Blackburn 0-0 Manchester United – as it happened!

Hello? Hello? Is there anybody there? I wish this ruddy mist of venom would clear up. I can barely see the keyboard. Stings something chronic too. As if the hayfever wasn't enough to worry about. Right, where's my antihistamines ... Ah, that's better. Venomous mists notwithstanding, United do have to pick themselves up from the disappointment of their midweek Champions League exit. Boucing back, though, is something of a trademark at Old Trafford. Blackburn did Sir Alex Ferguson's side a favour a few weeks ago by taking points off Chelsea, but they'll be hard pushed to match that result. The teams are in: Blackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Jones, Givet, Nzonzi, Grella, Emerton, Pedersen, Olsson, Kalinic. Subs: Brown, Nelsen, Dunn, Roberts, Andrews, Diouf, Di Santo. Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, O'Shea, Valencia, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Macheda. Subs: Kuszczak, Evra, Park, Jonathan Evans, Fletcher, Obertan, Gibson. Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) So interesting, interesting. Macheda and Berbatov up front for United, O'Shea in for Evra (who did look a little leggy in midweek) at left-back, Scholes and Giggs in for Carrick, Fletcher and Gibson in the middle. Perhaps the inclusion of Macheda suggests Ferguson has twigged that Berbatov doesn't possess the right attributes to play as a lone front man. That's also true of Nikola Kalinic but it won't stop Sam Allardyce asking the Croatian to plough a lone furrow in the Rovers attack at Ewood. Pre-match email dept: "Get off the fence and give us a final score prediction," writes Steve Tara. "You can be certain it won't be 0-2 because that's what I've guessed on Pick the Score." I've genuinely no idea. It depends whether Blackburn are up for it - they're sitting pipe-and-slippers comfortable in mid-table, but the prospect of denting the title hopes of their mid-90s rivals might just get them going and Rovers have only lost twice at home in the league this season. Even so I still reckon this'll be the third. Click-clack, click-clack ... Puff Daddy/P Diddy's Come With Me rumbles from the Ewood Tannoy as the teams emerge from the tunnel. Peep! Manchester United get us underway in bright sunshine. 1 min: "Typical media, Germans the lot of you," writes Chris Wright. "You misquoted Ferguson. He didn't say the press is blinded by 'a mist of venom'; he said it is blinded by 'the fug of envy'. Well, anyway, he said something about a 'fug of'. Nani goes down early on, free-kick to United on the halfway line. 2 min: Olsson crumbles to the turf after being blocked by Gary Neville as Blackburn pop a ball over the top. He made a meal - a proper Sunday lunch, roast beef, all the trimmings - of it. 4 min: "Clearly Sam Allardyce is aiming to replace Ferguson someday as Man United manager - why else rest three of his best players?" wonders Joe Gibson. Dunn, Nelsen and Diouf are all on the bench, but perhaps he was just looking for a little extra solidity in midfield? And Phil Jones has by all accounts been exceptional at the heart of the Rovers defence of late. 6 min: Berbatov, surging (!) down the right channel (!), is just offside as Macheda attempts to put him through. Robinson pumps the free-kick towards the United box, but it's plops out for a goal kick. 8 min: Another Blackburn free-kick in their own half and again Samba rumbles forward. He wins the flick on, the ball eventually comes out to Grella, who finds the big centre half at the back post, but his diving header is clasped by Van der Sar. 10 min: Neville finds Valencia, but his cross is behind the forwards. O'Shea then pings a ball over the top for Berbatov to run on to. Quite rightly the Bulgarian gives his team-mates both barrels and points to his feet. Instead of Berbatov on the back of his shirt, he should have 'LOOK, I'M NOT ROONEY'. United have to adapt their game to give him a chance. 11 min: Nani to Giggs, and his pull-back is just deflected away from the loitering Macheda. 12 min: Salgado has O'Shea's studs raked into his calf, giving Blackburn a dangerous free-kick on the right. Pedersen swings it in ... 13 min: ... but United clear with some aplomb. 15 min: Little venom, misty or otherwise, from either side yet. They're both stuck in the drizzle of slugishness at the moment. Giggs breaks away, though, his pass finds Nani whose cross is nodded away for a corner. Vidic can't get a clean header on it, but Kalinic can't make the most of the breakaway. 17 min: "I notice the Guardian has already decided that this game will be a draw. Check out this! " wails John Martin. That'll be because our table updates live, which is actually pretty nifty. 19 min: United are certainly getting on top of things here, with Blackburn struggling to get hold of the ball in any area of the field. The visitors are hardly carving Rovers open though. This could get very attritional. 21 min: Nani finds acres of space fown the left, but his delayed cross meets only a diving Blackburn head. 22 min: Olsson drifts inside from the left to cause a few problems and Blackburn win a throw that Pederson launches loooonnnnngggg ... with Samba again up from the back it sparks a bit of a scramble but no one can quite get a clean shot on it. 23 min: Salgado goes in the book for hacking down Nani. 25 min: The best move of the match nearly brings the opening goal. Valencia, Macheda and Berbatov combine beautifully down the right and the Ecuadorian is through on goal. It's a tight angle but a great hit which Robinson does very well to block at his near post. 27 min: More nice stuff from United, with Berbatov dropping away from the Rovers back four to pick up possession and almost finding Macheda with a poked through-ball. 28 min: Giggs volleys low across goal and Givet does well to clear at the back post. Corner to United ... 