1. Finally! At long last! It is over! Ten years we’ve had to wait to get a result at Stamford Bridge and yesterday, when we really needed it, we got it. As Sir Alex Ferguson correctly identified before the game, there have been matches at Chelsea we’ve deserved to win but have been robbed horribly by the referee, none worse than the game in the 2009-2010 season. Chelsea went on to win the title by one point that season, making the robbery all the worse. If United go on to beat Chelsea to the title by one point, yesterday afternoon’s game might be one Chelsea fans look back on with similar feelings. They were robbed today, but not quite as much as the press/their fans will have you believe. More later.
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2. What an outstanding start to a football game. After conceding early on against pretty much every team we play, it only stands to reason that we’d go to a ground where we haven’t won in ten years, facing a team who are beating every one they play, and go 2-0 up after 12 minutes. The first goal was created by Wayne Rooney, who was excellent for the first half an hour of today’s game, after he picked up the ball in our half, played a one-two with Ashley Young, before crossing to Robin van Persie. The Dutchman smashed it against the woodwork and it bounced around the box before hitting David Luiz and crossing the line. The move for the second goal was started by Rio Ferdinand, who lifted the ball to Rafael da Silva, who went on a run. Rafael played in Antonio Valencia who provided a perfect cross to Van Persie and he made no mistakes with this one. Cech had no chance.
3. For the rest of that opening first half an hour we bossed the game. You knew it couldn’t go on forever but it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Rooney had been playing fairly deep and was dictating our game. He was the best player on the park but then saw his arse when Eden Hazard robbed him of the ball in a position he was probably favourite to get it. So he chased after the new Chelsea man and fouled him. There was a red wall of defenders in front of Hazard, a completely unnecessary challenge, but it seems as though that part of Rooney’s game won’t go away.
4. David de Gea got stick from some people for Chelsea’s first goal but I think any keeper would have struggled to keep that one out. Juan Mata is an excellent player and his freekick was inch perfect. De Gea took a step to his left just before Mata struck the ball meaning it was just out of his reach, but he probably felt like he couldn’t leave the other half of his goal so unprotected in case Mata did beat the wall. Just one of those things. He made some outstanding saves, most notably the close range stop from a Torres header, which kept us in the game. Whenever he makes his next mistake, which he will do, because he’s human, I hope Fergie sticks with him. All this chopping and changing nonsense is ridiculous. David is our number one.
5. Once Chelsea pulled a goal back, one of the more controversial moments of the game occurred. Torres kicked Tom Cleverley (who, by and large, had a game to forget) in the chest and got nothing on the ball. Think De Jong vs Alonso in the World Cup final. Had Cleverley fallen to the floor with a pained expression, he would have made it easy for Clattenburg to send Torres off. As it was, he got to his feet and shook hands, meaning Torres got away with it. Chelsea were still losing at this point and we were still in the first half. Had they gone down to ten men at this stage it would have taken away the momentum they had gained in the last fifteen minutes of the half and meant they had a full 45 minutes with Torres on the park. He made it until the 68th minute though with Clattenburg deeming his fall following a challenge from Jonny Evans to be a dive. It’s a tricky one. Both Evans and Ferguson acknowledged that there was contact but both asserted that Torres made the choice to go to ground. It’s true. The contact was so minimal and Torres’ fall was so delayed and exaggerated (why was he holding his knee and rolling around as if in agony?) that you could easily call it a dive. Evans made contact with Torres’ right shin but it was his left leg that gave way. Does there have to be no contact for it to be classed as simulation?
In the 2008 study, Tackling Diving: The Perception of Deceptive Intentions in Association football, a dive was deemed to have the following traits: 1. a separation in time between the impact and the simulation, 2. a lack of ballistic continuity (the player moves further than would be expected from the momentum of the tackle) and 3. lack of contact consistency (the player nurses a body part other than where the impact occurred, such as contact to the chest causing the player to fly to the ground, holding his face). Torres was guilty of all three.
The laws of the game state that: “any simulating action anywhere on the field, which is intended to deceive the referee, must be sanctioned as unsporting behaviour”. Simulating is to do something which looks real but is not real. So, just because there’s contact, does that mean it’s a foul? If you throw yourself up in the air and then roll around holding your knee, is that not simulation?
I think the referee can justify his decision to send Torres off. It is interesting to compare the reaction to this decision with the reaction to penalties that Young has felt when there has been definite contact but not enough to warrant him falling over. The press and opposition fans have happily labelled him a diver when he’s chosen to go to ground, despite there being minimal contact. In all honesty though, if Young went through on goal, got clipped, threw himself to the floor, then got a second yellow for it, I’d be pissed off and say it was the wrong decision.
6. Chelsea’s first red card occurred when Young went through on goal and got clipped by Ivanovic. Unusually for Young, I don’t think he actually was guilty of a dive in this situation. Ivanovic wasn’t trying to bring him down but he just got in the way and Young was too fast for him. In these situations at Stamford Bridge, we are used to the referee turning a blind eye or pulling out just a yellow card (think David Luiz last season or John Terry on Valencia in the box a couple of seasons before), so it was quite a shock to see a red come out. There can’t really be any complaints though.
7. The decision where Chelsea can really be aggrieved is the winning goal scored by substitute Javier Hernandez. He has a lovely habit of scoring against them. His first United goal was in the Community Shield against them, after he kicked the ball in to his face. He then scored against them in our 2-1 victory in the Champions League and again at the end of the season in the first minute of our 2-1 win which more or less sealed the title. Last season he scored the equalising goal at Stamford Bridge after we had gone 3-0 down. Yesterday, the player who is always offside or there abouts, scored the winner 15 minutes from time after running back from an offside position and not getting himself onside in time, after Cech fumbled Van Persie’s effort. Maybe you can look at this decision cancelling out the ref’s failure to send Torres off when they were losing, but we got our rub of the green with this one. Having scored two goals midweek, I had wanted Chicharito to start this game, believing he had another goal against Chelsea in him. With hindsight, the tactics were spot on, but I’m still chuffed Chicharito got his opportunity to shine.
