Closed Man United 0-0 Chelsea

[The only place to be 11,313]

I don't understand. Just because we got a draw against "The Champions Of England" people are not allowed to say that Jose selected the wrong team in their opinion? The Champions Of England were there for the taking, we are one of their main rivals not some sort of small club.

You can say anything - but it's still just your opinion. We went up there not to lose and we accomplished that. We defended from the front and in that regard Schurrle was absolutely fantastic. He rushed their defenders into making mistakes and didn't stop.

Defensively we were very solid but our attack was a mess. It's all well and good playing 4 attacking midfielders but our attacking was a mess. We usually bypassed the whole team by booting a long ball up to Schurrle which is an automatic loss of possession because he stands no chance in the air against Vidic or Ferdinand. It would've been far more plausible to play Lukaku or Ba who are both more adept to that situation. Mourinho got it wrong in that aspect. He also got it wrong by starting Lampard. We needed more energy in midfield and there really wasn't enough space available to use Lampard effectively until later in the game when spaces opened up more. Would've been better to see Frank come off the bench for this one.

He sacrificed aerial dominance for defensive solidity, which Schurrle provided. He also made some excellent runs that we simply couldn't pick out well enough but that will come as the team gels. As for Lamps, he did a fine job and it's good to have that experienced head in a new team.

The match performance, tactical set up and (especially) subs were poor IMO but we still got away with a decent result. The fact that United were there for the taking though leaves a bit to be desired. My biggest concern is that people (and Mourinho) gave United way too much respect and are seriously underestimating what our lads can do when they do play their football.

United are the champions and they deserve respect. We negated one of the most dangerous strikers in Europe and came away from one of out title contenders with a point. That's how leagues are won - you need to win your home games against your rivals and United failed in that regard.

Contrary to some of the posts in this thread, the season still has 8 months to run and no trophies are being given out yet.

[Stingray 9,441]

I don't understand. Just because we got a draw against "The Champions Of England" people are not allowed to say that Jose selected the wrong team in their opinion? The Champions Of England were there for the taking, we are one of their main rivals not some sort of small club.

Defensively we were very solid but our attack was a mess. It's all well and good playing 4 attacking midfielders but our attacking was a mess. We usually bypassed the whole team by booting a long ball up to Schurrle which is an automatic loss of possession because he stands no chance in the air against Vidic or Ferdinand. It would've been far more plausible to play Lukaku or Ba who are both more adept to that situation. Mourinho got it wrong in that aspect. He also got it wrong by starting Lampard. We needed more energy in midfield and there really wasn't enough space available to use Lampard effectively until later in the game when spaces opened up more. Would've been better to see Frank come off the bench for this one.

The match performance, tactical set up and (especially) subs were poor IMO but we still got away with a decent result. The fact that United were there for the taking though leaves a bit to be desired. My biggest concern is that people (and Mourinho) gave United way too much respect and are seriously underestimating what our lads can do when they do play their football.

It may be just an opinion, but i share it.

Carefull, don't click if you are really sensitive

[Strike 7,548]

LOL at the overreaction on here. A draw away to United with a good defensive performance. I'm fine with it

[The_Flash 1,144]

It may be just an opinion, but i share it.

Can I just say that is pretty disgusting, instead of spoiler, perhaps offensive picture would have been better, i am not sure i will ever unsee that.. YUCK!!!

:mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed:

[Stingray 9,441]

Can I just say that is pretty disgusting, instead of spoiler, perhaps offensive picture would have been better, i am not sure i will ever unsee that.. YUCK!!!

:mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed: :mouthclosed:

Lmaoooo !! You are easily shocked then :-)

[The Skipper 20,609]

You can say anything - but it's still just your opinion. We went up there not to lose and we accomplished that. We defended from the front and in that regard Schurrle was absolutely fantastic. He rushed their defenders into making mistakes and didn't stop.

He sacrificed aerial dominance for defensive solidity, which Schurrle provided. He also made some excellent runs that we simply couldn't pick out well enough but that will come as the team gels. As for Lamps, he did a fine job and it's good to have that experienced head in a new team.

United are the champions and they deserve respect. We negated one of the most dangerous strikers in Europe and came away from one of out title contenders with a point. That's how leagues are won - you need to win your home games against your rivals and United failed in that regard.

Contrary to some of the posts in this thread, the season still has 8 months to run and no trophies are being given out yet.

Well, you're satisfied because we came away with a draw. I'm okay with it but personally I think we could've won had Mourinho played a more attacking team, or more importantly, substituted in the right people when the game was opening up. Could've easily thrown on Lukaku instead of Torres (mind boggling decision IMO), could've maybe thrown on Mata. Could've maybe thrown on Mikel earlier to allow Ramires more freedom..

Just those three subs would've given us a greater platform to nick a win whilst still pretty much keeping a pretty strong defensive unit out there.

He played it too safe IMO, and that is what annoys me. I'm not the type of person that's completely satisfied with a draw when a win could've been attained as well, regardless if it was United at OT.

EDIT:

Re: Schurrle, I think that Lukaku could've done exactly what Andre did but would've helped us be more solid defensively as well because with him up front we wouldn't have lost the ball as soon as Cech booted a long ball up. Lukaku would've helped us keep possession a lot better and thus releasing the strain on the defensive unit.

[Fulham Broadway 17,379]

Best thing about last night...