29 min: ... which eventually finds its way tro Nani on the edge of the area. The Portguese's shot shoots off into orbit somewhere above Darwen. 30 min: Another corner, cleared by Rovers, but the ball just isn;t sticking up front and they are quickly on the back foot once more. 32 min: And another corner, but first Samba, who has been Rovers' best attacking weapon so far (though that's a bit like being the best sandwich in a train's buffet car), hobbles off to be replaced by Nelsen. 34 min: Again Blackburn clear, but a minute late Berbatov crumples under pressure from Nelsen. Would've been a penalty softer than Mr Soft's soft underbelly but you do indeed, as the cliche goes, see them given. 37 min: "As you are a gentleman of the press I was wondering how you protect yourself from Lord Ferg's mist of venom?" writes Neil Macknish. "Big, plastic, 'A' Level science goggles? A mongoose down your trouser leg? Kryptonite?" I tend to use a beekeepers outfit. Scholes and Grella exchange words as the latter goes down pretty easily under the former's tackle. No booking. 39 min: This is pretty dire fayre at the moment. Rovers have simply no idea how to break United down in open play. United's final ball has been abysmal thus far. 41 min: Olsson, probably Blackburn's best outlet so far, tumbles under Nani's challenge allowing the home side to pump another halfwayline free-kick into the box. Again, United clear with little fuss. 42 min: Superb save from Robinson! Valencia is put clean through by Berbatov and this time he's central. You'd stick the mortgage on him putting United ahead, but Robinson makes himself big and pulls off a tremendous block. 44 min: "I completely agree with you're opening statement that 'Stings something chronic too,'" writes Ian Copestake, "but don't let the truth about hypocritical songsters fall prey to non-apostrophe usage." Replays of that Valencia chance - which is really should habe stuck away - show a brilliant double-armed flap of annoyance from Ferguson in the technical area. Peep! Referee Walton brings a pretty torpid first half to an end. Half-time emails dept: "Berbatov is a cut above everyone on the pitch in terms of control and passing," writes Bill Booth. "The ball just sticks to his feet and his distribution is beautiful to watch. Almost all the promising moves which have broken down did so because someone Berba passed to has a poor first touch. Do they not do close control drills any more?" "'Mist of Venom' apart from sounding like a good name for a rock band, pretty much sums up why those of us who dislike SAF take that view," writes Gary Naylor. "Mist obscures vision - a good metaphor for SAF's one-eyed view of any contentious refereeing decision in a defeat; and venom is a poison that induces heart failure - and plenty of officials and opponents have lacked heart when confronted by SAF. This is why he was so unhappy about 'typical Germans' getting at the officials - he knows that tactic works." And here's Eamonn Maloney: "Ian Copestake cracking a fine grammar-based gag then using the wrong your/you re is a bit like...oh, I can t think of a good analogy, I just wanted to point that out." Peep! David Dunn replaces Brett Emerton for Blackburn and Rovers get the second half of this shindig underway. 46 min: Dunn makes a fine first impression, finding NZonzi on the edge of the box. He taps back to Pedersen, whose howizter effort is blocked by Vidic. 48 min: Rio Ferdinand's finger is at an extremely strange angle - 90 degrees, I'd say - following a challenge with Olsson. They should be able to pop it back in and strap it up, but it looks pretty painful. 50 min: Kalinic wriggles his way to a free-kick on halfway. Robinson takes long ... 51 min: ... and despite N'Zonzi winning the header United smuggle the ball awayy. 52 min: "Not sure if 'mist of venom' is exactly right," writes Pete Gay. "Given SAF's accent he could have been saying 'Midst of your venom", in which case, if you are not a venomous journalist, you can put away the hayfever pills." Believe me, if the wheezy time endured last night is any marker, I most definitely cannot put the hayfever pills away. 53 min: Blackburn have started this half rather well, denying United the oxygen of possession. The threat level is hardly Def Com III, but still. 55 min: "I went to school with a girl called Misty Venom." No you didn't Ross Peters, but carry on. "Do you think Sir Alex might have been referring to her?" Now I think about it, I'd say almost certainly. Nani wastes a decent position from the right. He's been very poor so far today. 56 min: Dunn has made a bit of a difference - he's added a bit of composure to the Blackburn midfield. Ferguson responds by sending on Darron Gibson for Giggs. Nani and the anonymous Macheda will do well to finish this game too. 58 min: Robinson again pumps in a set piece, Nelsen flicks on but the ball drops gently a couple of yards wide. At the other end, Nani wins a corner ... 