Disappionting Chelsea

You will be forgiven for thinking there was only one football In England this weekend,because of the magnitude and importance of the tie between Manchester united and Chelsea FC.There was no doubt the match bore huge influence on the direction of the league title.
Coach Carlo Ancelloti in his press conference last Friday defined the game as their own cup final, even though they would have given an arm and a leg to be in the champions’ league finals in wembley.Against this backdrop, you would expect Chelsea to start the game all guns blazing and going for United’s jugular, but in sharp contrast it was the red devils who started the game like a house on fire;as it took just 36 seconds for united to spring three accurate passes with Ji sung park with the final ball to pick out a pass to Javier Hernandez who likes to run on the shoulders of defenders to give Manchester united the lead and put Chelsea on the back-foot.
The intent of united was ominous as petr cech drew spectacular saves from Rooney and Park to make the score-line respectable,but on the 23rd minute united underlined their superiority as Vidic read Giggs sublime cross like a book to double their lead.Chelsea resorted to set pieces from Drogba as their only clear cut chance in the first half came from a header from kalou which was tipped over by van der sar.For the discretion of referee webb, Ivanovic would have been sent off for a second bookable offence.
Understandably Chelsea started the second half brightly as they threw every thing they had in the mix; Alex came in for the unsettled Luiz and Ramires for Mikel to add more bite and urgency.United switched off and allowed Lampard who was largely annonymous to get a goal in the 68th minute to ignite some tension,which was never to be as Rooney and Hernandez who could have had a hat-trick missed a flurry of chances to make mince of a lethargic Chelsea side.
It was the same formation of 4-4-2 and the same eleven(except Evra that did not play)which united won Chelsea with, and destroyed Schalke 04(first leg)in the champions league that they deployed yesterday. Over-all united had more hunger and desire to win which was evident in the manner players like the crafty ‘man of the match’ Giggs,tireless Park’s guile and mobility to go for every ball, Valencia’s pace,good technique and delivery of the ball gave Chelsea a torrid time keeping them at bay.In fairness the result was rarely in doubt, as it would have been great injustice for such a game that was played in high tempo to have ended in a draw.There is no way you will come to old Trafford and put up such a performance and expect to win the title.
United fans went into delirium and frenzy at the end of the game and the display of club banners and logos underscored the significance of the victory.It was a nice spectacle seeing Sir Alex Ferguson giving Ancelloti a hug, and a lap of honour to the fans.The rendition of united’s anthem “Glory Man United and the reds go marching on!!!’’ after the game has an undertone that even their bitterest rivals ‘Liverpool’ cannot stop united from eclipsing them at 18 and setting a record 19th league title.