Chelsea 2 – 1 Man Utd

 

Chelsea closed the gap on Manchester United and are now level on points with the champions as well as keeping their unbelievable unbeaten home record in tact.

 

Chelsea kicked off to a good start and United seemed unsettled and had to replace Vidic who had a face injury. The blues seemed to have more desire as United soaked up the pressure. However right before halftime Michael Ballack scored a header assisted by Didier Drogba.

 

Second half saw United play better attacking football and were rewarded by a misplaced pass by Carvalho which slipped in Wayne Rooney who calmly slotted in the equaliser.

 

The game was an enticing watch but referee Alan Wiley ruined it, he made some awful decisions and was whistle happy and a total “homer” giving all decisions to the home side.

 

Late in the game, Michael Carrick accidentally handled the ball in the penalty box, the linesman gave the penalty decision and Michael Ballack stepped up and scored the winning goal.

 

There was some drama in the end with goal line clearances galore but Chelsea held on and forced the title to be decided in the last game.

 

Criticisms

 

What I don’t understand is why Sir Alex rested key players like Patrice Evra, Christiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes? Surely this is the most important match of the seaon, the big one? Or at such a crucial time, why did John O’Shea replaced Anderson who was our only chance of scoring alongside Ryan Giggs?  

 

I think the team selection was dubious and the substitutions were badly timed and quite simply wrong.

 

Every United fan would rather we won the league than the Champions League so why sacrifice our best players for a something less desirable. I don’t understand but Man United’s away record has been awful this season; not just results but poor performances too.

 

All this Media coverage suggesting this is Sir Alex’s best ever Squad of players suggests that the players have fallen for their own hype and have become complacent.

Now in order to win the league, United have to rely on goal difference after squandering chance after chance to wrap it up and focus on the Champions League.