8. I was very surprised to see United line-up with a 442 against Chelsea, having seen the manager play around with a diamond formation so regularly this season. That formation saw us deliver a great performance and result away to Newcastle and with Chelsea having the talent of Mata, Oscar and Hazard on show, I assume we’d look for some way of countering that. Instead, incredibly rarely for United in big games, we took our style to them with the hope we would outscore them and take advantage of their shaky defence. Would this have worked if the game had remained 11 vs 11? Who knows. Thankfully, Chelsea’s back four were all over the shop and we got those two early goals to put us in a excellent position to win the game.
9. Whilst it was good team performance, the player that stood out for me was Van Persie. He had a hand in all three of the goals as well as Ivanovic’s sending off. His clever ball through to Young caught Ivanovic out and lead to his clumsy clash. When our fans were weighing up the pros and cons of splashing out so much money on an older striker, you couldn’t ignore the fact this man is world class. He has the ability to win you football games. Whilst his name was on the scoresheet just the once, he was pivotal to our success yesterday, and that’s exactly why the manager thought he was worth the cash.
10. After that opening half an hour we weren’t too impressive and Chelsea still held their own when they lost their players. It was end to end for the first hour but it stands to reason that the quality of the game deteriorated after they had men sent off. All of it is fairly irrelevant though because the points are in the bag and that’s all that matters. To have fallen seven points behind them would have put us in a tricky situation at such an early point in the season. You don’t want to be chasing for months. United are now in a pretty comfortable position and it was hard to imagine that being the case on Sunday morning. Onwards and upwards…
Man Utd News 24/7
Let me do a memory refresh for everyone…
- November 8, 2009- Fletcher called for phantom foul on Ashley Cole after winning the ball clean. Terry scores the winner from ensuing free kick after Drogba nods on from a yard and a half offside. Referee- Atkinson
- April 3 2010- Drogba scores winner from 2 yards offside; ends up being title deciding points. Referee- Dean
- March 1, 2011- Luiz shockingly avoids second yellow for rugby tackling Rooney; Lampard scores the winner from EXTREMELY soft penalty on Smalling. Referee- Atkinson
- Atkinson also allowed Mata’s “ghost goal” for Chelsea against Tottenham in the FA Cup last year that changed the game
-Dean failed to send off Luiz against Newcastle last year for a professional foul on Demba Ba, and admitted his mistake after the match.
Atkinson and Dean- two referees that have made game changing decisions in Chelsea’s favor in no less than five crucial fixtures over the past 3 years, three fixtures involving United. So much sour grapes from Chelsea supporters and United haters. It all evens out. United were due their slice of luck.
Am I the only person who struggled to see that Hernandez goal was off side? Certainly with the benefit of freeze framing he appears to be marginally off side but in all honesty I couldn’t see if the ball had left Rafael’s foot at that split second. Really are talking about a hairs breadth and that’s with video technology. Nobody could honestly blame the linesman for allowing it.
I fully agree about the Torres dive. Contact doesn’t always equate to a foul. He threw himself to the ground needlessly after Johnny brushed off him and make it look like he had been hacked down. That’s simulation and that’s intentionally trying to hoodwind the ref and it’s yellow. I’ve just has a good look at the video and I believe it was the right decision taken by the ref.
I think this game may have same impact as the game when we ended 49 unbeaten run by Arsenal.
Till that game Arsenal was on fire, after our win all air went away from them and it was for me one of moments that Arsenal started to fall back. (Please correct me if i am wrong in facts).
Yesterdays game. Maybe Ch. was not on 49 unbeaten run but they have a team that has fresh midfield. So far in PL they were dominating, and we all could have impression that new chelsea is unstoppable.
Here we left our heart at bridge and we ended that delusion (well Sahtar did in CL during the week as well). I hope after this game Chelsea will start dropping points more often, as it also shows other team that they are beatable (same as was back with Arsenal).
As for the Chicharito goal take a look at this:
http://www.caughtoffside.com/2012/10/28/video-man-united-sub-javier-hernandez-scores-winner-that-was-clearly-offside-against-chelsea/
Was it the clamourous off-side decision that people are making it out to be? No way.
It was a marginal decision where it’s harsh either way. Thankfully we got the decision.
I don’t mean to be rude but what happened in the past had already passed. Nothing can rectify it nor change it, fans keep holding onto the events and vengeance. This is like a cycle. Keep going on and on with United and Chelsea. They will want to pick this match as unjust to them and we pick the 09/10 match as unjust. I don’t really see the point. What I want to see is for United to see it thru and finish the match. If without controversy all the better, they had to shut their mouth.
United winning today’s match signify the beginning of a three horses race for 2 months. A very tough and long exhausting battle till Christmas. United need a lot more improvement not just in defense but in finishing off opponent which is lack of players. Having 11 vs 10 or 9 did not seem to give United a very great advantage seems to be a problem. Whatever it is, congratz to United for getting the 3 points and may they improve and show the United spirit throughout the whole campaign.
SAF Note to Torres: It’s your own fault!!!
Good reactions. I would also like to point out that manager got the first half tactics Spot ON!
Changing from a diamond to 4 in the middle neutralize Chelseas usually dominant full back play. Cole and was repeatedly caught out and it could have been far worse.
The game changer for me was Rooney gifting the free kick. It was like he wanted to set chelsea up for a perfect position to score. How anyone could fault DeGea is beyond me. That was a perfect ball from Mata. But I do fault Rooney. He can be worse then Scholes for giving away free kicks.
Quote of the match was from the boss after Torres dive, he turns to bench and stays something like:
“I’ve waited 10 years for a call at this place. I’ll take it”
Unbelievable luck Chelsea have had for 10 years at the bridge, getting call after dubious call. For me, it’s been long long in coming.
I still felt like Chelski could score even with 9 men. MU went too defensive after going up 3-2. Really if they were quality they would have pressed harder for another goal to put the game beyond doubt.
