Closed Man United 1-1 Chelsea

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

We shared the ball when Oscar, Hazard & Willian were on the pitch. I'm not claiming we were dominating like some here do. But if you replace Oscar by Mikel, Hazard by Schürrle & Willian by Zouma you just surrender and hope to avoid the deathblow.

I would argue the majority of the time Oscar, Hazard and Willian were on the pitch the game favoured Utd. They had a better first half than us and from 54 to 75 we had the better run and control.

Its weird because what we're talking about is a game that is on knife's edge. If we go forward and look for the deathblow, we open ourselves up to allowing the opponent to catch us.

I'm saying the tactics were dictated, not by the flow of the game, but by the simple fact that we had 3 CM's on yellow cards and we were no longer able to press aggressively win the ball and counter attack. When you're 'cautioned' the approach to the game must be 'cautious'

we had 6 yellow cards, I can't remember a game where that many were doled out.

[thekid9 418]

I was surprised Jose changed it so early, we were comfortable after the goal with the same players, as soon as oscar came off, Mikel started giving the ball away and we just sat back!

[mikeholiday 209]

I was surprised Jose changed it so early, we were comfortable after the goal with the same players, as soon as oscar came off, Mikel started giving the ball away and we just sat back!

Oscar got himself booked by kicking a united defender. He was defending ok so i think this was the reason he was subbed off.

[thekid9 418]

Oscar got himself booked by kicking a united defender. He was defending ok so i think this was the reason he was subbed off.

Matic,Ivan,Hazard,drogue were all booked.....not the reason, think he just wanted Mikel on too shore it up, which had the opposite effect! If we had just keep our passing game going we would have won! instead of sitting off them

[Blue Armour 4,168]

Some interesting analysis on MNF about the game. LVG ran our midfield ragged in the first half but Jose fixed it in the second half. Neville said we should've gone for the kill (like many of us have said) but he thinks it's more the players' mentality than Jose's, which is debatable.

Can guarantee the story would be different if Chelsea had scored the first goal in the first half or at least very early in the second. No way would the manager have let them withdraw so early on in the game.

[chelseafc9010 224]

hey man! the stats don't lie!!! Utd Dominated us in the second half!!!

hahahaha

You two geniuses do know that they kept doing that to create space between Cesc and Matic, right?

[didierforever 7,349]

We shared the ball when Oscar, Hazard & Willian were on the pitch. I'm not claiming we were dominating like some here do. But if you replace Oscar by Mikel, Hazard by Schürrle & Willian by Zouma you just surrender and hope to avoid the deathblow.

Oscar was taken out in the 67th minute. Hazard in the 90th and willian in the 93rd. So u r saying that it was jose's mistake to take out hazard and willian for a combined 4 minutes. Should we have gone for the second goal after the 90th minute? That's just weird. Infact jose's subs confirm what his thinking was. Jose wanted a 2nd goal on the counter. That was the only reason why hazard and willian were on the pitch and it was they who could not get it. As for the subs, be it united or palace or even QPR. If they are down by 1 goal in the extra time, they will throw the kitchen sink at u. It was upto us to defend at that time not counter.

As for the oscar sub. What did u expect? Matic, cesc and oscar were all on yellows. Dowd was giving a yellow on every touch of ours. U would have had all 3 of our CMs on yellows ans unable to make any tackld whatsoever?

[Thor 2,131]

Just re watched the first half in particular... Who are these "experts" saying that United were better in the first half? I just watched the damn thing and they had nothing going in the first 20 minutes, at all. All these "shots" they had were about 10 yards wide or high each time. They had the Van Persie opportunity moments later, but meh. We were constantly around their goal in the first 25 minutes and if we ever figured out one of the 4 or 5 corners we had in that time, things could have been different again.

We should be fairly happy with our game considering the amount of movement Remy and Costa offer which contribute in a large way to our game. Drogba was mainly a passenger outside a select few plays.

Also just watching on a 2nd viewing, you get to notice and appreciate the little things Luis does. Great at getting forward and adding more potency to our attack. He was fantastic at times getting down the wing.

[Special Juan 27,104]

The Mail Online have some good pieces on today about the sheer holding, grappling and headlocks that occurred on Sunday v United. As a whole and not just us the only way to stop this is to give a penalty every time it happens, that is the simple and only way it begins to stop. Some of the images are quite laughable http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2809356/Chris-Smalling-Marcos-Rojo-John-Terry-Branislav-Ivanovic-headlocks-referee-saw-no-reason-award-spot-kick-s-time-clamp-penalty-box-wrestling-blocking.html

[thekid9 418]

I dont know if I am missing something here but I don't know why Hazard got some MOTM votes. I thought it was a very poor performance from him today

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Matic,Ivan,Hazard,drogue were all booked.....not the reason, think he just wanted Mikel on too shore it up, which had the opposite effect! If we had just keep our passing game going we would have won! instead of sitting off them

So what would you have done, brought on Salah or Solanke to give United even more room to exploit?

