Man Utd 3-1 Chelsea

[TopDrog 119]

He's a natural born killaz, dude. A technique killaz as well.

He's an absolute legend.

His short match reports it's the spot between intelluctal and brilliance, with his sense of emotion with every sense, if emotes you to feel more about the performance and the team as a whole. And his philosophical that every one is African is truly amazing! He sees everyone as one, and speaks the truth.

Or, because it's cute?

I have become intoxicated with Tommy's match reports over time, and it is basic instinct to rep him whenever i see it.

His charm. :eyebrows:

he has become a cult ...like celery

:giggle:

[Kostas 1,468]

Since even Tommy posted his thoughts I might as well round-up and finish a post that I started writing a few minutes after the final whistle. Being 2 days late I doubt much of what I'm writing is new but this frentic game deserved more than the usual paragraph and I couldn't keep it short.

You can run out of words like busy, extremely open and entertaining before you give the game justice. A game which Chelsea lost hasn't been that exciting in years and while AVB may get much of the credit for the way it turned out I can't possibly believe he could have planned for something as crazy as that.

Some weak marking and the linesman created the first goal but I found we completely controlled the game from the that moment until Ramires' miss and from shortly after the 2nd goal (haven't seen enough replays, definitely Meireles and to a certain point Mata at fault but could Cech have done better?) until the stroke of luck that reminded me who we were playing with and formed the harshest HT derby scoreline I can remember in recent years.

At half time I was as gutted as any Chelsea fan but I was probably more positive about how the team played than most of the users here. When 2 out of their 3 goals were either an offside or a lucky deflection anyone who can't see why we laid the blame on our luck rather than our performance is being an asshole for the sake of it.

While we absolutely didn't deserve to trail after 45 minutes of football we could have conceded 3 more goals in the half that we actually won, if that doesn't sum up the game nothing does.

On to some individual aspects and specific players:

Contrary to our attacking play our defense is beginning to look like the weakest it has been in eons. In both halfs our central defenders were drawn out of their positions too often and we always needed at least two players to disposes any of their attackers. As much as I love Brana I'm not convinced about being paired with Terry as they have the same strengths and weaknesses. Ashely Cole was busy throughout the whole game and lost quite a few battles, while I don't buy any of the talk of him turning shit this was his weakest performance since our game against United in last year's Community Shield. Bosingwa unsurprisingly didn't convince me and was troubled more often than not but we somehow didn't pay for it.

Our midfield mostly worked and Ramires contributed more to it than both our other midfielders in the first half and could hold it his own in the second. Ironically he unforgivably missed our most important chance of the game and that is something that can't be overlooked. Starting Meireles over Mikel did make sense as far as I'm concerned cause Meireles is more mobile and he actually did do some important work but let AVB down in Nani's goal. While I won't join the crowd who demands Lamps being exiled to the stands I think we've seen enough to be confident about him needing to start more games on the bench rather than on the field.

Juan Mata may have not been the star we've grown used to seeing as he was not as imposing as in previous games but he was involved in pretty much everything we did and was once again one of our best players.

On to Torres. Where does one begin?

I may have too often pointed out his lack of service and defended him against some of the stupidest arguments thrown around by CFC fans but I up until this derby he was in all but ~5 of his games for us a waste space. Finishing aside (and I do count his very well taken goal) he had his best Chelsea game and had nothing to be jealous of his Liverpool days. Granted United's CB pairing was weak/inexperienced but he did tremendously.

Despite feeling I shouldn't discuss his miss I will because it left me speechless and very worried, not so much because if the game was more important it would have been worthy of a fine cause it would make even Kalou embarrassed and people (me included) would (rightly) ask for his head but because if that doesn't demolish his confidence for at least next two months nothing will. It was always going to take either an injury or that to ruin the run of form he seemed to be going on.

After having 2 contenders for miss of the season in one big game and being unable to properly enjoy a Rooney penalty miss (think we all know why) I would usually curse the hour I decided to watch the game but thankfully it wasn't the case, that is an achievement in itself .

Of course the general consensus would have been different had the game been in April/May or in CL knockout stages but I think if we succeed in strengthening our defence, which (RB aside) shouldn't be too difficult, this game will be remembered as the beginning of something really exciting.

[zolayes 14,489]

excelent post Kostas ..agree with most of your comments .It was a promising display ,,of course the media largely concentrated on the Torres

miss .I now feel much more confident than I did two weeks ago. And also more confident for the longer term future. The proviso ,,Roman is

patient .

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Bosingwa unsurprisingly didn't convince me and was troubled more often than not but we somehow didn't pay for it.

I actually think he did well though. Defensively anyway, it's one of his more better shifts in a while. Kept Ashley Young at bay..

Agree with the rest though, Miereles over Mikel was a bad decision. He can't tackle!