I do mean to be rude: fuck Chelsea, fuck Torres, fuck Abramovic, fuck the ref, fuck the chavs.
Fuck ‘em all.
A long overdue win at the Bridge, a well-deserved 3 points indeed. Come on United!
“We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regards to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents,” a Chelsea FC spokesman told reporters.
“The match delegate will pass the complaint to the Football Association. We will make no further comment at this time.”
http://www.supersport.com/football/barclays-premier-league/news/121028/Chelsea_lodge_complaint_against_ref
to be really fair, lets not say stuff like “that game in 09 was unfair blah blah”, lets not make excuses. We were lucky that the ref made a couple of interesting calls, but a win’s a win right, we’ll take it! we were lucky, SO WHAT? WE’RE LUCKY SOMETIMES AND DAMN PROUD OF IT.
As for chelsea, their players are to blame for simply even putting themselves into such contentious situation. The ref wouldnt even have had a call to make had torres not exaggerated, he knew it was an exaggeration and took the risk. Hernandez knew he had a shot, and he took the risk. Guess who it paid off for? It’s all about risk taking, and if you took the risk, and ended up with a win/loss, dont complain. Dont be petty, especially when its pointless(pun intended)
Clattenburg sacked ?! Woow.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1130055/EXCLUSIVE-Clattenburg-sacked-referee-told-career-breach-contract.html
Clattenburg sacking was old story from 2009. Now corrected. Sorry!
After watching the decisive highlights several times I should admit that the referee had all the decisions nearly right except of course for Chica’s winning goal which in my opinion was very difficult for any linesman to make up his mind.after Rafael had the shot, Hernandez was few centimeters away from the two defenders, don’t mention the position of Peter Chech that blocked the view so this should also be justified with the Suarez’s disallowed goal against Everton the same day or even Arteta’s goal against Queen park…actually Chelsea has nothing to complain about, it was their players who made those mistakes and put themselves in a dubious position.they are moaning because this victory has inflicted a serious damage to their pride that is all.we played wisely as a team, we invited their players to make mistakes and they fell in the traps..expect many personal mistakes when you push all your power saving your pride in front of your fans..thats what happened to Chelsea..on the contrary we never panicked even after their second equaliser.the only floppy moment was for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half when Chelsea put too much pressure on us..one thing for sure Chelsea has lost their nerves early in the game, obviously the iron minded Chelsea was toothless without Terry and Lampard.
ex Infostrada Sports:
Javier Hernandez scored his 8th Premier League goal as a substitute. Only Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (17) has more for Man Utd.
Fergie got it tactically spot on yesterday. I was thinking united needed to match chelsea by playing a diamond formation but that’d have played into the blues hands but the idea of using wingers worked well. Chelsea are great going forward, possessing crafty playmakers that will open up any defense but they leave gaps behind, especially on the wings due to them being inclined to do damage through the middle.
Fergie decided to counter that with out and out wide men, both young and valencia are mainly wide men but tucked in to offer defensive solidity. They exploited the isolated ivanovic and cole, valencia was at his powerful best, you know exactly what he’ll do but fuck knows how to stop it. Combined well with rafael who is looking more impressive everytime. The samba star now has this imposing figure about him, really powerful now but he has the speed, instinct to attack, guile, skill and technique of a typical brazilian playing on the copacabana beach. Developing into a complete fullback, hope to keep seeing him do well.
De gea was fantastic last night, he kept united in the games with saves that he and only a rare few keepers can make. He did some of it in an unorthodox manner though, using mainly his feet but he has huge potential to eventually turn top class. Needs to nail down that NO 1 spot and even more encouraging, he disregarded any daft rumour of returning to spain which i personally thought had no realistic foundation anyway, he’s a fighter.
Thought cleverley put in a below par performance. I’ve always said he needed to make that extra step to be a top player. His decision making were not good, passes sloppy and defensively, did not aid the team. Disappointed with the way ramirez beat him in the box. Tom needed to show more desire for the ball there and he’ll have to showcase that as the pressure intensifies throughout the season. Too many sloppy mistakes can’t be afforded in a crucial position against top teams. Great central midfielders rarely get stuck in a cul-de-sac, they always know what to do before the ball gets to them, tom has that but he needs more and also has to put in more shift defensively. I hope to see him improve.
Van persie was superb. His all round game was a joy to behold. Twinkle toes, wand of a left foot, more often than not, great close control/first touch, vision, inter-link up play are immaculate plus a clinical finisher. i hope there’s more to come.
Rooney floated in and out of the game. Involved in the build up to the two goals but his influenced lessened as he dropped deeper to offer defensive help and as chelsea up their game. Hooked off at the right time, hopefully he’ll step his game up next time. His combination with van persie will hopefully get better as both are on the same wavelenght.
Hernandez must be brimming with confidence but i have to say, his strenght and power have improved. Defenders Can’t knock him off the ball easily as they once did, the premier league toughens players up. He has turned into a battler, his all round play might not be as good as the likes of welbeck, RVP and rooney but he has improved that side of his game and as ever, he’s bright and alert inside the 18yard box, almost like a wolf sniffing meat. Hope he keeps scoring crucial goals, i don’t think those starting ahead of him will be relaxing either.
Young had a decent game. the intelligent runs off the ball caused chelsea problems but he looked understandably rusty, sloppy passes which i hope will be cut out as he regains full fitness. He knows opportunities won’t come plenty, needs to grab opportunities given.
Carrick played well for the first 20mins but understandably waned as the creative midfield trio of chelsea stepped up their game. Really wasn’t offered any help by cleverley but used his experience to see off the game. Some of his passes to the forward players displayed michael’s ability but you hope he can be at his efficient best for the season.
Rio strolled through the game. His ability to bring the ball out as a defender is one of the best, wasn’t to blame for either goals and he didn’t let the bemusing abuse get the better of him. Evans was ok but i feel and hope there’s more to come.
