1. Was it a Penalty?
Was there contact in the box? Did Smalling get the ball or the player? Well by answering these two questions you should come to the conclusion that ultimately despite the harshness of the decision it was a penalty and it was perhaps one of the few decisions that Atkinson got right on the night.
If it was up to me on a personal basis, I would’ve yellow-carded Zhirkov for going down too easily and looking for it, but objectively with the laws as they stand, an attacker who goes down after a movement by a defender towards him and not the ball will result in a foul and as Smalling made a movement towards Zhirkov, it was only going to end one way.
Smalling will learn from his mistakes and whilst this week was a rude awakening after a faultless rise to the first team since he joined, no one can argue he looked out his depth at Stamford Bridge even if he was upstaged by the other phenomenal new defensive talent on the pitch.
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2. Patrice Evra (Game of Two Halves)
Evra’s First Half Statistics: 35/42 Successful Passes, 1 Interception, 1 Tackle ( Evra Second Half Statistics: (12/15 Successful Passes, 1 Tackle)
Now many will no doubt point to the loss of the midfield battle as the prime factor behind United’s collapse in the second half but these stats tell a story of their own.
In the first half it was the Nani & Evra show on the left flank, aided by the movement of Rooney and Hernandez drifting to the left and wreaking havoc against the defensively indisciplined Anelka and the tad cumbersome Ivanovic. Evra was receiving an awful lot of the ball and the aforementioned stats just mention the times he passed the ball, he was actually dribbling and touching the ball quite a fair bit more.
As expected his final delivery wasn’t quite up to it but nonetheless his mere presence on the overlap and his ability to take on men was telling and no doubt benefited Nani who could cut in with the full knowledge there was an option on the outside if he should wish to take it. So everything seemed to be hunky-dory in the first half and Evra was putting in a stunning performance, which begs the question what on earth led to him producing such dire stats in the second half?
Well one possible explanation and perhaps the most logical is that once we scored we sat back on the lead and prevented our full backs from getting forward with their usual gusto, another is that such was Chelsea’s rage at going a goal down that through sheer will of force they pinned us back and our midfield were unable to feed our full backs with the same frequency in the first, as is so often the case the truth perhaps lies somewhere in the middle.. we dropped off a tad but once it had been realised that this was an error, Chelsea were relentless and the momentum knocked the stuffing out of United’s attacking endeavours.
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3. Midfield Battle
Manchester United Midfield Stats: Carrick (50/61 Successful Passes, 5 Interceptions, 2/5 Tackles made, 1 Clearance) Scholes (52/57 Successful Passes, 3 Interceptions, 1/2 Tackles made) Fletcher (28/43 Successful Passes, 1 Interceptions, 5/10 Tackles made, 1 Clearance)
Chelsea Midfield Stats: Essien (50/54 Successful Passes, 3 Interceptions, 1/2 Tackles) Lampard (43/53 Successful Passes, 3 Interceptions, 2/3 Tackles, 1 Clearance) Ramires (34/43 Successful Passes, 4 Interceptions, 6/9 Tackles, 2 Clearances)
A very even Midfield Battle and surprisingly there were no major differences in the stats in the first half in comparison to the second for either of the midfields the other night, although Ramires put in a heck of alot more effort of the ball in the second, tripling his number of tackles made and intercepting alot more often.. in tight games like these between top teams, quite often just one individual with that little bit more fire in his belly and that evtra dosage of quality can make the difference.. yesterday Ramires stepped up his game after half time and it was perhaps the telling contribution.
Carrick was much better (to be honest he is generally better against Chelsea than most would think), quicker on the ball, braver in the tackle and had purpose with his passing. Scholes was efficient as he so often is and Fletcher despite the ambiguous passing stats produced a Kuytesque performance on the right flank making sure the ball stuck like glue when recieving possession, fired in a fair number of crosses and challenged Ramires in the off the ball stakes. For Chelsea Essien was good without ever being brilliant, Lampard was excellent when running with the ball and put in a fair effort off it and Ramires was the glue which held it all together.
For both sides there are weaknesses however in this department which need resolving in time for next season and its a similar problem… both lack a young vibrant creative midfielder and thus both sides can come across very functional and one dimensional on the ball relying on their full backs or forwards to create out of nothing rather than feed them with a constant supply of through balls and clever passing… prepare for a United v Chelsea midfield tranfer battle in the summer for a Fabregas-esque player…
4. Where both sides go from here?
Despite the loss I would still fancy United for the title and that is regardless of whether or not they win at Anfield. As for Chelsea I believe this win has papered over cracks that will again rise to the surface against the rest of the Premier League, teams who possess more energy in midfield than United have and can exert more pressure on them over 90 minutes. It is an ageing side and whilst they’re more than capable of achieving one-off results I do not believe they have it in them to produce a sustained resurgence and retain their title. What would help Chelsea is trying to find a way to incorporate Drogba in the side, he’s a talisman even if his legs aren’t what they used to be.
In Europe simply put I’d be surprised if either side make a definitive impact and I believe their respective weaknesses will prove costly, that said in United’s case I genuinely believe with the right line up they can be a match for anyone over two legs and as long as they don’t face Barcelona in a Final, then anything could happen. As for Chelsea if they are to win it then it will probably be down to that one man Machine David Luiz…
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5. Opposition One2Watch: David Luiz
David Luiz Match Statistics: 1 Shot, 1 Goal, 4 Interceptions, 22/29 Successful passes, 6/7 Tackles Made, 4 Clearances, 1 Block.
Mentioned the lad briefly in the ‘Rival Perspective – Chelsea v Liverpool’ blog and stated how in such a short space of time he’d done enough in his little cameo to suggest that Chelsea have a considerable talent on their hands, not to mention having seen him feature a fair few times for his previous club, one couldn’t help but be impressed with predominantly his defensive attributes.
He’s just what I’d call a ‘Total Footballer’, a dream player in your 5 a-side team, running up and down the pitch filling in at every position and performing each role with expert precision. It’s ridiculous how good he is for his age and the fact he relishes the physical nature of the premiership should frighten the life out of any striker willing to take him on.. he has it all.
Reads the game exceptionally well, good pace, strong in the tackle, brave in the air, brings the ball out of defence well, good off the ball movement, powerful shot, fantastic technique and it seems he is now well-versed in the defensive dark arts… is there anything this kid can’t do, he’s a bargain at £20+ Million. The likes of Luiz and Smalling provide neutrals with great optimism for the future of the game and I for one can’t wait to see how their development pans out as they genuinely look like they can be world class.
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Conclusion
Fantastic game, 2 excellent goals and one controversial penalty… a sending off and some goalkeeping heroics from Edwin Van Der Sar. Not to mention several referreeing howlers, so a game for the neutral basically and it was exhilerating to witness a Chelsea v United game that lived up to the hype in terms of spectacle and more importantly quality. It is often said in silly scorelines, ‘That’s what the Premier League is all about’ blah blah.. seriously folks, the match at Stamford Bridge was the real deal and a game which was a proper football match and hopefully a sign of things to come in the business end of the season.
Score: 2-1, Venue: Stamford Bridge, Date: Tuesday 1st March, Kick-off: 1945 GMT
Man Utd (4-4-2): Van Der Sar, O’Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, Rooney, Hernandez. Subs: Berbatov (70th min), Giggs (70th min) Fabio (81st min).
Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, A Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Anelka, Torres, Malouda Subs: Drogba (61st min), Zhirkov (71st min), Bosingwa (81st min)
Referee: Atkinson
Written By Raees Mahmood (Follow me @ www.twitter.com/redrae7 or check out www.thebusbyway.com)
