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Originally Posted by borsuk
probably our best performance of the season, i'd say, though the lack of any alternatives on the bench caught up with us - as it was always going to. robben or fletcher? cole or o'pie? hmm...
fergie got his tactics spot on, i thought: quick passing in the centre, width at every opportunity and high tempo pressing to win back possession. chelsea could not cope, in spite of having gone for the non-flair options in m/f (ballack, essien, lampard and makalele). carrick's performance was magnificent - time for me to roll out the jol quote again ;o)
People would say he is not a complete holding player, but I do not agree. He had so many interceptions – just about every attack started with him.
i've said it before: defensive m/f is not about thundering into tackles, but about positioning and anticipation. how many times did he break up counters or cause them to slow down the break? wonderful stuff. he has proved an inspired buy and exactly what we needed to replace keane. shame it wasn't two years earlier.
i thought rio and ronaldo were also outstanding today as well, though i expected us to try to put cashley under pressure with some high balls to ronnie. the whole of the back four was solid today - good to see heinze back on form, too (the goal notwithstanding, he had a good game).
the second half performance was really down to an inability to maintain the pressing that we imposed in the first half. saha and rooney couldn't keep it up and chelsea were able to play without pressure much higher up the field. without options on the bench it was inevitable that we would be pushed back at some point late on. i think we're really missing park, tbh: bringing him on for giggs or scholes after about 60/65 minutes would have been just the trick. still, at least the back four is solid enough these days to stand a bit of pressure.
the post-match sight was intriguing, i thought. chelsea were delighted with a point; united were clearly disappointed. of course, we were one up and they came back, but i think there was more to it. chelsea knew they had got a point against a team that - for the first half at least - they couldn't match. eleven on eleven we are the better side, and they know it.
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A fine analysis as usual, wouldn't disagree with anything there.
In the first half Chelsea were totally outclassed tactically, totally outclassed in terms of passing and movement and totally outclassed in effort. An excellent display in all respects.
The key to the first half was our midfield, which was defensively absolutely superb and moved the ball about extremely well. The way we shut-down the Chelsea midfield was just a joy to watch. I thought Scholes in particular put on a tactical masterclass, I doubt if we'll see a more intelligent display all season. And, for me, Carrick & Scholes proved that they can work together as a pair in a 442 variation against strong opposition. Another feature of our play I really enjoyed was the way Ronaldo and Rooney provided out balls on the wings when Giggs tucked inside, allowing us to make the pitch smaller and larger at will. Also thought Ronaldo did a great job of pinning Cole back.
For perhaps 25-30 minutes at the beginning of the second half Chelsea dominated the play, but without ever really looking like breaking through our (rock solid) defence. One reason for their domination this was, as you suggest, an inability to maintain the aggressive defensive pressing that characterised our performance in the first half. Another, I think, was their numerical superiority in the midfield area after our shift to a constant 4-3-3. Rooney and Ronaldo did not drop back quickly or deeply enough when we lost possession. This was clearly a deliberate tactical ploy, and quite a brave one at that, but one that didn't work as intended.
Overall a draw was probably fair, although if anyone deserved to win it was definitely us.
26-11-2006, 10:24 PM
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