Look, it was another mix bag game, never going to totally overwhelm chelsea home or away, they’re one of the best in world football. Laughable when some expected united to be naive and throw men forward against a team that may be down on players but still have individual players that can punish you. Add that to the fact united have not won a league game there for a decade and some perspectives can be found. Not saying united were brilliant and we need to improve massively, especially defensively but in games like this, results matter more.
Anyway, this match is only a taste of what’s to come as i think chelsea will be even more determined and fired up to win in the league cup/other comoetitions united face them in. Two victories there is probably asking too much but who knows, i just hope the younger players can get more chance to express themselves on the pitch. I’d imagine changes made to the entire team. Buttner for evra, maybe smalling might come in?, wooton and either michael keane or vermijl will hopefully start with lindergaard in goal. Fletcher, anderson, powell will occupy the midfield, would like tunni, lingard and larnell cole to get minutes. Up front, i hope to see joshua king playing and i hope he grabs the opportunity, probably with welbeck. Macheda, henriquez will hopefully get their chance and where on earth is petrucci?. The league cup is usually used for younger players, hope fergie sticks to that principle even though it’s a huge test. I hope chelsea don’t roll out their top players or the younger players will be in for a torrid game. Let’s hope they put out younger players, not saying that will be easy though.
Samuel, I have enjoyed reading your comment, thorough analysis indeed.hope we can inflict more damage at capital one cup..can’t wait to see the young lads doing it again.
Samuel, I have enjoyed reading your comment mate, thorough analysis indeed.hope we can inflict more damage at capital one cup..can’t wait to see the young lads doing it again.
I don’t agree with the notion that Torres made the decision to go down. I mean, he might have made a meal out of it, but it’s not a stretch to imagine that contact like that would make you lose your footing. As United fans, we defended Ronaldo losing his balance with similar, if not less impactful, contacts than that. That was never a second yellow in my opinion. However, Torres shouldn’t have been on the pitch at that moment anyway. So in an odd way, justice prevailed with a 30 minute delay. Chelsea’s real cause for complaint should be Javier’s winner. But like I said yesterday, they’ve gotten even worse decisions in their favour in the last few years so they don’t deserve any sympathy.
Refereeing aside, the SB curse is finally over and I couldn’t be happier. And with 11 wins out of 13 games, it hasn’t been a bad start to the season. But we shouldn’t let our guard down. There were times yesterday where our weaknesses were there for everyone to see.
Chelsea had a rough deal yesterday no doubt and, if they had kept 11 on field we would we may have been fortunate to come away with a draw. Anyway fuck em. I doubt many Chelsea fans would have held up their hands had the roles been reversed, and as many have pointed out , they have been on many occasions.
With a fully fit defence later this season , I reckon the OT. Match could be one of the best games this season.
I’m in Chelsea now and boy are those local lads dejected. Pure bliss pure bliss.
Costas,
I don’t get the arguement that the Hernandez goal was “obviously” offside. All the clips I am seeing are from wrong angles. Anyway, I agree about out “luck” at the Bridge. Hope we get some more with Webb in the Cup.
What are the odds we could beat the chaves home and away this year. Bet they just came way down.
Correction: Lee Mason is the ref for the Cup via Mandy Henry.
@Fletch
From the coverage I saw, there was an angle where they even drew the line and Chicharito was indeed behind it. Of course it wasn’t half as bad as the Drogba offside at OT, but he was just offside. With Javier’s quick movement and Cech in front of the linesman, there’s a good chance he failed to spot it.
Anyway, hope you’re right about us doing the league double over Chelsea mate. We haven’t done it in 25 years!
League Cup this wednesday:
Chelsea v Manchester United
Referee: LEE MASON,
Assistants: Jake Collin John Brooks,
4th Official: Michael Dean
All the best to the refs. They will need it!
Costas, Cheers mate. Think I saw the same view. All I am saying is that that view wasn’t the linos view. And there were alot of bodies flying about at pace. Think it might be very harsh on the assistant.
Not complaining mind, but I want to see the line drawn from directly above or from the refs view, not from 30meters one side or the other.
Erm, that Clattenburg article from Daily Fail was in 2009.
Agree that De Gea was class. This was probably not mentioned as much but excellent improvised save from David Luiz’s freekick as well in the first half.
bRed….. Caught that myself son.. See the next line of the post
Great news. Tickets ballot open for Galatasaray (3 prices £29.50, £58 or £72.50) via Peter Bolton!
The Hernandez goal was offside, lets just admit it. As for Torres, I wouldn’t complain if Evans got a yellow card for the trip. I believe 99% of us was expecting that, even Evans himself. The ref could also have chosen to give nothing, which was the easy way out, but he chose the hardest option, kudos to him. You can argue all day long if it was the correct devision or not, but I believe Torres’s belated fall & over zealous reaction tilted the decision against him. Had he just lay down there he might well have gotten his freekick
Bobby Charlton’s Combover @ 10:26: “Was it the clamourous off-side decision that people are making it out to be? No way.
It was a marginal decision where it’s harsh either way. Thankfully we got the decision.”
Agreed. Even the freeze-frame is a bit misleading because Chicharito was going away from goal when Rafael was hitting the ball. After being jobbed twice in mid-week against Braga when the freeze-frames seemed to show that he beat the off-sides trap, it’s probably swings-and-roundabouts which is gratifying when it works out in UTD’s favour.
Anyhow, I think that the last word on this matter belongs to Chicharito himself. When asked after the match if he was bothered that he might have been off-sides, he simply said something like “I don’t care because the referee ruled it a good goal.”
Samuel @ 11:17: “Fergie got it tactically spot on yesterday.”
Right.
BUT SAF didn’t set the team up in a conventional 4-4-2 since he overloaded the right side while Ashley Young (who I thought had his best game in the red shirt) was playing as a kind of “withdrawn inside left”.
