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Chelsea beat Manchester United for some breathing room at the top
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AP Photo/Scott Heppell
With Liverpool cast aside through recent poor performances, Chelsea v. Manchester United at the Bridge presented a mouth-watering meeting between the league leaders and the reigning champions. And you were not surprised, if you have seen enough of these these matches between any of the big four, that it wasn't the best of games to watch for pure entertainment, as many of these meetings tend to be. Chelsea came out on top with a John Terry header, and of course, there's some controversy.
In terms of the match itself, as the time crept on and the score remained 0-0, what became the clearest in my mind were that 1) Ferguson's going to spend a lot of money this year in fines in order to mask the fact that his team is a shell of what it once was, and 2) Chelsea, while impressive by their consistent results, didn't really light it up with this midfield diamond, even with the hot Didier Drogba. Actually, even after the single goal after the questionably-awarded free kick, I was waiting to see a rampant Chelsea.
In terms of the first point, it's not as if this is any news, but losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have certainly hurt the Red Devils. Losing CR9 was inevitable, but perhaps losing Tevez wasn't. He probably doesn't feel so hard done by now, after he's settled in at City and the hyperbole that comes with being the world's richest club is wearing thin. Whether it's Tevez or somebody else (Park Ji-Sung?), they miss the movement of the someone to play off of Rooney, as well as someone to be a threat in midfield, ala Ronaldo. Not having Berbatov on Sunday also meant Wayne Rooney found himself isolated at the top.
Still, you'd think Chelsea would have done more to really take it to Ferguson's side. With Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic out, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka should have been ravenously salivating at the thought of running at those guys. While at times Chelsea looked much sharper on the ball, they weren't exactly giving Edwin van der Sar a lot to do, and Ferguson's makeshift side almost did enough to earn a point at the Bridge.
Perhaps I expected more from this match, despite it being so early in the season, and despite enough experience watching these games to realize that there's a better chance we'll get a crap game with lots of tension more often than a goal-filled, dynamic affair. Don't get me wrong, I was mesmerized for 90+, but not necessarily convinced in Chelsea's ability to put their foot down or Manchester United's ability to stay with the Blues for the rest of the season. For a moment, I thought I was watching these two teams play in the early stages of the Champions League.
One thing I can definitely say. The amount of piddling little pushing and shoving is sadly typical for a Chelsea Manchester United match these days, but the amount of complaining and gesticulating was more than enough for me. It's arguable that Martin Atkinson made some mistakes in an overall poorly-controlled game, but one need only look at Darren Fletcher and Ashley Cole and realize the RESPECT campaign was really a waste of time.
[Soccernet, Indy, Guardian, Times]
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