P: Portsmouth 2 - 1 United
Taylor (30); Ferdinand o.g. (89) / O’Shea (90)
Telegraph : Sir Alex Ferguson has suffered some of the most humiliating defeats of his Manchester United career down on the South Coast. Remember the 6-3 thumping by Southampton at the old Dell, where they regularly got turned over and where Fergie blamed another thrashing on his team’s grey shirts?
But nothing will have left him more wounded than this unexpected defeat in the old naval headquarters of Portsmouth, remarkably their third in four visits to Fratton Park, which might just have holed his Premiership title hopes below the water line.
It was a title that many had begun to believe was the old man’s destiny.
Now Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will feel it his and that, once again, the title race has taken a decisive turn over the Easter weekend. For weeks, Chelsea have played under the pressure of having to match United results earlier in the day or 24 hours earlier, yet the first time the roles were reversed, United worryingly failed to respond.
United met nothing but fierce resistance from the heart of oak Pompey players and did not display enough of their own until it was too late.
Now it is Fergie who has to issue the command of steady, boys, steady, to a side whose season could be on the brink of imploding. One day, you can be dreaming of the treble, the next standing by an empty trophy cabinet wondering where it all went wrong. Just ask Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Chelsea’s Mourinho said last week that he was sure United would slip up in the title race, predicting that they would “lose three points to Chelsea and three to the moon.”
Well this defeat, against a team who had only won one of their previous 10, was such a shock that it was a surprise there was not a lunar eclipse over this ramshackle old stadium at the final whistle.
The smallest of consolations for United lies in the goals for and against column that shows them with a vastly superior goal difference to Chelsea, which means that even if they lose at Stamford Bridge in the penultimate game of the season, they can hang on to take the title by the equivalent of a photo finish. But unless Ferguson can revive a side looking as though this long, hard season is finally beginning to take its toll on them, they could be out of it before their trip to West London.
Despite an excitingly contested second half, United never recovered from conceding a first half goal that was as much the product of tired minds as much as weary legs. A long throw in was allowed to reach Benjani on the edge of the penalty box and when Edwin Van Der Sar failed to hold his shot, Matthew Taylor got in front of the sleeping Rio Ferdinand.
With their Champions League quarter-final against Roma also on a knife edge and an FA Cup semi-final against Watford on Sunday, Ferguson felt forced to play the dangerous game of rotation. Dangerous because when you take out men of the pedigree and class of Ryan Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to entrust your title life to Darren Fletcher and Kieran Richardson, lightweight is not the word. Flyweight more like it.
When Richardson failed to read or control a long ball from Michael Carrick, minutes after Fletcher had stabbed a Rooney-created chance straight at David James, Giggs and Solkskjaer were both sent out to warm up. The hapless Richardson was replaced by Giggs at half time and Fletcher lasted only another 13 minutes before giving way to Solskjaer.
Ferguson said: “It’s always difficult coming off a European tie and we played with 10 men for an hour on Wednesday and that perhaps caught up with us here. The lads have shown character all season and I expect them to recover now. We’re still ahead by three goals with a better goal difference and we would possibly have accepted that at the start of the season.”
You could sense the eagerness with which United continually tried to work the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo, the way Arsenal always used to look to Thierry Henry. But Wayne Rooney, who should have been booked for a first half dive, had the ball stolen off him by Leroy Primus when in a perfect scoring position.
The chances kept flowing at either end after the break before Ferdinand rolled a back pass past Van Der Sar with a minute to go. Still there was time for more drama, John O’Shea scoring after a fumble by James from Ronaldo’s shot and Solskjaer, the man who specialises in injury time goals, firing another chance over the top. Then, right on the whistle, James redeemed himself with a great save from substitute Alan Smith.
TEAM
United: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Brown, Ferdinand, Heinze; Fletcher (Solskjaer, 59), Carrick (Smith, 77), Scholes, Richardson (Giggs, 46), Rooney, Ronaldo.
Subs: Kuszczak, Evra.
POST SCRIPT
Sir Alex: “These things happen. It’s come at a bad time maybe but the players have shown their character all season and I expect us to recover now. With six games to go we’re three points ahead with better goal difference. If you’d asked at the start of the season if I’d have taken that position I’d have snatched it.
“We’re a little bit stretched in terms of playing the young players all the time but I’ve got the benefit of an FA Cup tie next weekend and a 10 day break from the league programme, which is probably at the right time for us.
“An away game after a European game is always difficult at the best of times,” he said. “I think playing for an hour with 10 men on Wednesday has caught us today.
“In fairness to our lads the second half, in particular the first 20 minutes of the second half, they were fantastic. We had opportunities, their goalkeeper’s had two or three excellent saves. I can’t fault the effort, it was fantastic.
“We’ve no complaints. They fought very hard, it was probably the best they’ve been for a long time. We have to accept that coming away from a European tie, teams are going to do that. It is difficult but the travelling and playing with 10 men told today.”"
Harry Redknapp : “Today was a good day against a great Manchester United side. They are a fantastic team, play some great football and have had a great season. The championship is still there to be won for them. They have still got the advantage but Chelsea won’t give up and it will be a great end to the season.”
