Chris Sudlow on the Old Trafford beat

HUNDREDS of United fans singing their way back to Manchester on the 11.08 from Blackburn on Wednesday night were mainly satisfied with the Premiership point that accompanied them.

But one performance that seemed to receive scant coverage the following day was the extraordinary antics of keeper Fabien Barthez.

Now we all know that Fab likes to put his skills on the ball to a regular test, but he really did stretch patience to the limit at Ewood Park.

He was lucky to be saved by the linesman's flag when Ciccio Grabbi accepted his one-on-one challenge, dispossessed him easily and chipped home cleverly into the unguarded net.

There was another even more hair-raising (for the spectators, not the shaven Frenchman) occasion.

Again he challenged the forward to come and get the ball, almost lost possession, then amazingly pushed the ball back along his own goal-line from the edge of the penalty area.

He was then forced into an almost hilarious ball chase past the empty net before distracting Grabbi enough for him to fire narrowly wide.

Both incidents gave added impetus to Graeme Souness' half-time pep talk to the disheartened Rovers and served a reminder to the crowd that United were human after all.

It was noticeable soon afterwards that Ronny Johnsen, given the opportunity for a pass back, chose instead to direct the ball out to Mikael Sylvestre at full back.

Barthez did not look too happy, but then his team-mates must have been similarly unamused earlier.

That Barthez is an absolute top keeper is without doubt. The fans love him . . and so does SirAlex. But he does like to live life on the field on the edge.

Tomorrow at Villa Park his opposite number will be watching his performance with added interest.

For Peter Schmeichel, the world's number one during his years at Old Trafford, was not afraid to court controversy either.

NEXT FIVE: Sunday: Villa (A, ITV Sport Select, 2pm); Saturday, Sept 8: Everton (H); Wednesday, Sept 12: Olympiakos (A, Champions League, ITV, 7.45pm); Saturday, Sept 15: Newcastle (A); Tuesday, Sept 18: Lille (H, ITV Sport Select, 7.45pm).