Blues rocked as Keane roasting fires Red Devils

Man Utd 1 Chelsea 0

Keane’s now infamous attack on his under-performing team-mates during an interview on United’s own television channel sparked a week of soul-searching at Old Trafford, prompted talk of a club in crisis and placed the spotlight on the security of Alex Ferguson’s position as manager.

If Keane intended to put a rocket underneath some of his team-mates, it worked. United produced their best performance of the season to end Chelsea’s 40-game unbeaten run in the Premiership and mark Ferguson’s 19th anniversary as manager. Ironically, the winner came from the head of Darren Fletcher, one of Keane’s targets during his visit to the MUTV studio.

United midfielder Alan Smith said: “Sometimes you need a reminder that you are performing at a big club and that you are no longer at your previous club. You can’t let you standards drop. I think everyone knows where the reminder has come from and we accept criticism when it comes.

“Roy is a proud person and he told us exactly what he said, but we went out there today and put on a performance.”

It may have been a case of “don’t mention Roy” in the match programme, with Ferguson choosing to ignore his captain’s scathing comments, but the injured midfielder was at the forefront of minds, be it those of the players, Ferguson or the supporters. Indeed, the game was only 13 minutes old before the Stretford End launched into it’s chant of “Keano.”

Keane reportedly sat through a screening of his “rant” with the rest of his Old Trafford colleagues on Thursday, so the players could be left in no doubt as to what he actually said. But having failed so miserably to respond to Keane’s criticisms as they slumped to a spineless defeat against Lille in midweek, they had the perfect opportunity to show exactly what they have to offer against a Chelsea team running away with the title.

Against Lille, United lacked pace, heart, creativity and, worryingly for a club built on the fire of Denis Law, Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes and Keane, they allowed their opponents to bully them into submission.

There was no chance of that against Chelsea, though. Wednesday’s shrinking violets were now rampant Reds and every tackle was contested with bite and tenacity, with Smith and Paul Scholes making life tough for Chelsea’s celebrated pairing of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien. Smith and Scholes have endured their share of criticism this season but they were up for this game and they welded passion with purpose as they dominated the first-half midfield battle.

Even Fletcher was willing to put his foot in and win the ball. The Scot has struggled to win over the United fans this season but he stood up to be counted and his goal was as much a personal victory as it was a crucial moment for his team.

How he managed to sneak his header into the net only Fletcher will know. Ronaldo’s cross from the left appeared too deep to worry Chelsea and Fletcher did well to keep it in at the far post. He did more than keep the ball in play, though. Fletcher headed the ball back towards the opposite post and it looped over the head of goalkeeper Petr Cech before dropping into the far corner, out of the reach of Chelsea captain John Terry’s head.

United should have edged closer to rubber-stamping victory when Wayne Rooney’s pass to Fletcher nine minutes into the second-half carved open the Chelsea defence. Fletcher picked out Ruud van Nistelrooy but the striker blazed over the crossbar.

With Chelsea growing stronger and stronger with every minute, van Nistelrooy’s miss had the potential of proving extremely costly. The champions poured forward with attack after attack and Didier Drogba, Lampard and Asier del Horno all saw good chances go begging as United held on. When he was called upon, United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar stood firm, notably keeping out Lampard’s close range effort and Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose 25-yard shot looked destined for the near post.

United held on and the scenes at the final whistle suggested they had actually won the title itself.

Mourinho said: “We didn’t deserve to lose the game and I am not happy to lose, but I am proud of the performance of my players. We were by far the better team in the second half, but United got in front and defended with a lot of spirit and effort. They didn’t deserve to win, but they fought for their victory.”

For United, the challenge now is to prove that they can produce this kind of high octane performance against Charlton just as readily as against Chelsea. For, Ferguson the win was the perfect response to his critics.

He said: “The talk about pressure was absolute b*****ks. Did you know that we actually went 13 games without winning once? People forget these things.

“Winning is all that’s important here and how you handle criticism. The players have got on with the job.”

Opta Fact: Didier Drogba has never been in a losing Chelsea team in the Premiership before.

Opta Fact: Chelsea have conceded at least one goal in their last six league game.

MAN UTD: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Fletcher, Smith, Scholes, Rooney, van Nistelrooy (Park 82), Ronaldo.

CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno (Carlton Cole 78), Essien (Gudjohnsen 55), Makelele, Lampard, Joe Cole (Wright-Phillips 74), Drogba, Duff.

Referee: G Poll (Hertfordshire).