TheWayneBoy was given licence to roam – he was everywhere for the first half-hour but the foul and subsequent fantastic free-kick-goal seemed to deflate him a bit (I’m not usually happy to see TheWayneBoy taken off but yesterday it was the right decision, even if it meant that SirRyanGiggs was introduced). He’s clearly the lynch-pin for this team – his versatility and willingness to work selflessly for the cause are of inestimable value.
Definitely offside but with Cech standing in front of him and the defenders there, and the quick movement, it was a very easy mistake to make for the assistant.
Are referees + their assistants any worse, or is the multitude of cameras and media hype magnifying what’s always been there? They love some controversy and the pundits don’t even know the rules so confusion reigns among the fans and people discuss it to the death. But that’s what they want. Like this storm in the US – the media will be disappointed if there’s no devastation to talk about for weeks on end.
“He threw himself to the ground needlessly after Johnny brushed off him and make it look like he had been hacked down. That’s simulation and that’s intentionally trying to hoodwind the ref and it’s yellow. I’ve just has a good look at the video and I believe it was the right decision taken by the ref.”
I tend to agree, but kind of thing will divide opinion. If someone like Torres is running at full speed and gets clipped, it can genuinely send him down. But what if put just puts him off balance? That’s a foul, but will he get it? Better to go down and ensure you get the foul, but maybe you’ll get booked for diving… The ref did what many have been calling for (to punish diving), but he’s getting endless flack for it. The refs can’t get it right when endless replays don’t prove it 100% either way and people will never agree.
A win is a win. After Christmas we will see who will be challenging for the title and you mark my words hazardand Oscar they will not like the wet heavy pitches at this time of the year.the race will be down to the two Manchester clubs. Fuck chelsea
The goal was offside but we were banging at the door once they were down to 9. Obviously you can’t prove a hypothetical situation but I’d really have expected us to push hard for a winner had the Hernandez goal been wiped off. If it hadn’t been him it’d have been someone else, Chelsea were dead on their feet and the game had gone for them at 9 men.
Good result but we were just careless at times. When the pressure was building in the first half we were to casual in going forward quickly hence we were so deep in our half. We let them have the ball which is always dangerous. This game called for Park to hurry the players up. Valencia to me started well but reverted to something that I dont like which he has picked up this season;he delays with his crosses and his decision making regarding that matter is suspect. I would like to see Clev stick with his man until the danger is cleared. He cant go with him a few feet and then let him go, whom is he leaving the guy with?
Overall I hope we thump them fair and square on Wednesday with a younger team to shut them up.
despite the controversy of the game, united’s attack is damn right devastating. RVP is showing us, what many thought berbatov would bring to the table, and see PPL this is what berbatov should have been doing, taking games by the scruff of the neck, and showing everyone what he is about. Overall we got the breaks, but damn is this side one hell of an attacking outfit
Chicha was offside marginally, but the guy was sprinting back after getting untangled from the net to the onside position, which I was more comfortable with
Also, I really don’t get why we brought in Giggs in instead of Anderson.
Both Giggs and Scholes need to retire in piece now.
As I’ve said before, bringing these guys in now, especially Giggs must be for statisticall/sentimental reasons only. Giggs coming on yesterday is like the cameo appearances of in M. Night Shyamalan in his own movies, it doesn’t change the plot or add to the story whatsover.
I hope we put in a tough shift from now on, especially against Arsenal on the weekend. It would be a shame to lose points after gaining so much ground with this victory.
Cleverly – well, your skills really come into focus not against the likes of San Marino, but against the Chelseas of the EPL and CL. Let’s see how he does the rest of the season in the big matches.
In the past I easily get angered by all the crap ABUs and other teams’ fans throw up once things go our way. But now I’m proud to accept that manchester united is the club most opposition fans love to hate. They hate us for our history, for our success, for evrything good about the club. In fact, I do believe if love and hate is quantifiable, the hate some of these people have for MUFC will be a thousand times more than the love they have for the club they support. They are happy when we stumble. Depressed and bitter when we (as always happen) rise again.
If clattenburg, as those morons would have u believe, was part of an FA-gill-fergie-MUFC conspiracy, then I wonder how ramirez, torres, and ivanovic managed to remain on the pitch past half-time. The goal was offside, but with our numerical advantage, we were going to score that winner sooner than later.
Valencia was through on goal and somehow managed to take a shot that was off-target by a mile. Maybe that woulda been scored if we were still drawing.
@fitb
Very good point about RvP / Berbatov.
Berbatov’s reputation wasn’t quite as stellar as RvP’s, but he was lauded as one as the league’s best strikers while at Tottenham. But he was just completely unable to hit the ground running.
Interesting also that in RvP we bought a player who’d been at the same club with the same manager for some 9(?) years. Berbatov had already had adapt to Tottenham after his time at Leverkusen. You’d expect the latter to adapt better to a new system/culture/atmosphere, but it happened the other way round.
A credit to what a fine player RvP is, rather than any sleight on Berbatov though.
Why the hell are people saying that if Chelsea had 11 on the pitch they would have won. Ivanovic got sent off because he stopped what would have a been an almost sure fire goal from Ashley Young. if we took the lead 3-2 there who says the game would have changed. Chelsea would have been forced to throw men forward leaving VP, Valencia and Young against just Luiz and Cahill.
Once again I feel the ref got BOTH decisions right and I feel absolutely ZERO remorse for Chelsea. They ripped us off so many times. now it’s time to have a taste of your own medicine. I hope we smash them on wednesday too to put the icing on the cake.
