THE SCORE tells one story but the game offered a more subtle take on an interesting contest. For more than an hour United's performance was laborious and the match remained delicately balanced. Most pertinently, the high-tempo and wonderfully fluent Manchester United were nowhere to be seen and a spy from United's next Champions League opponents, AC Milan, would have enjoyed his day.
United still pass the ball well and Antonio Valencia continues to grow in red but the swagger has temporarily vanished. Consider how things were as the game edged towards the hour mark. With the score locked at 0-0, the excellent Chris Eagles sprinted through the centre of United's defence and as two defenders closed, he played a fine pass to David Nugent, who outpaced Gary Neville and had only Edwin Van der Sar to beat, but the shot flew wide of the far post.
Five minutes later Wayne Rooney threaded a delightful pass through a forest of bodies to Dimitar Berbatov, who finished with a fine left-foot shot. Once United scored, everything became easier and the second, by Rooney five minutes later, ended the contest.
"It could have been embarrassing," said Sir Alex Ferguson, "because the number of chances we had was unbelievable. The first half was anxious and over the match they had three chances and it would have been harder if they'd had something to hold on to."
What was disconcerting from a United point of view was Burnley's assurance. They weren't intimidated, nor were they afraid to play a neat passing game. Owen Coyle may have been replaced by Brian Laws but the players performed as they have all season.
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And there was much to admire. Burnley are without three injured centre-backs but Michael Duff and David Edgar did well against Berbatov and Rooney and the team were sharp on the counterattack. Barely seven minutes had passed when a United corner was cleared to Eagles. The former United reserve surged forward and in the twinkling of an eye, Burnley had a three-to-one advantage on United's defence.
Eagles played Nugent through and he passed to Steven Fletcher who wasted a decent chance by shooting wide. The speed with which Burnley got men forward on their counterattacks was admirable though their new manager demurred slightly. "We do overload when we attack," said Laws. "That's where we've got a bit of work to do."
When the game was in the balance, there was much to like about the underdogs. Graham Alexander excelled in the anchor role and Eagles was outstanding in a younger, more vibrant way.
Aspects of Burnley's performance were, however, dangerously substandard. Poor Stephen Jordan never knew what to do with Valencia and settled for not doing very much. Valencia delivered a string of excellent crosses, from which Berbatov and Rooney might have scored a hatful of goals, but all they had was a series of near and not so near misses.
The strikers define where United are at the moment. Rooney is playing well and Berbatov is working as hard as he's ever done, but for so much of yesterday's game, they were frustrating and frustrated. But they didn't hang their heads and it wasn't a surprise that when Burnley were finally opened up, it was the strikers who did the damage.
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Rooney set up Berbatov for the first and then the England striker got his goal when Brian Jensen could only parry Berbatov's cross. Once the second goal came and United were safe, Ferguson replaced his goalscorers with Michael Owen and Mame Biram Diouf and the final goal was a fine effort from Diouf, whose somersaulting celebration was as impressive as the goal itself.
But even through the final 15 minutes, Burnley caused problems. Steve Thompson hit a post with a header and Tyrone Mears drew an excellent save from Van der Sar, who became United's oldest post-war player at 39 years and 79 days. "At the end," said Ferguson. "I think 3-0 was unfair on them, not unjustly unfair."
Star man: Chris Eagles (Burnley) Referee: L Probert Attendance: 75,120
MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar 7, Neville 5, Brown 5, J Evans 6, Evra 6, Valencia 8, Carrick 5 (Anderson 66min), Scholes 6, Nani 6, Berbatov 7 (Owen 73min), Rooney 7 (Diouf 74min) BURNLEY: Jensen 6, Mears 6, Edgar 6, Duff 7, Jordan 4. Alexander 7, McDonald 6 (Gudjonsson 73min), Eagles 9 (Blake 83min), Elliott 5, S Fletcher 6 (Thompson 36min, 6), Nugent 6
Who is United's new goalscorer?
Mame Biram Diouf, 22, made his name as a teenager with Senegalese club ASC Diaraf, the breeding ground of Papa Bouba Diop and Henri Camara
He joined Norwegian club Molde, from where United signed striker and current reserve team coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in January 2007 just weeks after his 19th birthday
A muscular style and 33 goals in 75 appearances attracted the interest of Arsenal, Feyenoord and West Brom
Alex Ferguson had been monitoring his progress for two years before snapping him up for an undisclosed fee in May 2009 and loaning him back to Molde for the rest of the Norwegian season
He received his work permit on December 23 and made his debut as a substitute against Birmingham last weekend