59 min: ... headed forcefully away by Pedersen. As their entire strategy today is based around set pieces, Allardyce would be rightly furious were they to concede from one. 60 min: United win a free-kick maybe 30 yards from goal, perhaps a tad more. Nani is ready to apply his lilac boots to the task ... and he's chipped it two yards over. From that distance he had a great chance to get it up and down. 62 min: As Seal once said, time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future, and United have just half an hour to find a goal. They won't get one like that - Gibson, with his famed jackhammer of a right foot, skewing horribly wide. 64 min: While the first half was insipid, there's a real edge to this now. The quality isn't much better but at least there's a frisson of tension. To no one's great surprise, Macheda makes way for Park. An intriguing one - Berbatov all alone up front now. He's actually been very good in open play when dropping deep, but is he now going to have to change his game? 66 min: Hugely dangerous free-kick to United ... 67 min: ... and that's a quite excellent bit of defending from 18-year-old Phil Jones. Nani's cross was porrly met by N'Zonzi, whose header dropped straight to Berbatov. His shot was goalbound but Jones was there to make a superb block. Gibson, just as he did a few moments ago, skews wide from the rebound. 68 min: "Re. Time keeps on ticking," writes Peter Kozak. "Actually John, it wasn't Seal that said that, rather the Steve Miller Band about 20 years before... just to put your rock references straight and all that ..." I'm sure Seal did say it at some point, though. 69 min: Neville picks up a deserved booking for clattering into Olsson, who is then replaced by the blond-mohicanned El-Hadji Diouf. 71 min: Berbatov attempts to get round Givet at full back and gets a bit of a battering for his troubles. Ferdinand then has his foot up on Kalinic, but escapes a booking. 73 min: Yes, yes, apologies. The Steve Miller Band did 'Fly Like An Eagle' a long time before Seal. I stand corrected. And educated. Now please stop emailing to tell me. Three penalty appeals: Valencia calls for a tug, Park tumbles on the edge of the box and Berbatov is squeezed out by two centre backs. None given, all correctly. 76 min: And it was slipping, not ticking, OK, OK. Flippin Steve Miller militants the lot of you. Meanwhile at Ewood there's a growing desperation about United. Blackburn are handling the pressure superbly at the moment, and they've even got a corner after Ferdinand needlessly thumps the ball out of play ... 77 min: ... headed away, but there was a foul on Van der Sar. O'Shea seems to have picked up a knock, so Evra is United's third and final substitute. 79 min: Loose pass from Scholes on the edge of the Blackburn box typifies his day, really. It's not been vintage stuff from the veteran midfielder. 80 min: And literally as I'm typing 'It's not been vintage stuff from the veteran midfielder' Scholes comes up with the pass of the game, picking out Neville at the back post. He nopds back and Berbatov has to pull the trigger straight away. It's hardly a sitter, but he really should have done better than put it straight down Robinson's throat. 82 min: "Don't think Fly Like an Eagle is an appropriate theme tune for United today," writes Justin Kavanagh. "Maybe Duck Rock by the late Mr McLaren? Or Play Misty for Me, just to wind the empurpled Lord up?" Berbatov gets another chance, again he has to take it first time, but this time he's slapped the shot well wide from the edge of the box. 83 min: Park has had more of the ball in the past 10 minutes than Macheda managed in the previous hour. Blackburn just can't get the thing cleared at the moment ... 84 min: ... on the break, though, Kalinic finds Diouf and he blasts a shot against Vidic. Ferdinand is hobbling badly - looks like a groin problem and United have used all their subs. 85 min: A huge cheer comes from the home terraces as Berbatov fails to keep his feet in the centre circle. Five minutes for United to save their season? 86 min: With Ferdinand little more than a spectator now, Gibson is booked for a trip on Kalinic. Free-kick to Blackburn 35 yards out ... 87 min: ... What a chance! With Ferdinand left up front on his own, Blackburn cause havoc from the free-kick. Givet wastes one good position, but the ball drops to N'Zonzi and it takes a fantastic Gary Neville block to deny the Rovers midfielder. 89 min: "There's only one possible way to enjoy this rubbish contest, and that's being an Arsenal fan. Fortunately for me, I am," writes Dominic Knight. "Well, I suppose you could enjoy it being a Chelsea fan too, if the self-loathing didn't make it impossible to truly derive enjoyment from anything when you support a club captained by John Terry." More superb defending from Blackburn denies United as the Reds flood forward. 90+1 min: Four added minutes to play and the first one ticks by after Nani dinks a pass straight into the arms of Robinson. 90+3 min: Half-chance for Neville - dragged a yard wide on the half volley. Scholes had gone down looking for a penalty, but again there was nothing doing. Peep! It's all over! To the joy of Arsenal and Chelsea, Blackburn have held out for a point. Post-match analysis: It wasn't much of a spectacle, but it could prove crucial in the grand scheme of things. Still, Chelsea have to press their advantage home in midweek ... Thanks for all your emails as always. Cheerio!