Also Cleverley had a poor poor game yesterday. Gave the ball away FAR TOO MUCH. I wasn’t surprised that when chelsea started to impose the game on us they doing it right down the middle. The middle is too soft. we need at least ONE top class defensive midfielder. I was also kind of surprised that Fletcher wasn’t given time. he’s slowly getting back to his best why not give him the time he deserves.
kanchelskis – great players can adopt to anything, and that is what RVP is. its the typical dutch mentality, while berbatov was worried about living up to the club’s expectations, where he perhaps loved the club to much he sometimes forgot what his job was, while RVP wants to be here to win things. What we have learnt is? there is still work needed to be done, but what fergie is finally learning? do not play scholes and giggs to much, get the best out of valencia, make sure we mix it up with our 4 strikers. I do think rooney has brought that dimension back to the team, and the impact hernandez is making, with RVP scoring and assisting, its the best attacking united side I have seen, since the 2001/02 season
On RVP – class. What I don’t like is seeing him constantly taking our corners. He should be in the box finishing them. Yes, they have been finally beating the first man since he took over the duties, but c’mon..can’t some one else do that?
On Rooney tacle – was hoping he’d redeem that bad decision with a goal from that free kick.
On DDG – that shot by Mata was unstoppable – side netting, not his fault at all.
I’m so glad Chelsea keep playing that money bag Torres up front, I’d be more nervous with pretty much anybody else in their squad starting up front including Sturrige.
Delighted with the win, Chelsea can suck it they have had enough decisions going their way.
RVP much like RVN is one of the best strikers in the world and I hope when his United career ends he’ll have won more than Ruud did with us because his talent deserves it.
We really need to sort our defense out though, we seem to be heavily vulnerable to crosses into the box and people seem to run past our players too easily it’s strange and needs to be sorted ASAP.
@Adam – Personally I don’t mind having him whipping in the corners as they are all difficult to deal with as they come in at the right height and pace. Of course we misses his finishing and reactions in around the box but I think it’s a sacrifice worth taking given the quality of his centres.
“we’ve deserved to win but have been robbed horribly by the referee, none worse than the game in the 2009-2010 season”
Are you pointing towards handball goal of Macheda? oh…I remember, that never happened, it was only Drogba offside that resulted in Chelsea win.
And MANU indeed have had very horrible luck at SB, remember two nonexistent penalties last season.
And you lot have your panties in a bunch regarding Torres chest stab on Tom but seemed to enjoy Evans’s flying kick on Drogba’s chest @ SB quiet entertaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs88nvpF_gw
To all re the tactics – Fergie got the tactics spot on to start with, which saw us exploiting both the space in front of Cole, and also behind him as in the Chelsea system, he is encouraged to support the midfield. The same also happened less frequently in the first 30 mins, on the left with Evra and Young against Ivanovic.
However, once Chelsea worked out where to position the full backs, and how to employ Mikel to break up the play (what he is in the team for) we looked far to vulnerable to the three Chelsea conquistadors.
Cleverly looked good up until this point as he wasn’t being asked to do the defensive side of his role, and went missing completely when Evans deflected onto the post. He was also guilty of giving the ball away at the point in the match where Chelsea were in the ascendency, and we needed to be better in possession.
Carrick and Cleverly then started to get over-run in midfield, as Chelsea were retaining possession better, and more numerous in midfield. Like someone else here, I thought Anderson would have given us more mobility in midfield, more legs, and possibly pushed Chelsea midfield back a bit, or at least stopped Mikel supporting the others.
At 2-2 it looked like Chelsea were still on top, albeit when Ivanovic was Red-carded, we were staring to come more back into the game.
The diamond works by dominating the game (either through possession or sheer weight of numbers) in midfield. It is more suited to play in Europe where you can push your full backs on as the defence is ordinarily playing against only 1 lone striker.
Perhaps we can see how 442 can work against 451 but it requires a huge amount of mobility, possession (and good use of the ball) and stamina which I don’t believe Carrick and Cleverly provide.
Ha. Fuck off you Rentboy cunts. No sympathy from me whatsoever. Fuck em’. Dispicable small time club. Di Mateo the pan head pulling Tony back. Piss off. Fans lobbing coins and a SEAT. Fucking filthy bastards.
The game was always gonna ebb and flow, that’s what happens in big games. Taking a 2 0 lead so early like Carrick said is dodgy. Do you go for the kill and leave yourselves open or sit back? Well United have always sat back in the 30 plus years I have watched them. A HUGE win and no mistake. Tyler calling Oscar, Mata and Hazard “Maestros”. Mata is clas but I thought the other two did fuck all. I am fucking sick of the scrutiny De Gea comes under. Top young keeper and he will be fine.
I found it HILARIOUS the venom coming from the abu’s. One cunt even dragged up the Mendez goal from 100 years ago. Get over it. They reckon Clattenberg was the Ref THAT day. Was he? I didnt think he was. Sweet win. As others have said Hernandez call was VERY tight. Yes on freeze frame he looks off but in that split second prior to Rafa hitting the ball he clambers back on. Impossible to call.
Durham said that IF they buy Falcao in Jan they will piss the league by 18 -21 points. Ha yes as that happens all the time Durham you thick cunt. Only United in 2000 won it by a daft margin. Ignorant little Ingerlunder.
Sorry this may offend some but I cannot fucking stick Gaz Nev these days. Arse licking City, Chelsea and Sky. Taking on Ingerlund role etc. Should be at United Gaz lad not rimming cunts like Chamberlain etc. He got well vexed about the tranny’s yellow. Pipe down Nev. “These players are getting booked for diving and ITS JUUST NOT RIGHT” Turn it in Gaz. Thought him joining Sky would see some balance for United but no he arse licks cunts like Torres. His reaction to the ladyboy’s goal against Barca last season was fucking cringeworthy.
Well done United. Now knock the classless cunts out the cup Wed.
Oh see their banner? One Love etc? Blatant rip off of United’s.
Ha the Sun today in Steven Howards match report “Hazard won a free kick for having the cheek to nick the ball of spud face” Spud face? Yeah well professional Howard you cunt., You couldn’t make it up.
UNITED
Lol kind Eric hahha thought I was reading one of goats responses for a second there.
Agrees about the DDG I swear the cunts on tv here going on about him being dodgy cause apparently unless every single goal attempt is saved by hands it’s not legit….give me a break.
I thought Mata was class, in fact I think that’s their only class player. Shame fergie never made a bid for him though I doubt we could compete with wage offer. Hazard was useless and Oscar had I think one good pass.
