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Bruce must have been disappointed that he was unable to field anything near a full strength side for his return to the ground where he won everything there is to win in the English game with Manchester United. Darren Purse's continued absence, in addition to Steve Vickers' ankle injury courtesy of Master Rooney, meant 17 year old Matt Sadler was really thrown into the cauldron for only his second Premiership appearance, and only his third first team experience - after all, he only had England captain and one of the world's most renowned players in David Beckham to keep him occupied all afternoon. As a consequence of Sadler's inclusion, Michael Johnson moved into the centre to replace Vickers. Stan Lazaridis returned to the side for the (surprise, surprise) injured Damien Johnson, whilst Clinton Morrison was recalled to the attack in Geoff Horsfield's place.
Blues started the game fairly well, winning a couple of early corners, and seeing in-form Jovan Kirovski having a free-kick blocked before Robbie Savage's follow up suffered the same fate. Aliou Cisse and Paul Devlin also fired shots in - though with not much accuracy. However, when your opponents are Manchester United, you are going to struggle to keep them at bay for long, and sure enough, midway through the opening period, the home side began to dominate. With Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron beginning to take control, and Paul Scholes finding plenty of space in behind Jeff Kenna, Blues began to live dangerously, with Rio Ferdinand twice going close - denied on one occasion by a superb Nico Vaesen save. Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, John O'Shea and Diego Forlan also went close as United piled on the pressure.
After 37 minutes, the home side finally got their breakthrough. Ironically, it came from a Blues break, when Sadler appeared to be unfairly bundled over by Ferdinand. Referee Mike Dean didn't agree however, and United streamed forwards. Scholes - occupying a left wing berth in place of Ryan Giggs - floated a deep cross which Beckham headed back across goal for Uruguayan Forlan to blast home from close range. Beckham clearly enjoyed the moment, taunting the Blues fans in celebration, which is fair enough considering the travelling fans had given as good as they had got earlier on.
United continued to press for a second prior to the interval, but Blues were able to hang on for the half time whistle, and had certainly done themselves proud considering the current injury crisis. Whilst United had come on strong later on in the half, the visitors had shown they were able to compete, with Savage and Cisse particularly up for the battle with Roy Keane in the middle.
Blues made a tactical switch early in the second half, with Horsfield coming on for Lazaridis. Kirovski switched to the wide left role, but with licence to roam, whilst Horsfield joined Morrison in attack. Horsfield wasted little time in getting involved, immediately causing Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown more problems in 5 minutes than they had encountered throughout the first half. It was a foul on Horsfield which led to a free-kick, delivered well by Devlin, that led to Blues first true test for Fabien Barthez, as Kirovski rose well, and directed a header goalwards that was expertly stopped by the Frenchman, with Morrison unable to convert the rebound.
Things began to get worse for Blues, however, when the inspirational Kenny Cunningham had to limp off - worrying with Leeds United just 4 days away - to be replaced by Darryl Powell. Slightly confusingly, rather than slotting Powell or Cisse into the centre of defence, Bruce opted to use Horsfield as a centre back. I say that this is confusing because Horsfield had been playing well in his brief spell up front, and seemed far less suited to marking the likes of Forlan and Solsjkaer than Cisse - who played as a central defender in the World Cup.
It was Blues who created another excellent chance however, when the impressive Kirovski did well to cross a ball into the centre, and Cisse rose well, but really shouldn't have given Barthez a chance to save it from just 6 yards out. However, he did, and Barthez did - expertly again - and via the post, Blues only reward was another corner. Blues were beginning to realise it wasn't their day.
United got the decisive, and deserved, second goal on 73 minutes, through Beckham. Veron played the ball through, and whilst Beckham appeared to be offside, there were no complaints from the Blues players, and it looked as though Horsfield may have played him on. Beckham didn't worry himself with such trivialities, sending a superb lob over Vaesen - who had begun to advance, then to retreat - to make it 2-0, and condemn Blues to only their second defeat in 8 games.
To make matters worse for Blues, however, Sadler - who had acquitted himself magnificently - was also forced to limp off, to be replaced by Curtis Woodhouse. This left a back four of Kenna, Horsfield, Johnson and Woodhouse to cope with the likes of Beckham, Veron, Scholes, Giggs, Forlan and Solskjaer - not to mention excellent youngster Keiran Richardson. Such a back four would struggle against a Stockport County front-line, so to hold out for the remaining quarter of an hour against Manchester United really was a credit.
In truth, much like Arsenal on the first day of the season, this was a good day out, with nothing expected, and anything gained a huge bonus. At Anfield we got such a bonus, but at Old Trafford today, Blues came up against a United side smarting from two consecutive defeats, and determined to make amends. Some of the movement from United's front six at times was frightening, and it's hard enough for the best defences in Europe to cope with them when they click like that, so for the likes of Sadler, Horsfield and Woodhouse to do 'ok' really wasn't so bad after all. The one fear is this mounting injury crisis. Luckily, both Cunningham and Sadler looked as though they were withdrawn as safety precautions with wednesday's trip to Elland Road in mind. Let's hope so anyway, otherwise I might have to clean my old New Balance boots and get on the phone to Steve Bruce... there can't be many more defensive options left.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Vaesen - Faultless for goal one, exposed for goal two, otherwise assured
Kenna - Struggled against Scholes first half - got better
Sadler - Excellent, considering
Cunningham - Not quite his usual self, but we need him, so let's hope he recovers
Johnson - Very good, threw himself at balls and made several good headers and tackles
Devlin - Disappointing, seemed to lack belief
Lazaridis - Only really tried to get at O'Shea once
Cisse - Reasonable, made some excellent midfield challenges
Savage - Relished battle with Keane, and did well
Kirovski - Impressive, and showed he has certain qualities that we've lacked
Morrison - Poor first half, better and more willing to work in the second
SUBS:
Horsfield - Excellent up front, adequate but a little unsure at the back
Powell - Tried his best, and should get an extended contract
Woodhouse - Coped well considering, made one vital last ditch tackle on Beckham