As United face Blackburn this evening, one can’t help but be a tad nervous.
With Man City dropping points on Saturday it gives us the chance to open a 5 point gap between ourselves, but at the same time Blackburn won’t be a pushover.
We have had some tough ties against the side in recent years with a disappointing draw there in 09/10 marked as the game that cost us the title, whilst we had to fight hard to earn a point there last season to secure the title.
Whilst last season at home we hammered them 7-1, this season’s fixture was a different story. The relegation threatened side rolled up to Old Trafford on New Years Eve to spoil the day as well as Sir Alex Ferguson’s birthday.
When the smoke had cleared one of the main things expressed by a number of fans was an uncertainty in the abilities of David De Gea. He showed frailty when challenging aerially and Blackburn took advantage of this.
His poor performance lead to him being dropped but 4 months later the table’s have turned yet again. De Gea has re established himself in goal, performing better than ever before and Sir Alex Ferguson believes his experience on New Years Eve played a big part in his reversal of fortunes:
“He got a grip of it and stood up as a man.
“The area where he’s been criticised was the aerial ability in the box. He should have dealt with the last corner against Blackburn better. He knew that.
“He has addressed that situation. He didn’t let it get to him and now the boy is playing with confidence. And confidence is a great factor in football.”
It was expected that De Gea would need time to adapt to a new league, with a different footballing culture and language, but he wasn’t given a chance to with many labelling him a ‘flop’ amongst other things.
With that experience behind him, De Gea has already begun to show he is adapting to the rigours of the league so you can count on a better performance at Ewood Park tonight.
