It doesn’t matter whether the night before I drank the local dry or was tucked up by ten o’clock with a hot mug of cocoa, I wake up too bloody early on the morning of a big game and can’t go back to sleep again. As I’m lying in bed, telling my brain to switch off again so I can sleep, I play out scenario after scenario of how the day could go.
Maybe Rooney will score a thunderbolt, it’s been a while since one of them, and will run to our fans with his team-mates and they’ll ‘rock the baby’. Maybe John Terry will slip at the crucial moment and Antonio Valencia will pinch the ball off him, run round and blast it through Petr Cech’s legs. Maybe Darren Fletcher will make a perfectly timed and executed last ditch tackle as Frank Lampard catches us on the break. Maybe our out of sorts defence will get too close to Didier Drogba in the penalty area and concede an inevitable penalty.
And before I know it, I’m wide awake.
Ahead of our trip to Anfield, I was fairly confident. Whilst knowing it really was a must win for Liverpool, I hoped the embarrassment of the 4-1 defeat last season would at least spur us on to do something that Sunday. The pain of losing to Liverpool hurts more than any other opponent, which takes some of the pressure off the Chelsea game today in comparison, however I don’t feel fairly confident today. As I said in a discussion with a Chelsea fan, these games often favour the underdog to come good, but that isn’t enough to settle my nerves.
I imagine we’re going to go with a five man midfield with Rooney as the lone striker, the formation the manager often chooses for the big games, particularly against opponents with a midfield as strong as Chelsea’s.
Whilst Ryan Giggs has had a fantastic season so far, he struggled to make an impact against Liverpool on the left, which begs the question should he be used on the wing again today? If he was to shift centrally that would leave Nani and Valencia on the wings, or, Obertan and Valencia, the move large sections of our support are calling for. I understand the frustrations felt because of Nani and certainly agree that Obertan looks to be the real deal, but I personally think it would be suicide to start the French lad today. He is riding high with confidence at the moment, buoyed by the support of our fans, but to play him from the start at Stamford Bridge would be chucking him in at the deep end and could have serious consequences. If he has a bad game it could psychologically effect him, particularly with the press all too keen to rip him apart and claim he’ll never ‘fill Ronaldo’s boots’, and I don’t think it’s worth the risk.
The manager might still opt to put Giggsy on the wing though because Nani hasn’t been good enough consistently (but what a lovely little flick on for Michael Owen’s goal against CSKA Moscow in the week!) and we need to make sure we’ve got as much quality as possible in the midfield and don’t have room for any passengers. So that could leave us with Fletcher, Anderson and Carrick in the central midfield roles. We’ve got some fight there and if Carrick can please rediscover his passing quality and confidence, some creativity. Scholes would be on the bench ready to come on in the second half if things aren’t going our way, where he could collect his compulsory yellow card as well as hopefully spraying the ball about in the final third to get our wingers in on the act.
If Rooney is to play up front we will have the problem which I can’t recall ever seeing being solved. Getting the ball to him. He’ll obey orders to begin with, with ball after ball flying through the air and being won by the defender who is a good half foot or so taller than him. Then he’ll start pushing wide to collect the ball and find there is no one to cross to when he gets it. So then he will come deep to get a touch and we have no one up there to score. Am I being harsh? I really am struggling to remember when the lone striker formation has paid off, particularly when Rooney is the lone striker. That’s no disrespect to him but he’s too small to win the ball in the air and he’s outnumbered when accurate crosses do manage to make their way through. That for me screams that we should have Dimitar Berbatov on the pitch which is something the manager thought wise against Liverpool. Will he risk having a thinner midfield so that he can include Berbatov in the starting line-up though? Lucas-Mascherano are no Lampard-Essien-Ballack.
If we’re struggling, chuck on Michael Owen but take a midfielder off in his place. Let’s see how much damage our strikers can do when they’re all on together.
And I’m saving the best until last: the defence. Hmm. This really is a worry. With Rio Ferdinand struggling to deal with the upper body strength of that little weed Fernando Torres, it probably is a good job he’s been ruled out from facing Drogba, who is probably in the form of his life. This means it will be up to Nemanja Vidic and Jonny Evans to put the boot in, the latter of which will be presented with his toughest challenge so far as a United player. He played against Drogba when he was a Sunderland player and kept him quiet, and also did the job home and away against Chelsea last year. But Drogba isn’t the joke of a man who turned up at Old Trafford last year, swinging at the ball, seeing it go off for a throw-in and laughing, as his side suffered a painful 3-0 defeat.
But we have to get the balance right in defence. There’s no point spending all our time shutting out Drogba when the likes of Nicolas Anelka and Frank Lampard are still on the prowl.
