MAN UNITED 0, BURNLEY 2
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not born and assistant manager Mike Phelan only two days old when Burnley last won at Manchester United.
The Clarets triumphed at Old Trafford for the first time since 1962, their first victory in 21 visits and one which was fully merited with United’s manager having no complaints with the loss.
It was a huge lift to Burnley’s Premier League survival hopes and a massive dent to United’s quest for a top-four finish as this remains their worst start to a season since 1989-90.
This was as bad as it has been as United have now lost to 13 different teams at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
The Reds could have no complaints as they rarely looked like scoring, even though they had 24 goal attempts to Burnley’s five.
Whereas United floundered in front of goal – most of the efforts were hit and hope – Burnley displayed the cutting edge the Reds lacked.
Burnley’s only two on target efforts were the goals scored by Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez which they comfortably defended in the latter stages as United meekly surrendered as they crashed to an eighth league loss of the campaign.
Embed from Getty ImagesSolskaer admitted his injury-hit squad is stretched to the limit and reinforcements are needed.
“We are working to get players in and hopefully we can get something over the line. You can see we are stretched,” he said.
“We know we have to get quality and numbers in.”
Of the defeat, Solskjaer added: “We have to hold up our hands and say we were not good enough. Collectively we didn’t perform and we didn’t deserve to win.
“They scored and we didn’t take our chances which is disappointing.
“We didn’t score first and it took the belief out of the players while Burnley made it hard for us.”
Solskjaer, who admitted it was a hard period, added the players gave everything and their effort could not be faulted.
He added they are so stretched that some players have made more appearances than expected as they do not have 10 players on the bench that they can rotate.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche, who posted a first win against United in 10 Premier League games, was delighted with the victory which was only the second one in 31 attempts against the so-called top-six sides.
He said: “We have worked hard to earn big nights and historical moments like this. There is something special about coming here and winning.
“We have been close with 2-2 scores in the last couple of seasons. Once we got our noses in front it didn’t look as though they would come back and we handled the game well.
“As the game wore on, I felt we could see it through and great for the fans who have stuck with us.
“We have taken six points against the so called top-six sides and that is the marvel of the Premier League and how quickly it changes.”
United made two changes from the side that lost at leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Phil Jones replaced the unwell Victor Lindelof at centre back while there was also a start for Juan Mata who replaced Luke Shaw.
Anthony Martial sliced a shot well wide from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross in the 16th minute, the first inkling of a chance in a desperately poor opening.
Fred’s 25-yard drive forced a routine diving save from goalkeeper Nick Pope as United continued to toil against the well-marshalled Clarets’ backline.
Burnley’s first goal attempt in the 24th minute saw New Zealander Wood head narrowly wide.
Pope was called into action again to turn over a header from Daniel James following another excellent cross from Wan-Bissaka.
Martial had another chance when he was put through by Nemanja Matic’s slide-rule pass but left back Charlie Taylor got back to make a vital block.
United were just starting to take charge when Burnley stole ahead in the 39th minute after Jones conceded a free kick for a needless shove on Wood.
Ashley Westwood’s free kick was headed on by Ben Mee, who beat Matic to an aerial duel, and Wood hooked in a shot from six yards as he got the better of Harry Maguire as he netted his 11th goal of the season.
It ended a run of 11 Premier League games in which the Clarets had failed to score in the opening half.
Desperate times required desperate measures as Solskjaer brought on Mason Greenwood for the second half in place of Andreas Pereira.
The night got a whole lot worse for the Reds when Burnley doubled their lead in the 56th minute when Rodriguez scored a spectacular goal, his seventh of the season.
The striker played a return pass with Wood before walloping a shot into the roof of the net as Maguire was again at fault for not marking tightly enough.
Television cameras panned in on the crowd showing one distraught United fan with head in hands. It was an image which encapsulated United’s plight.
Solskjaer went for broke bringing on Shaw and Jesse Lingard for the final 21 minutes as Brandon Williams and James were withdrawn.
Martial came close to halving the deficit when his shot was clawed around the post by Pope for a corner as United looked for a way back into the match and saw a second effort forced the keeper into a diving save.
Greenwood, released by Wan-Bissaka, saw a drive from 25 yards flash just wide of the upright.
United had the ball in the net in the 90th minute through Shaw’s well-directed header behind Pope’s despairing dive from Mata’s cross only for it to be ruled out by VAR as Shaw was adjudged to have shoved Jeff Hendrick off the ball.
Greenwood also went close in the fifth minute of stoppage time as his shot on the turn was well kept out by Pope.