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Chelsea and Man United battle to a 1-1 draw
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AP Photo/Matt Dunham
In a way, this one ended as it should.
Manchester United needed at least a point following last week’s loss at Anfield, and they got it with the 1-1 draw. Chelsea, on the other hand, controlled the game from midway through the first half to the end and certainly deserved their point to keep the incredible 85-game unbeaten home record.
In a game with two heavyweights and plenty of pace and space throughout, the final score was in a way disappointing because of the neutral result and at the same time not all that surprising.
For United, it still leaves them with questions as they try to battle out of this early season funk that engulfed them last year, as well. They were dangerous from the start and deserved the opening goal off of a fine combination pass by Wayne Rooney and determined work from Patrice Evra on the wing to set up Ji-Sung Park’s rebound following a shot from Dimitar Berbatov.
But there were also some debatable moves, such as the late entry from Cristiano Ronaldo (who might want to consider at least playing defense back to the midline if he’d like to maintain the title of midfielder). Another surprising decision was the absence of Carlos Tevez -- who opened up the Anfield contest with a score and has played extremely well this year -- especially as Berbatov was not very effective after some action in the early part of the game.
But Chelsea took that opening shot in the mouth and managed to control a majority of the game and exploit a United defense that at times let them carry the ball for half the field without much pressure. While the control didn’t necessarily lead to a plethora of chances, it wasn’t surprising to see Salomon Kalou nod home the equalizer in the 80th minute. From United’s perspective, perhaps Tomasz Kuszczak (who came on for an injured Edwin van der Sar) should have been out in pursuit of that floating ball so near to his goal line instead of letting it get so deep.
Didier Drogba was active as a substitute in the second half, but the United defense sans the suspended Nemanja Vidic did a decent job on him. United did get a full 90 minutes from Owen Hargreaves, which is encouraging from a fitness standpoint although he struggled multiple times to control the ball near the wings.
After that tense game, I opted not to stick around and watch Manchester City take on Pompey, which naturally ended up a big mistake. 6-0….wow, a nice statement game from the newly-revamped squad as Robinho snagged another Premier League goal and obviously had plenty of help as the goals all came from different players.
What did you think about the Chelsea-Man United game? Was 1-1 a fair result? Did you agree with the decision to keep Tevez on the bench?