I imagine our full-backs will be employed for more defensive duties than they are usually, which means I would certainly favour Wes Brown to mirror Patrice Evra. I’m not slating John O’Shea but Wes is the better player and I would feel more confident if he was dealing with any wide Chelsea threat. Plus, what would our travelling support have to sing about if Brown wasn’t playing?
If we were offered a point right now, I would take it. Chelsea are in great form and we’re doing our usual start of the season routine. A good result at Stamford Bridge could really help us kick on but essentially I don’t want us to suffer the humiliation we put them through last season. Heads down and let’s get on with it lads. We have to go with the belief we can beat them so that is what I have to predict… a slim United victory. COME on reds.
@Mahesh
the 4-5-1 formation was the reason we kicked the shit out fo their 4 in middle.anelka was scratching his head most of the game.drogba was shitting on the pitch.think i overestimated the cunt big time.the reason this happended was beause every time the 2nd ball was won by a united played mostly fletcher and Carrick.Thats why that formation worked and we won the battle.sir alex should have the done the same against the dippers and we would have won
Face the facts, we’re at the top and we’re staying there, you guy’s are on the wane.
At the end of the day…as long as we are within 3 points of the top on new years day, we’ll win the league
Arsenal are too inexperienced still
And Chelsea’s rent boy pensioners will tire
We played well…shame we have to wait 2 weeks for our next match
Obertan must start next match
Fucking tiny tears getting away with murder and that cunt Ivanovic going studs up on Giggsy. Now the FA will surely get in on Evans ass. And why the fuck can’t we put our feet down against big teams? Fucking players keep wasting chances. The only time I can remember Cech got tested was that one time Rooney tried from a distance. Fuck, I’m pissed right now!
@Mahesh – you obviously didn’t watch the match. Rooney had some great shots on, a penalty wasn’t given, they scored from a freekick that shouldn’t have been, a foul and an offside in the same movement. Had they not got that and we scored.. three points.
aig alex is god Said,
November 8th, 2009 @19:13
@jamie
are you nuts.if you ould have said thisa fter the lpool game i would have agreed but today with fletch and ando back we were brilliant.OUTCLASSED lumpard,ballack,deco and essien BY A LONG LONG WAY
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I hate when our fans go overboard about players being brilliant bcuz they were winning the ball back and then giving it away cheaply, get real, we have too many players who just good @ intercepting or making tackles and also when we presssed in midfield, we cant manuever in tight areas instead either we pass it backwards or give it away. Please lets stop celebrating mediocre, look @ our midfield of bygone years, this is shadow. I am fuming right now.
In the first half, Rooney had a great run to space and Ashley Cole kept him onside, even if the linesman had blue tinted glasses
@ Corea
No
@ JT’s dad
see ya in May.
Still don’t understand what some scousers, dippers and arsenals fans do here. you’ve won 3 points go and celebrate on your blog.
miserable.
Who on the chelski squad had a better game than Fletcher. The answer is……………no one. Not fatfrank, nor deco, nor ballack, nor eissen. Other top teams should take notice of our performance today and stamp out the rent boys. I bet you wenger will study this game
JT’s dad Said,
November 8th, 2009 @19:27
Face the facts, we’re at the top and we’re staying there, you guy’s are on the wane.
===========================
Can I have some Cocaine please?
@hustler
1.Manchester United is about more than playing shit and winning luckily.Thats why united have maximum fans and not chelsea becasue of their shit style of football
2.despite being the home team cheslea were crowding their own box defending which was surprising.
3.Rooney would have scored and valencia incident was a penalty.
4.No decision went against cheslea.Atleast half a dozen went against us
IS that enough or you want more?
@ hustler
i wouldn’t have cared about the result if we didn’t play that well.
i don’t blame the ref but all this small things count. at the end of the day it was one those days. we were lucky against Arsenal, this time luck hasn’t been on our side.
JT’s dad is suffering from premature ejaculation. Three barren years without a league title will do that to you. Bless ‘em.
jamie
oh shut up serious, lets look at this united should have had a penalty the goal was not a goal, and we were pressing their midfield, united were not mediocre they were. where was lampard deco lampard and ballack exactly. chelsea had an ace up their sleeve the referee just like th liverpool game.
Costas, King Eric, Drew, Denton, Scott, where are you ?
Put some fu**** decent comments please!
I just loathe the sight of Sir John of Terry more each day. he hauled valencia down by his shirt in the box. a nailed on penalty , then claims it was a 50-50.. you were no where near the ball you weeping british bulldog
I have to say I was prepared for a loss, but not like this. We were the better team, we deserved that goal, that’s why I’m so F-ing pissed.
