MUGGED!

 

Well, the last time United faced Burnley was in what was a Worthington Cup tie in 02/03 and before that, what would have been a Milk Cup tie in 1984/85. The last time the two sides met in the top flight, Tommy Docherty was the United manager and a guy called Jimmy Adamson was his opposite number at Turf Moor. Alex Stepney, Martin Buchan, Sammy McIllroy and Lou Macari were wearing United red at the time and they went on to do the double over the Clarets that season, winning 2-1 at Old Trafford before grabbing a 1-0 win at Turf Moor. United were certainly in the title mixer that season which was pretty impressive given that they'd just got promoted.

Fast forward a few decades and after an impressive Carling Cup run, Owen Coyle led Burnley to victory in the Championship playoffs. Losing their first game of this season against Stoke was a bit of a wake up call though. However, United visiting Turf Moor for a Premiership match meant that the Burnley fans were still in dreamland. United started with O'Shea at right back, Evans and Brown central defence, Park right mid, Carrick and Giggsy(captain) in central defence, Anderson left mid, Rooney and Owen(first competitive start for United) up front. Not our best lineup but surely enough to see off the Premiership new boys, despite the atmosphere.

However, said new boys clearly had other ideas. That was no excuse for our defenders not being able to deal with them though but still, in the 19th minute Stephen Jordan crossed to Robbie Blake to score Burnley's first top flight goal in the Premiership era. In theory we should have been able to strike back immediately but the men in red clearly didn't have their shooting boots on and the game looked to be turning into one of those twilight zone matches. Just before half time came a United penalty, our best opportunity for an equaliser. And yet the shot was weak and the ball saved easilly. Fergie's job at half time? Get the players' heads straight.

When the second half came though, United just couldn't shoot straight and there was no obvious reason for such bad form. Burnley were just soaking us up despite being way out of their depth in theory. Park had a fair attempt on goal but rediculously we looked to be running out of fuel already. Fresh legs were brought on yet there was already a sense of doom from a United point of view. For whatever reason, there was no way we were going to be winning this match. The Burnley defence held firm for what was for them a historic victory. For United, well, it's not the first time we've been mugged by the new guys but it has to be our worst defeat for several years.

Elsewhere, Birmingham faced Portsmouth at St Andrews. Brum had the first chance of the game but it was Pompey that went on to have the slight edge in the first half though most of their chances weren't anything that Brum couldn't handle. Brum started to turn up the heat in the second half but the Pompey defence and goalie looked good enough to earn their side a draw. That was untill James McFadden scored a Brum penalty just before the final whistle to win the game. That drops United to 10th in the Premiership, level on points with City and European football but with with a -2 goal difference deficit and City also have a game in hand while being three points ahead of Portsmouth and relegation.

The Champions League playoffs 1st leg matches were also taking place and Celtic faced Arsenal at Celtic Park. William Gallas opened the scoring for the Gunners just before half time despite the Celts giving the visitors from south of the border quite a match. Gary Caldwell putting the ball in his own net just showed how bad the SPL side's luck got. Arsenal were able to cruise their way to the finish from there and the Celtic fans had to give credit where credit's due. They also have to accept that their side are probably out of it, barring a miracle. It looks like I seriously underestimated the Gunners for this tie and chances are, they've wrapped up a spot in the group stages.

Going down a level, the Europa League playoffs also took place. Rapid Vienna beat Villa 1-0 at the Garhard-Hannappi Stadion(the tie's still too close to call but Villa fans aren't happy). Everton beat Sigma Olomouc 4-0 at Goodison Park to pretty much wrap that tie up already. Fulham beat Amkar Perm 3-1 at Craven Cottage in what was a very good result for team that doesn't have much history in European competition, they can book a spot in the group stages. Dinamo Zagreb then beat Hearts 4-0 at the Maksimir Stadion. It was an absolute anhiliation for the SPL side and writes off the chances of the Jambos getting any further in the competition.

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