Manchester United vs. Blackburn Rovers: Rating United Players in Shock Defeat

A Dimitar Berbatov brace was not enough to spare Manchester United's blushes as they suffered a shock defeat to the Premier League's bottom side Blackburn Rovers on Alex Ferguson's 70th birthday—and we've got the United players' ratings right here.

Though the end result was 3-2 to the away side, United in truth didn't really do an awful lot wrong as they dominated play and possession for large spells, but were unable to make their advantage count when it mattered.

Rovers took the lead against the run of play through a Yakubu penalty after Berbatov had felled Chris Samba in the box.

The portly Nigerian forward added a solo second soon after the break, before Berbatov himself added to his hat trick in his last game with a well-taken brace in ten minutes.

The expected onslaught to grab a winner never materialised from Manchester United though, leaving Rovers to nick the points with a Grant Hanley header ten minutes from full time.

For all Manchester United's good possession and approach play there was all too frequently a lack of quality with the final ball, particularly from wide areas, and considering they had very little defending to do, they did remarkably well to concede three goals.

Goalkeeper: David De Gea

After finding himself on the subs bench for the past two league fixtures, in which Anders Lindegaard kept two clean sheets, David de Gea returned to the starting eleven for this comfortable-looking fixture against the bottom side of the Premier League.

Following his less-than-impressive display in the defeat, the Spanish stopper may well find himself benched again for Manchester United's next game, away to Newcastle.

Though he had very little to do, save for a few goal kicks, in the opening quarter of an hour of the match, de Gea found himself picking the ball out of the back of his net when Yakubu calmly sent him the wrong way from the penalty spot.

If there was no blame attached to de Gea for the opening strike, the second and third goals were a different matter.

He too easily let Yakubu beat him again for the second goal, this time powering a drive through the 'keeper's legs, before—not for the first time in the game—de Gea flapped unconvincingly at a corner, getting no purchase on the high ball and being beaten in the air by Grant Hanley, who headed home the winner.

David de Gea: 3 / 10

Full-Backs: Antonio Valencia and Patrice Evra

Defensive illnesses and injuries led to Alex Ferguson into fielding two midfielders in defence, with winger Antonio Valencia taking up a right-back position.

Captain Patrice Evra played in his usual role on the left side, but you wouldn't know which player was out of their natural environment judging by this game.

Evra was absolutely dire in defence, twice cheaply losing possession in dangerous areas.

On the first occasion he was punished as team-mate Dimitar Berbatov gave away the opening penalty directly from the free-kick Evra caused by tripping Ruben Rochina after he lost the ball, while later on Mauro Formica robbed the French full-back and almost set Rovers on their way to another goal.

In attack Evra was more effective, over-lapping with good intent and able to send a string of crosses over, though end product was nowhere near in plentiful supply.

Valencia raided the right wing with regularity in the first half as he was afforded a lot of open space ahead of him with United dominating, but faded out of the game later on after moving forward into midfield.

Antonio Valencia: 7 / 10

Patrice Evra: 5 / 10

Central Defenders: Michael Carrick and Phil Jones

Missing Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Johnny Evans and Chris Smalling, Alex Ferguson decided to play a potential midfield partnership in defence against Blackburn, with Michael Carrick continuing in the centre alongside Phil Jones who returned from injury.

In the first half they had very little to do in defence as United dominated play, and both were able to range forward a number of times to make up the numbers in midfield.

However, on the one occasion they were really asked to defend well in the second half, they both came up wanting.

Carrick was unable to put in a strong challenge to see off Yakubu, who then blazed past Jones as if he wasn't there before finishing to put Rovers 2-0 up.

Jones was more assertive going forward after that, but neither had a major positive impact in the final third.

Late on Grant Hanley was able to rise above United's entire defence to head home the winning goal from the corner.

Michael Carrick: 6 / 10

Phil Jones: 6 / 10

Central Midfield: Rafael Da Silva and Ji-Sung Park

Against the brute force of the likes of Steve N'Zonzi, your smallest midfielder and an out-of-position right-back are probably not who you want to face Blackburn in midfield.

However, Alex Ferguson selected that duo to play centrally from the start, though at the break he introduced Anderson to give a bit more balance and technical quality on the ball.

Neither player were really able to get involved in the game, though in the first half Park made a lot of good running and tried to open up Blackburn through the middle.

A few shots from distance were the best he could muster, all easily blocked, though he was involved in the build-up to Berbatov's first goal.

Rafael moved to right-back in the second period and was more comfortable, but he is also returning from an injury lay-off so could be excused for not being at full pelt.

Ji-Sung Park: 7 / 10

Rafael da Silva: 6 / 10

Wide Midfielders: Nani and Danny Welbeck

For about an hour of the game between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers it seemed that Nani had a particular problem with somebody in the crowd sat high behind one of the goals, and he was determined to hit them with the ball.

His continued long-range efforts flew off target, off target, off target.

Worse, his crossing was uneven at best and wild at worst as he consistently over-hit or under-hit his centres.

Eventually he did get his aim right and found a couple of team-mates with balls into the middle and corners, but it must have taken him at least ten to get it right and he was becoming visibly frustrated with himself.

On the opposite flank Danny Welbeck struggled to get in the game in the first half and was moved up front in the second period, where he looked more dangerous.

He never really threatened the goal, however, and was probably only not withdrawn as there was nobody else on the bench to take his place.

Nani: 5 / 10

Danny Welbeck: 6 / 10

Forwards: Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov

Considering he has scored five goals in his past two appearances after being ignored by his manager for much of the season prior to that, Dimitar Berbatov doesn't really have the look of a man who is happy with his game.

Bizarrely, considering he scored twice against Blackburn, he didn't really have a good game and was unable to be the creative force Manchester United needed him to be.

He struggled to make use of space in front of the defence when things got crowded in the box, and compounded his early misery by giving away the penalty which led to the first goal—and was lucky not to be similarly punished soon after for a replica offence.

However, the Bulgarian did plunder two opportunistic strikes to drag his team back onto level terms within ten second half minutes, though it was ultimately to no avail.

Javier Hernandez had a very quiet first half, shooting wide from the edge of the area in his only real attacking involvement, before being withdrawn at the break.

Javier Hernandez: 6 / 10

Dimitar Berbatov: 7 / 10

Substitutes: Anderson, Will Keane

With only a handful of youngsters on the bench and the slightly-more-experienced Anderson to call on, Alex Ferguson only opted to make two changes: one at half time, introducing Anderson for Javier Hernandez, and then late in the game throwing on Will Keane in place of Rafael da Silva as Manchester United chased an equaliser.

Anderson looked rusty and out of sorts, unsurprising given his recent lay off, and never really gave United the control in the middle they were looking for.

Keane was only given five minutes at the end of the game and, despite almost making room for a swivelled volley, didn't have time to make an impact.

Anderson: 6 / 10

Will Keane: no rating