Closed Man United 2-2 Chelsea

[Jase 43,479]

Manchester United vs Chelsea
POST-MATCH DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS



FA Cup Quarter Finals
10th March, Sunday 2013
Old Trafford
16:30 Kick Off (UK time)

[Hutcho 8,443]

Started terribly, but we showed fight and resilance, and were an absolute joy to watch in the second half. Unlucky not to win the game, but when hazard came on we were truly great. Amazing goal by him and mata dictated things.

I said before the game that i would be happy win lose or draw provided they put the effort in and left it all on the pitch and they did that, so i am happy...

Crap draw though, if we beat united we get city...

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

Strange Photo....

Great ComeBack!!

Unlucky to not score the third...

Soft 2 conceded goals....

At the Bridge we are worse lol...

[Rmpr 8,977]

@, I think you own me an appology!

[Rambo 1,729]

the travelling fans did not disappoint! Their voices were heard all game.

[Laylabelle 9,292]

That was intense...propar game of two halves!Gutting to not get the win but didnt even look like we'd be capeable of a replay at 2-0 down so meh...

Need more of the other half next time!

Draws a bit eeeeeeek if we do get through..but we like Wembly

[renanh 311]

Im watching Chelsea TV and i finally figured out Rafa's strategy for this match.

Field a team full of horrid mistakes on the first half > Get Crushed > Fix all the stupid mistakes during half time > Get Praised for his "great subs".

Gritty performance and a glorious second half. Hazard MOTM.

[Leif 6,006]

1: If I see "Credit to Benitez for the subs", I may be sick. No credit should be given to an idiot who left Hazard + Mikel out in the first place and started our worst centre-back pairing which led to 2 goals conceded.

2: In general, not good enough. Good, but not great. Attack was fluid although Ba was isolated, and Torres kept summing up his Chelsea career once he was on.

3: Mata is our best player. Hazard is our 2nd best player. 'Nuff said about that.

4: Ashley Cole is now an average player. I couldn't even count the amount of times he failed to track a player and was sliced open. Luke Shaw - come at us bro.

5: Moses is good but today wasn't his day. He should be starting against the Wigan's, Stoke's etc.

6: Oscar on the wing is just...

7: Mikel once on the field, was fine. I expect that level from him EVERY game - but we don't get it every game. So anyone posting in the Mikel thread as I write this "THIS IS WHY HE'S UNDERRATED", I want to poo on you. 2 big errors which led to 2 Man Utd counter-attacks happen within the space of 5 minutes; the first of which he didn't even try and make up for. He just stood there, watching.

8: Ramires, goal aside, I thought wasn't too great. Nice finish I guess.

9: Mata was Mata.

10: Cahill is an average defender who should be playing for an average team.

11: Luiz will not be good enough for us in the centre-back position until we get a proper manager in a la Jose.

12: Azpi doesn't stay wide enough at times. It was good towards the end of the match when he cut in and mingled with Hazard, but during the first half he kept leaving the flank exposed.

13: Lampard shouldn't start these games anymore.

14: Terry - Iva/Luiz shoulda probably been the centre-back pairing.

15: I've said for so long now how much Cech has declined yet always get attacked for my opinion. Hopefully people now see it too. His kicks/passing is beyond awful most of the time and he keeps ball-watching.

16: We only started bossing the game once we played with DI MATTEO'S preferred midfield - Mikel/Rami - MaZaCar (cringe). It should stay that way.

Manager: 4.5/10

Team: 6.8/10

MOTM/Mata: 8/10.

[iceboy 992]

Absolutely we deserved to win. We will smash them at Stamford Bridge..Hazard whaatttt a goallll.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

Only if we had a proepr Striker ( instead of torres)... could score twice...

[Clevemayer 764]

thank god the rest of the team was good enough so Mikel could be useless as he always is to the team...

and I apologise for my fault, because I thought Mikel would do better if the players in front of him did better and where takeing runs and demand the ball...

hazard was great unbeliveable really...

Sell MICKY NOW...

[Rupert 130]

Well done Rafa and the boys! I watched the LFC v Spurs game at the same time. What a difference! LFC were dragged to victory and roared on by their supporters even when they were trailing. But Chelsea had to fight against the UTF crowd and the usual posse of ignorant goons with a hate agenda who try to pass themselves off for the TV cameras as Chelsea supporters.

[Milan 17,835]

At Old Trafford Chelsea FC is simply the best in England.

[The Skipper 20,593]

MAN CITY NEXT IF WE BEAT UTD.

And then potentially Millwall in the final if they beat Blackburn and Wigan... Can you imagine.

We should've won today. Fair play to Benitez for actually reacting with early substitutes... Hazard should've started though. United were there for the taking. Credit to Hazard for coming on and inspiring the beginning of the turnaround with his brilliant goal. One of his best performances this season but my MOTM goes to Luiz for being an absolute MONSTER at the back in the second half, he pretty much shut down the whole United attack. It was his excellent interception that started off the move for the Hazard goal, and he almost done it again when he nicked the ball from RVP and played a brilliant ball in to Mata, who had his excellent shot saved by an excellent De Gea save unfortunately.

Today we had a glimpse towards the future. The potential these lads have is insane, especially with the likes of Lukaku, KDB and Courtois coming back soon as well. If we can get a manager who can get them to perform like this consistently we'll be laughing with trophies.

KTBFFH!

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Am I seriously the first person to vote for Ramires as MOTM? I thought he was the obvious choice (with Hazard being second) Not only did he score the tying goal, but he was solid throughout, breaking up plays and leading the charge, and our central midfield was the only part of the team was solid all game. Luiz had some brilliant moments (the interceptions that lead to the goal, the pass to Mata), but also had some awful ones (he probably should have got a head to the opening goal, his awful almost OG, letting Welbeck walk right around him to create a 2 v 1). Nice to see us come back. We've had three games against ManU and all three have been very entertaining. We've got two more to go as well.

[Milan 17,835]

BTW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y1M6oWUsRXI

I really do feel sorry for Torres now, the bastard from the Ferdinand family deserves to be punished!

[Jype 6,398]

What a second half performance. If the lads play like that from the start United will have no chance in the replay.

For once Benitez' substitutions really had an effect on the game but can't give him too much credit for the changes because before the game most of us were already calling for Hazard and Mikel to play from the start. Perhaps it was good this way, now they didn't know what hit them when the game changed so quickly after the double substitution, if both had started the game I doubt their impact would've been as critical as it was in the second half because Ferguson would have had more time to prepare.

[Ollie 4,400]

All i can say is wow! I'm stunned actually but also a bit gutted we didn't get the winner, it would've been the most unbelievable feeling if we had won that game, one of the best ever. I'm so proud of the lads but i don't understand why we can't do this in so many other games. This is what happens if you have a real go. We have a fantastic team, today showed exactly what we can do.

I swear if Hazard, Oscar, Moses and Mata stay with us for the best part of a decade, we'll be unbelievably good. when this team gets their finger out and actually gives this level of performance on a consistent basis, we'll be fucking great. Hazard was awesome when he came on, completely changed the game.

I just wish we'd show this level more often. This was as good as when we were playing Arsenal and Tottenham in the early parts of the season.

The real Chelsea played today and some pride was restored.