Torres got what he deserved anyone remembe the World Cup bit where he purposely clipped his own feet an flew like 15 feet?
the racism charge their levelling I suppose John terry will be called to give his expertise on the matter?
Agreed About Neville as well not sure y he’s involved in the England set up fuck that. Also he needs to get biased tv pundits are full of asshole abus.
King Eric Hello mate hope your well. Good post.. Ditto here , no sympathy.. Was up chavski way today, fu me oyu should hear them complaining, the fans that is. Conspiracy to keep unitd or the ‘ other manc cunts’ within chasing distance .
I should of tied a kot in i, pssing myself I was. United where pure class to start.
King Eric – despite some problems with the defense and midfield, that united attack is perhaps one of the most terrifying front-line in Europe, Shitty and chelsea do not have the frontline united have, in rooney RVP and hernandez along with welbeck, adding valencia’s attacking play, its a really fluent attack
I think Wednesday will go Chelsea’s way. They’ll come out proving a point, and we’ll field a “second team” ahead of the Arsenal clash on the weekend..
Adam- I hpe SAF fields seondteam wednesday. Fantastic chance for the lads to osak up the pressure and rest the lads for the match that matters.
What an honest and realistic assessment of yesterdays match by Patrick Barclay of London’s Evening Standard
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/patrick-barclay-dont-clatter-clattenburg-the-players-were-at-fault-8230713.html
He has won my respect!
@Hans.
” So don’t shoot the refs. They’re just the carriers of a garbled message.”
Good one!
United spotted the one big weakness in this Chelsea team; when they they have possesion of the ball in midfield both their full – backs push up simultaneously to support the midfield, leaving just the two centre backs to cover.
United’s plan was to win the ball in midfield and play quick balls into the gaps left by the fullbacks for our wingers to run onto; it led to our first two goals and it also led to Ivanovic’s sending – off since he was badly exposed because of the job he was being asked to do.
Fair play to United for spotting Chelsea’s big weakness and exposing it ruthlessly over and over; i’ve questioned the quality of SAF’s assistants in the past but I think on this occasion the manager and his teaM got it spot – on!
Hi Scott, I’m no united supporter but occasionally come here to read what the other side are up to. Just wanted to say that this was your best match report that I think I’ve read – I watched the match and totally agree with your sentiments. Bravo.
Absolutely loved that yesterday – every bloody second of it – and as I was explaining to mates I couldn’t give a monkeys how we won the points. Against a smaller team I may have a tiny bit of sympathy if we nicked all three points, but against Chelsea? No fucking chance. I’ve lost count of the amount of thefts we’ve suffered at the Bridge. They had it coming imo.
As for the ref and his decisions, we didn’t influence him, and we didn’t make his mind up for him, so he can fuck off as well haha. The Hernandez offside wasn’t as bad as the freeze frame made out, they should show the very next frame so we can see how fast Chica is moving. As for Torres, he went down too easily in my book and players get booked for that all the time.
Its only a problem when United get “dubious” decisions. There has never been a witch hunt after the various times decisions have gone Chelski’s way at the Bridge. We deserved the victory, and if we kept up the momentum of the first half we would’ve been 3 nil clear before anybody was sent off.
Some may not like it, but the ONLY complaint I’ve got is Rooney. I went mental when he conceded that free kick as it was so fucking obvious they were going to score ( just like it was obvious Rooney would put his similarly placed free kick well over the bar).
The game turned against us after we conceded, and giving away the free kick was Rooney’s fuck up (to put it politely). After that he was shite imo and im glad I didn’t have to wait to long to see him subbed.
Yes, on his day he is amazing but yesterday he was bollocks and when you’re 2-nill up against Chelsea at the Bridge you don’t give them a chance to get back into it before half time. Thats fucking suicide.
Don’t get me wrong, I only put it down as one bad match, but it must be said he was shite yesterday and played no real role in us winning the points. Its especially disappointing (and embarrassing) when you recall his long drawn out interview with Sky before hand.
Thank fuck we’ve got RVP, who showed his class and professionalism the entire game. The main thing is winning two very important games. Now all we need is a win in the League Cup, a win against Arsenal, and a win away to Braga. Its a tall order but United have the players and manager to do it.
@King Eric – hows its going mate? The funny thing with RedNev is all the non-United supporters suddenly love him for “keeping it so real!” Half the time I disagree with his views I think he’s playing devil’s advocate, like the Torres sending off. Fergie was spot on when he said it was Torres fault for going to ground to easy, as you run that risk whenever you try to buy a decision.
I didn’t agree with RedNev yesterday at all, but more often than not he’s bang on which is a nice change from the shite we usually hear. To be fair to him, yesterday was a bit special all round so I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt – he had his brother playing a derby and us at the Bridge. He must’ve been on edge all day!
The constant booing of Rio was amusing, as was the near complete reluctance of the commentators to mention it. At least Evra got a break (unless I missed them booing him as well). Classless Cunts. 3 points thank you very much.
One thing that amazes me is that Valencia’s yellow card is hardly mentioned anywhere. If Torres’ yellow for diving was wrong, so was Valencia’s. That should even things up – but somehow the ABUs make it sound like Torres would have won the game for Chelski. For a striker that hardly scores, that is an amazing expectation. Of course, a yellow for diving for Torres was worse for him since he already had his yellow – which should have been a red, which at that time in the game would have had a bigger impact as that was while United was still one up. But the ABUs seem to agree that it was not malicious, so that is why it was correct to give him a yellow. WTF – how can anybody know the intentions behind that kick???
The mind boggles about how the press came away from this match blaming Clattenburg for Chelsea’s loss. Goebbles would have been proud…
United Till I Die @ 00:04: “on his day he is amazing but yesterday he was bollocks and when you’re 2-nill up against Chelsea at the Bridge you don’t give them a chance to get back into it before half time.”