Moyes has still never won at old Trafford :blue scalf:

[Strike 7,548]

Well, you're satisfied because we came away with a draw. I'm okay with it but personally I think we could've won had Mourinho played a more attacking team, or more importantly, substituted in the right people when the game was opening up. Could've easily thrown on Lukaku instead of Torres (mind boggling decision IMO), could've maybe thrown on Mata. Could've maybe thrown on Mikel earlier to allow Ramires more freedom..

Just those three subs would've given us a greater platform to nick a win whilst still pretty much keeping a pretty strong defensive unit out there.

He played it too safe IMO, and that is what annoys me. I'm not the type of person that's completely satisfied with a draw when a win could've been attained as well, regardless if it was United at OT.

I felt United were pushing more than Chelsea ( energetic pressing throughout the game)

a draw is fine though. can't win every game

[bushman 2,043]

Of course the draw was a good result. Offensively, Chelsea played shit. Defensively, an excellent performance.

Just one thing I like to add here. Chelsea played with 4 kids under 22 year old. An experience & a half for them.

[JayC 171]

Yeah, and Van Persie could have been killed at the Liberty Stadium last season!

I'm still disgusted about this.

As for the game - I was quite happy with the result. For me Moyes passed his first major test. Let's be honest too, we were the only ones trying to play football. Jose came for a draw. If the game would of been won, it would have been by us. Your team looked flat, and very out of ideas.

No mata = disjointed. A total lack of creativity in my opinion. Long may Jose leave him out.

[cujo101 75]

Amazed Lukaku didn't feature yesterday. After his hat-trick last season, he would have been confident of causing the United back line trouble. Playing with Schurrle made us look afraid of the opposition and guilty of 'parking the bus'. Oh and Torres? What's the point?

[robsblubot 3,595]

It was a good result only if we beat them at the bridge. Well it will also depend on how both teams are doing in the league then, so another draw might be another good result or a terrible one.

[Leif 6,006]

Mourinho did what had to be done. You just cannot lose to such a big rival so early in the season in his books. It doesn't fit his philosophy or psychology even to show early weakness and to have all cards on show. He's got us past Man United away already this season yet we still don't even have a clue what our strongest XI looks like. This makes us incredibly hard to scout for opposition teams. Everything Mourinho does or says is done for a knock-on affect. He wanted us to draw. So we drew, for more reasons than we're even discussing;

Us winning would have possibly left a bad taste in Manchester United's mouth, meaning there'd be more chance of them not being willing to sell Rooney to us. Us losing however would have made United look stronger and Rooney would perhaps not even want to leave afterwards. But no instead we were safe, we drew, and now everything can continue to go along nice and neutral for now which is what we need when we're just getting into the season's rhythm.

Clearly we had an agreement with United (which has seemingly been broken, dickheads), but even more clearly we were playing for a draw and got what Mourinho wanted yesterday.

[JayC 171]

Us winning would have possibly left a bad taste in Manchester United's mouth, meaning there'd be more chance of them not being willing to sell Rooney to us.

Oh, so you threw us a bone. You allowed us the point. Thank you.

Wow.

[nofacej 132]

I'm still disgusted about this.

As for the game - I was quite happy with the result. For me Moyes passed his first major test. Let's be honest too, we were the only ones trying to play football. Jose came for a draw. If the game would of been won, it would have been by us. Your team looked flat, and very out of ideas.

No mata = disjointed. A total lack of creativity in my opinion. Long may Jose leave him out.

He may have passed his first test, but passing with 50% is hardly impressive. Your lot were playing at home, but barely troubled our defence all night. You say we looked flat and out of ideas, and to an extent I agree with you, but United didn't look any better.

[JayC 171]

He may have passed his first test, but passing with 50% is hardly impressive. Your lot were playing at home, but barely troubled our defence all night. You say we looked flat and out of ideas, and to an extent I agree with you, but United didn't look any better.

We looked a lot better. We played football.

Don't confuse parking the bus with playing well in defence.

[nachikethas 1,154]

I'm still disgusted about this.

As for the game - I was quite happy with the result. For me Moyes passed his first major test. Let's be honest too, we were the only ones trying to play football. Jose came for a draw. If the game would of been won, it would have been by us. Your team looked flat, and very out of ideas.

No mata = disjointed. A total lack of creativity in my opinion. Long may Jose leave him out.

why didn't you guys win then after playing 'football'?

what happened to your best striker(not Rooney). How many clear cut chances had mu got? T

[jonaaibosk 191]

We looked a lot better. We played football.

Don't confuse parking the bus with playing well in defence.

You didn't play that well. RVP was nullified all night. Young and Valencia did nothing of note whilst on the park. Welbeck missed a clear cut chance wildly. Jones, Evra and Rooney were about your only players who deserved pass marks.

I'm not saying we played better, because we didn't, but......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0qsi1z4Fi8

if you thought that you played any better than we did.

[JayC 171]

why didn't you guys win then after playing 'football'?

what happened to your best striker(not Rooney). How many clear cut chances had mu got? T

As I said - Jose came for a draw and brought the big blue bus with him. Be honest with yourselves - this wasn't a good footballing display. It was close to embarrassing in my opinion for Chelsea. The team looked awful..

I'm not trying to be funny - but I watched every minute of that game.

One more note - I don't think we were brilliant either. But we were better and we wanted to play.

[nachikethas 1,154]

There wasn't single moment were united had urgency to score a goal. They were just happy with us.

even with our failed double pivot we had 45%possession.