[thekid9 418]

So what would you have done, brought on Salah or Solanke to give United even more room to exploit?

Was not need to take Oscar off so Early

[ParNolio7 285]

I'm saying the tactics were dictated, not by the flow of the game, but by the simple fact that we had 3 CM's on yellow cards and we were no longer able to press aggressively win the ball and counter attack. When you're 'cautioned' the approach to the game must be 'cautious'

Hazard only took his yellow seven minutes from the end, he was never going to catch a second one. If anything, a United player might have had a yellow or red taking down a Hazard on the break in the dying seconds, should he been kept on the pitch.

Anyway, I agree with Stats, that a Fabregas substitution would've made a lot more sense, he had a very tough match (credit to UTD) and was clearly tired, he was never going to do a major contribution in the final minutes. A fresh pair of lungs in his place would've made perfect sense.

[stroey 2,525]

Was not need to take Oscar off so Early

Oscar was not in the game, he got a silly yellow too for kicking Smalling when the ball was already played. (Some fans even said it could've been a red card, i'm not sure.

Bringing Mikel would release pressure from both Matic and Cesc in the midfield. Cesc could attack more, Matic could press higher and help in attack (what he did) because Mikel changed into the main CDM.

Also, the flow of the game went into a direction that a red card was a surely coming. Mou saw this, that's why he subbed so early.

[ParNolio7 285]

Oscar was taken out in the 67th minute. Hazard in the 90th and willian in the 93rd. So u r saying that it was jose's mistake to take out hazard and willian for a combined 4 minutes.

Err, in which minute did we take the goal?

Everyone knows that the dying minutes are often the most crucial ones when there's just a one goal difference. Definitely in the EPL. And most definitely against Man United, who have a particular reputation in that respect.

[ParNolio7 285]

Should we have gone for the second goal after the 90th minute? That's just weird.

No that's not what I'm saying. Hazard and Willian are just excellent players to hold on to a ball & kill time. Give Hazard the ball in the 90th minute, he will make a run towards the corner flag and he'll end up getting a foul in our favour, a throw in in our favour or a corner in our favour. Willian is pretty much capable of the same thing.

But take those players off, replace 'm by purely defensive players and what you do is you allow Man United to go look for that foul, that throw in, that corner ... You automatically put yourself on the back foot, and that is deadly in a tight match like that.

As for the oscar sub. What did u expect? Matic, cesc and oscar were all on yellows. Dowd was giving a yellow on every touch of ours. U would have had all 3 of our CMs on yellows ans unable to make any tackld whatsoever?

Nope, the Oscar substitution I can indeed understand. It's the Hazard & Willlian replacement that I'm concerned about. Fabregas would've made a lot more sense, there was no added value for him in that final phase.

[didierforever 7,349]

Err, in which minute did we take the goal?

Everyone knows that the dying minutes are often the most crucial ones when there's just a one goal difference. Definitely in the EPL. And most definitely against Man United, who have a particular reputation in that respect.

Errr... we got the goal in the 53rd minute, after whicu oscar got the yellow which meant all 3 of pur CMs had a yellow. Which also meant that hazard ans willian had 37 minutes to score a goal in counter. Infact, what differencr were hazard and willian making and supposed to make in the 90th minute pray tell me when it was clear that their was only one way trafiic.

The subs were used to put in players more suited to defend the last 4 minutes and also for some time wasting which hazars did well with his slow walk and to break the tempo that united were building.

It seems to me that people now just crib for the sake of it.

[didierforever 7,349]

No that's not what I'm saying. Hazard and Willian are just excellent players to hold on to a ball & kill time. Give Hazard the ball in the 90th minute, he will make a run towards the corner flag and he'll end up getting a foul in our favour, a throw in in our favour or a corner in our favour. Willian is pretty much capable of the same thing.

But take those players off, replace 'm by purely defensive players and what you do is you allow Man United to go look for that foul, that throw in, that corner ... You automatically put yourself on the back foot, and that is deadly in a tight match like that.

Nope, the Oscar substitution I can indeed understand. It's the Hazard & Willlian replacement that I'm concerned about. Fabregas would've made a lot more sense, there was no added value for him in that final phase.

How many runs did hazard make to the corner flag till that point? How many touches did he have in the last 10 minutes. United at that point of time had control of the game and we had to take the sting out. Also, why arr u even talking about willian. He was taken out for one minute when united had the ball. U expect willian to make a run from our own box to the united corner flag. There were instances where JT cleared the ball towards the United flanks and there was nochelsea player within 20 metres off it.