THE OBSERVER - PEDERSEN PUSHES UNITED BACK INTO THE PACK
No Roy Keane, no Gary Neville, no Gabriel Heinze. More to the point: nothing to convince anyone that the Premiership title will be heading to Old Trafford this season. Where Chelsea are able consistently to sneak victory, United can only create and miss. Here they struggled until Wayne Rooney was, finally, introduced. But even then Blackburn were just far better at converting - as Morten Gamst Pedersen's 81st-minute winner proved.
With no goals since Ruud van Nistelrooy's strike in the Manchester derby a fortnight ago it was no surprise that Sir Alex Ferguson should, in his programme notes, have a grumble at referees, reckoning they had ignored 'five decent penalty claims so far this season'. Yet, when he stated that this lack of boldness from officials was partly responsible for the current Premiership malaise and then left Rooney on the bench, he seemed to indicate his own reluctance to take the initiative.
His decision looked even more questionable by half-time. United might have scored five, but lacked conviction. Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Alan Smith and Van Nistelrooy all had chances in an entertaining opening half-hour. But after the Holland striker missed the easiest - a blast over after 21 minutes - his side began to look clumsy.
And then Blackburn scored. Edwin van der Sar had looked safe in United's goal, with one outstanding point-blank parry from Paul Dickov's header moments before Van Nistelrooy's miss. But when Pedersen swung in a free-kick after 32 minutes a host of United defenders failed to clear and the Dutch keeper was left stationary and watching the ball roll into the net.
THE INDEPENDENT - PEDERSEN PUNCTURES UNITED'S AMBITIONS
Paul Scholes had put it simply. If Manchester United did not win this match they could kiss goodbye to the Premiership. This morning, with Chelsea a distant 10 points ahead at the top of the table, there will be few who disagree.
It was Scholes who proved to be the agent of United's downfall yesterday, making the error that led to Blackburn Rovers' first win at Old Trafford for 43 years. A man who rarely talks to the press, you can safely assume Scholes is now regretting going into the prediction game.
With the Old Trafford crowd demanding a change in tactics from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 and imploring the team to "attack", Scholes attempted to make a dangerous pass across his area only to see Michael Gray nip the ball away from Alan Smith nine minutes from time. A pass to Morten Gamst Pedersen and a sharp shot into the top corner, and United's title hopes appear to be in tatters.
If that was not bad enough for Sir Alex Ferguson, the Theatre of Dreams turned into a manager's nightmare. The crowd demanded the introduction of Wayne Rooney, the abandonment of the 4-5-1 formation and, at the end, the United players and the coaching staff were booed from the field.
Ferguson left Rooney on the bench for 55 minutes and it was only when the England striker came on as a substitute that United properly threatened Blackburn. His intervention led to an equaliser for Ruud Van Nistelrooy, but by the end even Rooney had been eclipsed by Pedersen and his two goals. The young Norwegian is a United supporter.
THE SUNDAY TIMES - FERGUSON GETS BOOED AS ROVERS STEAL WIN
The most significant moment was not, perhaps, Morten Gamst Pedersen’s late winner, though it confirmed Chelsea’s grip on the title, and it may not have even been the outbreak of booing that accompanied Sir Alex Ferguson down the tunnel.
Ferguson has not heard that noise in more than 15 years at Old Trafford and revolutions always have a starting point. Did one occur yesterday, just before half-time, when Manchester United trailed Blackburn 1-0?
A chant went up around the stadium of "4-4-2!" The protest, superficially, was against Ferguson’s decision to rest Wayne Rooney and once again deploy a single striker, but it seemed to go deeper, to the heart of the managerial regime. Since Ferguson teamed up with Carlos Queiroz the pair have been operating a single striker system and altering United’s traditional, buccaneering nature.
Apart from a few glorious months in 2003, when Arsenal were mugged of a League title, United’s pattern has been fewer goals conceded, fewer scored and fewer tangible achievements. Last season was excused as being transitional but now the supporters have had enough of living in the shadows of first Arsenal and now Chelsea and yesterday, for the first time, Ferguson was directly to blame.
Ferguson, who refused to even speak to MUTV afterwards but did offer some quotes to a club radio station, blamed the container-load of chances United missed in the first half, but was gracious enough to concede Blackburn deserved their reward. Playing good breakaway football — and with two strikers — this was their first win at Old Trafford since 1962.
Ferguson will have taken no pleasure in being proved right about Craig Bellamy, whose abilities he admires. Blackburn arrived without a goal in six hours and 19 minutes of football and Bellamy, fit again finally, turned them into an attacking force. Yet Pedersen did the ultimate damage. He scored Blackburn’s first with a free kick which rendered a former nickname the "Norwegian David Beckham" a little more credible.
"It was a terrible blow to lose," admitted Ferguson. "I’m concerned at the gap [on Chelsea] but the most important thing is to get back on track."
He referred to United’s first-half attacking. An irony of the fans’ complaints is they were voiced at a time when their team were playing with greater abandon than in months and, using Ferguson’s 4-3-3 formation, with Scholes supporting Van Nistelrooy and the wide players giving penetration, creating chance after chance. During the week Ferguson said he missed United’s "kamikaze streak." Dropping Rooney may have seemed a kamikaze act but there was a rationale: the youngster had been jaded against Liverpool and is suspended for Tuesday’s clash with Benfica.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH - ANGRY SUPPORTERS TURN ON FERGUSON
Boring, eh? Not when we get matches like this. Manchester United's supporters may not have enjoyed it, but Blackburn and the rest of football relished the spectacle.
Two goals from the lethal left foot of Morten Ganst Pedersen gave Blackburn their first win here since Bobby Charlton had a decent head of hair.
The exclusion of Rooney seemed especially baffling since he will be unavailable for United's Champions League match against Benfica on Tuesday through suspension. Perhaps Ferguson was trying out his intended line-up to face the Portuguese, perhaps he was reluctant to expose his volatile young striker to potential conflict with Blackburn's more notorious elements.
Whatever the motive, bemusement turned to anger among the natives when United went a goal down. Chants of "Rooney, Rooney" and "4-4-2" assailed the glum-faced knight. He would doubtless have settled for the quiet, dour 1-0 win many predicted. Instead United became embroiled in a painful scrap, the two sides trading blows before Blackburn prevailed.
The fans vented their displeasure again at the end, booing and jeering Ferguson as he sought the sanctuary of the dressing room.