the game with their usual vigour and neither did they have options on the bench to counter Blackburn's organised defending and willingness to get men behind the ball. Ferguson seemed reluctant to try Paul Pogba, despite repeatedly saying he is almost ready. There were shots from Nani, Phil Jones and Javier Hernández before the interval, but nothing demanding heroics from Bunn until Nani brought a diving save on the stroke of half-time.
Ferguson opted to send Anderson on for the second half, in place of the disappointingly ineffective Hernández, with Rafael and Antonio Valencia reverting to their more customary positions on the right flank and Danny Welbeck pushed up front.
United improved almost immediately, though before Berbatov put them on the scoresheet with a header from Rafael's volleyed cross, Yakubu exposed the frailty at the heart of the home defence by bursting past Carrick and Jones to put Blackburn briefly two ahead.
Berbatov cut that deficit within a minute to set up an absorbing final half-hour, but with more players back in their normal positions United were making inroads for the first time and Berbatov had a second just after an hour, sweeping a shot past Bunn after Valencia had cut back from the right-hand byline for the striker's sixth goal in three games.
Valencia enjoyed himself so much in the second half it rather mocked Ferguson's decision to start him at right-back, but he could not keep his shot down when he had a chance to put United ahead 15 minutes from time.
The script was beginning to follow a familiar plotline, but just when it appeared United would press on to score a winner Blackburn raised the stakes again. An enterprising run from Adam Henley won a corner off Jones, and from Morten Gamst Pedersen's cross David de Gea somehow allowed himself to be twice beaten in the air by Grant Hanley. The centre-half's first header went straight up in the air and, with De Gea flailing, his second was unchallenged and found the back of the net.
The reality is that Manchester United has been weak at the back for several years, but so few teams--outside their big rivals and Champions League opponents--attack them that it was disguised. And the experience of a Rio Ferdinand and a Van De Sart could disguise a lot of holes. But now they are left with no one who should be a starting center back on a big squad, a goaltender who is to frail and naive to play in the League and no outstanding holding midfielder to put in front of them.
At the other end of the spectrum they have one of the great strikers in the world, but are trying him in midfield, leaving three guys who are adept at poking balls in but couldn't create a goal if their lives depended on it. When you look at the squad you can understand the desperation that has driven Sir Alex to move his only creative player, Wayne Rooney, into a more influential position, and see if he can be a Gerrard or Lampard. No player of that ability should be squandered as a mere goal poacher up front. But Rooney has tended to drift ever deeper, into almost a holding position, making him even less of a factor offensively. At least if you played Smalling and Jones in the midfield it would force Rooney forward again. And neither of them shows much interest in actually defending, but they could at least make it hard to drive through the middle to get to whatever central defenders you're forced into starting.
Ashley Young and Valencia don't deserve to bear the brunt of how poorly the team is conceived, but there isn't much point to having them play good crosses in to players physically unsuited to play them in the air. At least when Ji-Sun Park is playing he'll track back on defense. And, who knows, it might be worth trying Jones as a forward, since he can get a head to the ball. You might have a Crouch or Carroll on your hands.
At any rate, if the bottom half of the League takes a page from Blackburn and starts attacking this team instead of just defending against them, things could get ugly quickly.
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