burnley

Defeat to Leeds United in the FA Cup, followed by a disappointing draw at Birmingham City and much talk of financial meltdown added to the air nervousness at Old Trafford. It was an atmosphere that the visitors briefly threatened to take advantage of before three second half goals handed Manchester United a flattering 3-0 win over Burnley today.

Dimitar Berbatov, under pressure to finally deliver on his £31 million price-tag, scored one and created another as the Bulgarian proved the catalyst for United’s victory over Brian Law’s men. Sir Alex Ferguson will need his striker to keep up this form as he nurses the former-Tottenham Hotspur player through the rest of the season.

Yet the Bulgarian was guilty of wasting chances in an unimpressive opening half for the home side, which saw the return of Edwin van der Sar and Nani to the starting eleven.

Arguably Burnley made the most of the opening 45, with former United trainee Chris Eagles central to some of the visitors’ best work. Indeed, the midfielder’s superb break and pass created an opening for David Nugent who should have scored to give the Clarets the lead.

Earlier the former-Preston striker, on loan from Portsmouth this season, had created an opening for Steven Fletcher only for the Scot to slide his shot wide of goal with only van der Sar to beat.

While Berbatov was clearly affected by the knee injury that will need a summer operation, his teammates were out-of-sorts in a first period that brought plenty of possession for the home side but little real danger. On this evidence Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes and Nani will miss out on the trip to Eastlands for the Carling Cup semi-final next week.

On the hour United had the breakthrough, Berbatov collecting the ball to score with a deflected left-footed finish past Brian Jensen. Earlier the Bulgarian had superbly controlled the energetic Antonio Valencia’s pass only to fire against the post.

Minutes later Wayne Rooney doubled United’s advantage, taking his time to control and fire past the Burnley ‘keeper after Berbatov’s good work for the Scouser’s 16th strike of the season.

United wrapped up the flattering win when Mame Biram Diouf nodded Valencia’s long pass over Jensen and into the net in the final minute. The Senegalese striker’s gymnastic celebration will live longer in the memory than United’s tepid performance.

“Maybe the scoreline was a bit unfair on them,” said Ferguson, who revealed that Berbatov’s knee was troubling the striker during the match.

“It was a funny game, we were very frivolous, Burnley missed good breakaways and it could have been embarrassing. Maybe we were a bit nervous but, for a long time, I thought Berbatov was the one player who looked like scoring. He was feeling his knee and could have gone off at half time but he wanted to stay on.”

On the day that Chelsea scored an ominous seven at home to Sunderland, with key players absent at the African Cup of Nations, Ferguson’s team needs its best players back. Fast.

Indeed, the solidity that van der Sar offers, despite Tomasz Kuszazk’s outstanding recent form, is central to United’s ambitions at home and abroad this season. And while Ferdinand did not start at Old Trafford the England international’s return to the heart of United’s defence is now days and not weeks away.

United is clearly missing the creative spark in central midfield but any hope of a fourth Premier League title in a row is extinguished without Ferdinand and van der Sar.

Relief today, with much credit to Berbatov for a superb goal and assist, but Ferguson is unlikely to be happy until a full squad compliment is at his disposal again once again.

Sir Alex Ferguson may turn to Edwin van der Sar as United look to increase the pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea with a win over Burnley at Old Trafford. The United ‘stopper, who joined the squad’s warm weather Qatar training camp, is available following his wife’s recent illness and could take over from Tomasz Kuszczak in goal.

“We’ve had light at the end of the tunnel with Edwin coming back,” said Ferguson in his morning press conference at Carrington on Friday.

“He’s done well. He’s been out for a few weeks with his personal situation. It’s great to see him back and that experience, when he does come into the team, is very important. We’ll see him today and see how he feels but he’s trained every day and is doing well.”

Ferguson, who took his players on a short-notice trip to Qatar this week, confirmed that long-term injury victims Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves trained with the squad in the past last week.

Indeed, Ferguson, who must plan for upcoming matches against Manchester City in the Carling Cup and Arsenal in the Premier League, may spring a surprise and start both Ferdinand and van der Sar against Brian Laws’ men.

However, Dimitar Berbatov will need surgery on a knee injury, the Scot confirmed, which will take place in the summer.

“Dimitar doesn’t want an operation,” said Ferguson.