@jamie
well its a top 4 game so you cant expect it to be a good open passing game.Certainly wont happen against Chelsea of all teams given their shit style of play Some players like Ando and Carrick had their best game today.Signs are good and improving.lets be fair no one thought we could outclass the chelsea midfield which we did.
gutted!!!………… Absolutely gutted………………. worse than defeat to the dippers………………. completely deserved a win, wouldve taken a draw…….
fletcher, carrick, brown, evans, evra, rooney, valencia we freakin fab…….. completely outplayed them
1-0 united in my book
@ aig
1. Never said anything about playing shit and winning lucky. Don’t quite know where you’re getting that from.
2. Chelsea crowded their box. Yes, it’s hard to score when 11 men are behind the ball. But the best teams still find a way. I think we both agree United are the best team in the world. So, logically, we should always find a way. Regardless, we played better but still lost. Shit result. That’s that. But can you say this hasn’t happened multiple times within the past season? We came EXTREMELY close to tying shitty despite outplaying them. Beat Arsenal thanks to a howler from Diaby. I don’t really appreciate this trend we’re seeing. No, we cannot dominate teams and kill them every single time. But it’s been long since we’ve had a killer result against a top team.
3. Agree and agree. Never said we played poorly. We just didn’t make our possession and chances really count.
4. Agree. Shit happens. After SAf went on that bloody inane rant about refs, the occurrence of shit has exponentially increased. But you pick up and move on.
Not trying to pick a fight with you or anybody else. I’m just tired of seeing this United team dominate possession for most games and not really doing anything with it, ref stupidity notwithstanding. I do not think this team is poor; I just think the right balance and formula hasn’t been found for a long time now. SAF, for reasons only known to him, keeps shooting himself in the foot with extremely odd lineups and substitutions.
Five of our first 12 have between against all of those tipped to contend for the title and Champions League places.
Time to go on a run and amass the points against the lesser teams between now and our game against Arsenal in January.
Ahhh, life’s good.
@ Corea
That’s part of my point. I agree with you. I honestly thought we were in for a thrashing and am happy with the shift the boys put in today. However, I don’t understand why we have to keep relying on luck in these big games recently. Yes, luck is always going to be a factor. But playing the way we do, I would just like to see some more ruthlessness. How many times this season and last have we gone down a goal, then finally see United spur into action and occasionally snatch a result? We should come out firing on all cylinders and pin back teams to utterly annihilate them.
Again, I am not saying we played poorly. We rarely do play poorly. But as I have no doubt you know, goals are obviously what count in the end. Still, the performance is positive. Not taking anything away from that
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’d take goals over 80% possession any day”
First point was in response to this.look mate.i am the last person to pickup a quarrel especially with the United fans.but this was the first time we controlled a big 4 game after quite some time.that looks positive.SAF could not do much today becasue there was no Berbatov,vidic and rio,had berba been fit he would have started.You cant argue much with todays team.They played really well.Just putting my point across.i too have criticised the tean after the liverpool defeat but in a game people were expecting we would be outplayed this was a brilliant performance withou some key players too
@hustler.that comment was for you
CHEERS!!!!!
It’s time for some retrospection.
I loved the moment when Drogba was pretending to being killed Vida was standing on the sidelines smiling at the lady boy.
Evans is a man! We gave Vida. We have Rooney. We have Berba. We have legends like Scholesy and Giggsy. What do Chelsea have ?
Really proud of us today.
@ hustler,
We came EXTREMELY close to tying shitty despite outplaying them. Beat Arsenal thanks to a howler from Diaby. I don’t really appreciate this trend we’re seeing. No, we cannot dominate teams and kill them every single time. But it’s been long since we’ve had a killer result against a top team.
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Spot on & that stems from our poor midfield who are only geared towards breaking plays not exceptional vision, exceptional technque in tight space under pressure .
@ hustler
did scousers overplay us last season at OT ? give me some examples when in theg ame between the big 4 teams some visiting team overplayed the other one ? i don’t find too many exaples in my brain right now.
still waiting for some comments and searching for the possitives.
@ aig
I am glad we have cleared up this misunderstanding. What I had meant and, perhaps I did not convey my thoughts properly, was that, to me, “playing well” encompasses both keeping possession and scoring goals. Currently, we seem to be doing a lot of the former but not so much the latter. I can see how you thought I was implying that Goals + playing shit > Playing well. I apologize for the misunderstanding.
And like I posted in my reply to Corea, I am pleased with the performance itself. It’s just that I have noticed a bit of complacency (maybe the wrong word?) in this team. There is no cutting edge, no ruthlessness. I am sure the players themselves feel ruthless and go out to give it their best. But in terms of ruthlessness in front of goal, we are a bit short.
fuckin robbed
It’s like the fucking apocalypse on here after defeats.