That’s harsh; but I do think that he seemed to lose his way after he needlessly fouled Mata and the subsequent free kick led to the goal that allowed TheRentBoyz back into the match. SAF was right to take him off, too. In the circumstances, he was trying too hard and was damned-lucky to not get a second yellow = red.
King Eric – great to see you contributing again; I missed your rants.
Some wise men said that if you cheat once, it will bounce back to you 10 fold.
Look at what’s happening to the “Divers” now.
Buck-tooth and Ladyboy getting it back to them for trying to cheat too much.
Long may this continue….
YEAH !!!
I hate to point this out, but I think De Gea is the weakest in our defense line right now. While his reaction and ball distribution are among the best in the world, his weakness in dealing with crosses and high balls are too big. There were many crosses that went not so far from him, and De Gea let the defenders deal with the ball. VDS would have caught the balls easily.
For example, the goal that Ramires scored. The ball was not too far from him, other keepers would have came out and catch the ball easily.
What worries is me that I cannot see De Gea’s improvement in this area. It looked to me like De Gea has not improved at all when it comes to handling crosses and high balls.
And then De Gea’s inability to organise our defenders, although that does not concern me too much because he is still young.
Why r people always surprised that v get robbed at Chelsea??..
As far as i can see the team is made up of Thugs, lowlifes & mercenaries..so yeah getting robbed seems fair when u go to the bridge..
Torres should have been sent off earlier. Every incident was blown out of proportion. Its just that they all happened in the same match.
Great game and performance from United especially in the first half, RVP is proving to be a great buy with his all round game and desire to win, De Gea ‘s performance was top notch and Man of the Match worthy and shows his improvement over his stay in the EPL, the only area we need to improve is the midfield cuz tht is the main leaky part that is causing the goals we are conceding cuz the defrence is not shielded so they usually succumb to pressure. Wonder why Nani was not introduce in the second half will have piled more pressure on the 10 men and create stuff, great win and performance looking up to the game Tomorrow.
MyCowl’sTheBest @ 09:46: “De Gea is the weakest in our defense line right now.”
I think that you’re being unfair. He’s an outstanding shot-stopper with fantastic reflexes.
Of course, he’s not as adept in terms of “commanding” the box and this is something that gets a lot of attention – if only because it’s his main weakness and when he fucks up, a goal often results.
BUT, more to that point, the ball that Ramires headed (and scored) was too far away from him – he could only have gotten himself jammed-up by going for it. AND that, too, has happened – earlier in the season, he and CaptainVIdic got themselves into a kind of “traffic snarl” and an easy goal for the opposition resulted.
Furthermore, it’s not exactly fair to compare a 21 year-old with Edwin, who was five inches taller and had 20 years of additional experience.
Finally, I think that De Gea’s biggest “problem” is that he doesn’t now – and never has had – a stable central defensive pairing in front of him; given the injuries/recoveries to CaptainVidic/BigManSmalling and Mr Jones, it doesn’t seem likely that this is going to improve in the near future. In the meanwhile, I think that we’ll just have to accept that DDG – like RedRafa – is still learning his job. He’s going to be an outstanding keeper when he graduates from being a student.
De Gea is the best keeper in his age bracket, and he can only get better. Weakest link? He has only one weakness far as I can tell, and that is something experience and time can fix. Reflexes and instinct and eye-brain-hand-leg latency is born natural.
Are the Rentboys trying to steal the song “it is never your fault” from the dippers? They commit purgery to defend their own players from rase crimes and fabricate race charges when they loose a game, and in the same second they kick in the door to Mr Clattenburg and threatens him. They acuse Evra when he wants to warm down…it goes on forever.
That club is pure class….pure pure class. Fucking twats. From the owner down to the caretakers.
Still floating after this one.
Last year – into the Arab Empire and we started defense first line-up. Cursed it before, after and during the game.
This year – into the rent boys building and we start a decent attacking line-up. Loved every second of it.
Loved the decision to bring on Cheech to stretch the defense and not allow them to try to push up and gain a smaller field for their reduced numbers.
Though I can be impartial I do try to be as objective as possible and , if the tables had been turned I too would be furious but the tables are not and we won . The offside pea goal. Well all players are schooled to keep in playing and factor in a linesmans error of judgement. All teams profit from it at times as frog did at OT a few seasons back
Torres brought it upon himself. He was on borrowed time. Even a write up on one of the Chelsea sites said he was , indeed lucky to stay put after the foul. However , ghat should not have a direct bearing on the red card. Catastrophising the collision , maybe with the intention of getting evens red carded warranted a red.
The point is, Chelsea should really not have any direct grievance against us. The officials well, thats a different argument.
I’m sure being champions of Europe , they deserve better , in their opinion.
United forced them to make errors. Og, first red via Ashley and the pea goal .
They need to man up get on with it , oh, and ban the cunt who hit the steward.
May I remind folk that the Luis Handball, Ashley Young being denied is 1v1 with a professional foul and Torres ‘assault’ all came before any Chelsea player was dismissed.
Clattenburg had a solid game. He is unfortunate in that there is a significant bandwagon that says united get decisions. Anyone who suggests united are treated favorably has their opinion legitimised by that bandwagon. Such views get a warm reception.
Had united lost I’d say we’d be focusing on the decisions I listed above. One point which I really feel merits mention is that even though Clattenburg properly sent Ivanovic off, a free kick 30 yards out and a red card was barely consolation for the chance to score a 1 vs 1 ‘clear goalscoring opportunity’.
Make no mistake we were flying back into the lead had we been awarded that penalty and had young the chance to score from open play. Chelsea resorted to foul play and were eventually punished which was only just.
brett – good summary
Bring on the Chavs! This time they wont even will have the chance to blame it on hte refs!
De Gea only has one weakness? As far as I can see, he has two! First, is his inability to organize the defense in front of him. Second, is his glaring weakness when dealing with crosses/high balls.
I am not against playing DDG. Like I said, he has one of the best reflexes in the world.But we need to do something about his inconfidence quick.