“Sometimes he feels the injury, other times he doesn’t. It might have been the warmer climes but he didn’t feel it at all in Qatar last week. We are just keeping an eye on it at present.”

Berbatov is available for the The Clarets’ visit and may start along with Wayne Rooney in a two-man attack against the team that inflicted United’s first defeat of the season in August. Meanwhile, Michael Owen will face competition from new recruit Mame Biram Diouf for a spot on an increasingly crowded bench.

In midfield Ferguson will base his selection on Wednesday’s Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester City, with Gabriel Obertan and Darron Gibson likely to play at Eastlands but not in the Premier League. Michael Carrick and Anderson may start in central midfield on Saturday with Darren Fletcher suspended after the Scot’s red card at Birmingham City last weekend.

New Burnley manager Brian Laws, sacked as coach of Championship strugglers Sheffield Wednesday in December, takes charge of his first game at Old Trafford. The surprise choice must do without defender Steven Caldwell and Chris McCann through injury. Andre Bikey is at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. Former United trainee Chris Eagles is fit and will play.

Burnley, who haven’t won in nine Premier League matches, visit Old Trafford just two points above the relegation zone after the departure of former manager Owen Coyle to Bolton Wanderers last week. But, says Laws, all the pressure is on United.

“The pressure has totally transferred on to Manchester United. They are having a sticky moment,” said Laws predictably.

“Burnley deserved the result at the start of the season and the whole country was delighted. It gave a realism back to football and this was what Burnley had been waiting for for 30 years.

“There’s no reason why they can’t go and do it again, everything is possible.”

United meanwhile must take full advantage of Chelsea’s recent dip in form if the team is to put any pressure on the leaders. United, just a point behind the Londoners with a game more played, can retake the Premier League summit should Carlo Ancelotti’s men stumble at home to Sunderland.

United’s humiliating defeat at Burnley on Wednesday night is not the beginning of a crisis for the club. Early in the season, with a rash of defensive injuries, shocks are unsurprising. Even defeats such as United’s to Burnley Wednesday night. Save for another defeat this coming weekend, the word crisis can be placed firmly on the shelf. But the Turf Moor game confirmed the suspicions of pre-season that United without Ronaldo lack creativity and penetration in attack. Indeed, if the team needs around 114 goals to match last season’s achievements, it seems unlikely to achieve it with the current personnel.

Worryingly, newly promoted Burnley, with barely a player worthy of United’s reserve team, didn’t even have to ‘park the bus’ in order to beat Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. Despite the away team’s superior possession, Burnley took the attack to United on the break  and looked consistently dangerous. All credit to them. For all United’s territorial advantage against the Turf Moor outfit, the team managed just four shots on target all night. One of those was Michael Carrick’s unsuccessful penalty.

Ferguson may be right in his assessment that United created enough chances to win the game but the team’s profligacy is a now recurring theme. Frankly, the chances created weren’t all that good anyway. Fans must hope that the 100 goals Ronaldo either scored or assisted in the past two seasons are not the difference between success and mediocrity.

But inherently Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Nani and Antonio Valencia are top class creative players; the goals should be flowing by now. Ferguson is right to say that the club has “a great group of players.” But the concern is that the team isn’t gelling in the way Sir Alex would have hoped. Shorn of Ronaldo, and tactically more predictable, United is a undeniably blunter force this season.

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Could it also be that the club’s forwards simply can’t work together? At international level Rooney and Michael Owen rarely clicked. At club level the evidence suggests that Rooney and Berbatov have failed to strike up a profitable relationship either. Meanwhile, it would be unfair on Valencia or Nani, talented though each is, to pretend that either can be the new Ronaldo.

Ferguson must also be concerned with Michael Owen’s likely success this season. Three competitive and seven pre-season matches on and Owen has scored only against the semi-professional teams on the Asian tour. Play him and the goals will come they say. The fans are still waiting.

Perhaps – most realistically – United is likely this season to be the ‘rigid’ team predicted by Darren Fletcher. Safety in defence is the team’s route to success this season. It’s a strategy that is being undermined by injuries, with Rio Ferdinand out for the next month, Johnny Evens in desperate need of an ankle operation and Nemanja Vidic only just returning to fitness. The Serb, who will play against Wigan at the weekend has no pre-season matches behind him. For the sake of a morale boosting victory against the Latics, fans will hope Vidic picks up the pace instantly.