We’ll win the league. Don’t sweat it.
“There is no cutting edge, no ruthlessness.”
it is true. but not necessary when you talk about the away game to Chelsea. clearly though the decision making was poor in the final third.
“It’s like the fucking apocalypse on here after defeats.”
maybe i should kill myself but United is almost everything in my life these days. and it hurts. maybe i should find myself an occupation.
Drogba is just a ‘Big girl’s blouse’ honestly have you ever seen a bigger embarrassment in football? If my 10 year old got on like that i would stop him playing football for good.
@hustler
agree that winning is what matters but if you play well there is more chance of you winning than these smash and grab wins like chelsea in particular.we will eventually get things going our way and rediscover the cutting edge and be back to our thrashing best.its only a matter of time after todays performance
@ Corea
I would say yes, they did outplay us. Now before people start jumping on my back: 1) Yes, I did watch the game and still remember it vividly. I watched it with a scouser friend and things between us just haven’t been the same. 2) Judging by you posing the question, you will probably disagree. I am okay with that. I won’t try to convince you. 3) No, they did not “outplay” us to the same degree that we outplayed Chelsea today. But, I do think they were the better team that day. 4) No, I am not a plastic fan. This seems to be the fall-out excuse to belittle the opinions of those who dare to think United have a bad day in the office. I will personally slay anybody who suggests this. With a fork.
Usually (“usually” being the operative word), teams that completely outplay another get a massive result. We are extremely good at dominating teams and pinning them back. On the other hand, we are not so good at getting the massive result.
Based on the way we played, we deserved the win. But people always don’t get things they deserve. Just how it is. I can accept that, if United were just another mid-table team. We are not. That is precisely the expectation placed on United players, exactly the reason why many don’t make the grade. We are expected to play well AND win, all the time. We’re not afforded the opportunity to make excuses.
Why are we moaning about penalties not given or a dubious free kick for chelsea goal?
Goals win games!!
Does anyone remember cech making a save??? I don’t.
I dont particulary care how well our midfield played when we dont make opportunities and we dont work their goalkeeper.
Our Attack is poor and not good enough and our final ball was hopless
Rooney should have played in Anderson when he was clear
Valencia should have played in O shea instead of doin a gibbo
Carrick and Giggs were passing too heavy
Up front we were too greedy and didnt play as a team – and was the reasons why we lost as we didnt take advantage of our domination in the first half
If we have to rely on penalties to win games then thats not good enough.
Last year we were 1-0 up and conceaded a Kalou goal
At OT we litterally battered them.
This year we played for a 0-0 and became unstuck because either way, if you play like that against Chelsea they will always be a threat from a set peice – whether they deserve it or not.
Nah, nothing wrong with a United defeat hurting. I was broken after the Liverpool defeat.. but a bit of perspective definitely never hurts.
Facts are facts (unless you’re Benitez), and we’re still only five points behind Chelsea after the defeat. As I mentioned, five of our twelve games have included Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, City, and Arsenal.. we ended three unbeaten runs out of those.
We now don’t have to worry until January about another big face off, and I think we’ll have found our stride by then.
And to finally put to bed the whole “playing well vs. scoring goals” debate, I don’t think anybody was complaining when several years ago, O’shea scored at Anfield despite Liverpool dominating us to oblivion.
@ hustler
we played away. that was the 06-07 season when we played great attacking football killing the teams in the first halves of the games. that season we won the premiership deservingly. 06-07 is by far my favorite season in the last couple of years. the football we played last season i can’t call wonderfull. for me it is very important to play united way. then come all of the trophies.
hustler
the difference from that day compared to today we did not need the help of the ref, its not the fact we domminated the game but how chelsea got 2 majour decisions go their way makes the defeat more annoying.
SAF:
“That goal should never have been allowed. We’ve dominated the game; we’ve had great chances to win the match – and that’s our fault,” he said. “We had great opportunities to get to the edge of the box and some really good chances in and around the box, but we should be finishing it off.
“We’ve only ourselves to blame in that respect. But you do need a break – and we never got the break we needed.”
I think he did an excellent job of summing things up.
@20Legend
goal keepers are often left with nothing to do in big games.Rooney shot was the one save cech made but cant remember VDS having to do a lot .Cech didnt have to do much because whenever we got on the edge chelsea crowded their penalty area.add to that the rooney offside,penalty that wasnt given and the freekick that led to the goal where fletcher won the ball.are you saying these incidents would not have affected the game
Talking about OT last year we were poor until vidic scored and apart from the 3 goals cech did not have to do anything so.