FIVE things we learned from last night’s game
Carlo Ancelotti’s side recorded a major victory last night after coming back from a goal down to defeat Manchester United 2-1, a result which moves Chelsea up into fourth place.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in the first half with a brilliant long-range finish, but the Blues came fighting back and only Edwin van der Sar’s expert keeping denied Branislav Ivanovic off a Frank Lampard free-kick, which came just before the break.
Chelsea’s second half performance was something to behold and within 10 minutes of the restart Brazilian defender David Luiz rifled in a equaliser with his right foot after Branislav Ivanovic flicked on a Michael Essien cross. Yury Zhirkov earned a penalty late on in the day, which was successfully converted by Frank Lampard, who earned his side the three points.
But what are the five things that we learned from last night’s game?
1. Sir Alex Ferguson is a hypocrite: before the game started Slur Alex was quizzed about the Rooney controversy and whether or not the England forward should have been available for selection, to which he intimated something about the referee saw it and you can’t question what he decided to do.
Just 90 minutes later the Scot is in hot water with the FA after he made an attack on Martin Atkinson’s officiating.
Ferguson told MUTV:
“You hope you get a really strong referee in games like this. It was a major game for both clubs and you want a fair referee, you know… you want a strong referee anyway and we didn’t get that. I must tell you – I must say that when I saw who was refereeing it, I feared the worst.”
Perhaps your opponents fear the worst when they see one of your cronies Howard Webb or Mark Clattenburg are refereeing your game, Alex.
2. Admittedly, Atkinson did make mistakes yesterday: David Luiz was very lucky to escape a second yellow card after a tangle with Rooney, but should he have even been on the pitch himself after his antics against Wigan?
The penalty decision has also raised much debate as Chris Smalling can consider himself unlucky for giving it away, it was a bit of a soft decision, but Zhirkov rightly or wrongly took advantage of the defender in his path.
Not much was made about Ryan Giggs challenge on Didier Drogba late in the game, it was pretty awful and I bet more would have been made of it the other way around.
3. Drogba and Zhirkov: the Ivorian and Russian came on as second half substitutes and certainly had a positive impact on the game. Drogba provided a sterner test for United’s defence than Nicolas Anelka did during his time on the pitch. The 33-year-old also did a great job in the final minutes as the free-kicks and corners he earned help take the pressure off the Blues before the final whistle.
As for Zhirkov, he provides you with pace, technique and quality from the wide positions. He earned us what proved to be the winning penalty. He also hit the post after his shot caught a deflection off Nemanja Vidic. Both Zhirkov and Drogba deserve to start against Blackpool, in my opinion.
4. Belief: United have been resilient to defeat this season and were always going to provide a big test for a Chelsea side that has been low on confidence over the past few months, but our performance, particularly in the second half, proved that we have the talent to beat anyone on our day.
Hopefully this result will provide us with a platform for the rest of the season and we finish strongly.
5. The new signings: it was great to see David Luiz score his first goal for Chelsea. The Brazilian impressed once again with his performance, even if he does provide us with a few hairy (pun intended) moments and was lucky not to be sent off in the second half.
Fernando Torres played his best game since arriving at the club and seems to be improving each time he plays. During last night’s game he showed glimpses of the player we shelled out £50m for and will hopefully build upon last night’s good performance as he works his way back into form.
What were your thoughts on last night’s game?