Manchester United vs. Chelsea Review

Filed under: Manchester United Football Club, Manchester United Players, Manchester United News

So the big game is gone and we stand exactly where we were before, three points ahead of Chelski. I don’t mind that to be honest, given our second-half showing against that lot from London. They did rather well to scupper whatever possession we had after the interval and dare I say it, we were on the back foot!

In short, for most of the game we were made to watch two teams going at it using the physical approach. Although United were the first ones to attack and expectedly but the game soon settled and became a sort of a cagey affair with no real flow. It was a bright start from United, like I said, with Rooney and Ronaldo doing a lot of running initially.

The most telling contribution from Wayne Rooney came from his assist to Saha. A neat counter-attacking move saw Rooney thread an incisive pass onto Saha who, by now, was almost on the edge of the 10-yard box and with two defenders to beat, he took his time and sweetly curled a shot past Carvalho and the diving Cudicine with his left-foot to give us the lead! It was the perfect start and one that we thoroughly deserved having done all the running initially. Although we did come close to scoring on a couple of occassions but hardly tested Cudicini again in the first half.

It was a different game in the second half tbh, a game of two halves a perfect description of this one. Chelski appeared the more dominant side desperate to claw their way back into the game and that they did with Lampard the driving force in their midfield and United being forced to back peddle on occassions. I did not like what I saw but let’s be realistic for a second here, they are the Champions, and as much as I hate them … they are quality. And quality it was that forced United on the back-foot at OT.

Not many teams can do that, not unless you’re in CL quarters and semis. Their pressure did pay off and that bugger Carvalho struck from the corner and although it appeared Van der Sar would’ve gotten to his header had it not been deflected in by Saha, but I doubt he’d have been able to keep it out given the firmness with which Carvalho headed it. United got more of a foothold from there on in, and a number of chances fell to Ronaldo and Saha, but they were surprisingly their unclinical selves in front of goal.

So, a point it was which both teams shared and my prediction was spot on only until their equaliser went in. Nevertheles, Chelski did prove a point that they are no push-overs and they would not be de-throwned easily. Here’s hoping for more strength and depth in United come January!

Other Reports: BBC, Soccernet.