My brother sent me a message just before the game kicked off asking me to predict who would win and I always try to pretend I'm a top pundit whose opinion is being sought by a fellow professional. So I said,United haven't won at the bridge in 10years. Going there, reliant on their strike force,which has Rooney converted into a midfielder(sort of) and a shaky defense against a Chelsea side that has been pretty stable and are unbeaten this season...I said its looking like a Chelsea win. My brother in response sent a smiley which in my opinion meant, keep your opinions to yourself. Well the game has been played and it is a game that shows you must never forget the unpredictability of football. It looked like a Chelsea win but looks can be deceiving especially when you have a game that ended with the referee as the man of the match.
Today, Chelsea have made allegations that the referee made offensive remarks to two of their players, John Mikel Obi and Juan Mata. Mark Clattenburg has stood by his decision in sending off Fernando Torres for what replays have shown wasn't simulation however little contact was made by Johnny Evans.The United winning goal by Javier Hernandez was offside and his celebration so angered the Chelsea fans to the point that a match steward was pinned to the dash boards and twisted his knee,poor guy,probably doesn't even support United.
Chelsea stuck with their formation of 4-3-3 with the trio of Mata, Oscar and Hazard. As effective as they have been this season,the new attacking Chelsea side have lost their ability to be compact as their wide areas are left open,leaving their wing backs exposed. United exploited that weakness,using a 4-4-2 formation that had Ashley Young on the left and Valencia on the right. They took the lead in the 3rd minute when Ashley Young put the ball wide for Rooney who played the ball to Van Persie. Van Persie shot the ball,it hit the side bar,came out and hit David Luiz to give United the lead.Chelsea did not learn as in the 12th minute,down the right hand side again,Rafael to Valencia,ball in the 18 to Van Persie,right foot,united 2-0.
At this point the referee was anonymous and the match showed why the English league remains the most entertaining in the world.United may have started well but conceding goals is becoming a normal trend. As they have only kept two clean sheets in the league this season....Chelsea got their rhythm back and needed a goal before the break to ignite a possible comeback. They got their goal when Rooney brought down Hazard in front of the 18,free-kick to Chelsea ..up steps Mata and he makes it 1-2.with a few minutes left on the clock before half time,De Gea makes a terrible mistake with clearing the ball and it falls for Torres who's squares the ball for Mata,he pokes the ball with his right foot but De Gea redeems himself with a save...as the ball rolls out,Torres brings out the Jackie Chan in him by stamping Cleverly in the chest..and this is when it all begins for Mark Clattenburg...he gives the striker a yellow card..an offense that should clearly have been a red card.In this period where emphasis is always made on diving,credit must be given to Tom Cleverly for not making a meal of the tackle,he stood up and shook Torres hand.
Chelsea started the 2nd half buzzing and quickly found an equalizer,the creation of that goal started with terrible judgement from Johnny Evans,allowing Mata to control the ball in the 18,squaring it across field to Oscar who in return squares it back and Ramires makes it 2-2. You would expect that there should only be one winner as Chelsea had gotten back the upper hand but it was end to end game as both teams were going for the win. Van Persie turns Cahill and puts a through pass for Ashley Young. The winger goes for a one on one chance and his brought down by Ivanovic,it was a no brainer and a simple red card..|The referee get that right and the advantage goes to United.Chelsea showing why they are a top team even with 10 men,take the game to united trying to hit on the counter attack,a rare run from Mikel Obi who,cuts through the midfield and gives Torres the pass.The striker trying to take on the United defense was tackled by Johnny Evans,the defender slid,missed the ball and barely touched Torres.It was a slight touch but enough to bring a man with long hair running with such pace come tumbling down. Clattenburg pulls out a yellow card and shows Torres,a red follows which stuns Torres and his team mates beyond belief. Chelsea down to 9 men,game ruined..advantage United...and with Chicharito scoring an offside goal...United had the 12th man.
Games that have referees as the talking point overshadows what was very good 3 points for The red devils.The referee let slide a lot of other decisions and David Luiz should count himself lucky as he felt he should trade his football boots for kickboxing,swinging his arms and elbows like it was Ufc match.not to mention a stone wall penalty when he blocked Valencias cross with his arm.United fans have no shame celebrating the winning goal as Drogba scored what was regarded as the winning goal to win the premier league some seasons ago,4th april 2010 to be precise,a goal that was offside as well.Wayne Rooney's outburst at the cameras when he used the words 12th man at Stamford bridge when that intense match ended,also 3 season ago.in fact i have made a couple of pointers for Chelsea fans
1) Couple of weeks back. Torres offside goal allowed against Reading. Chelsea won the match
2) Wigan lost because Chelsea were awarded a goal that has not crossed the line.
3) FA Cup final. Liverpool were disallowed a goal by Andy Carroll that had clearly crossed the line. Chelsea went on to win the match
4) 2010 Chelsea were awarded a goal against Hotspurs when clearly the ball had not crossed the line. Chelsea went on to win the game and right back on the run for a title. Big Match Big Result..
5) Again Hotspurs were the victim here and yes the referee went on to apologize to Harry Rednapp after the match. Chelsea went on to win the match.
So according to what many have been assuming, "Officials makes a decision in favor of a team and hence he is involved in a fix" I guess it would only be fair to say that Phil Dowd, Mike Dean, Atkinson, Andre Marriner, Mike Cairns, Dave Bryan etc are all part of Chelsea's secret squads. But I refrain from making such dubious accusations. Its football things are going to go against you sometimes and if you really are as mature as you claim to be stop blaming clubs for this and that. Its naive and embarrassing.
Bottomline the officials should improve as much as possible. They are the problem and they are the solution but let us not forget that they are just humans too.
Maybe these things even themselves out over the years.(looking around me to hope no Chelsea fan is by me). The controversy killed a good game but Chelsea should wonder if they could be beaten by a less than vintage United side, then they are not as wonderful as they think.United wins with the 12th man but I doubt any of the players or fans lost sleep over it..
Today, Chelsea have made allegations that the referee made offensive remarks to two of their players, John Mikel Obi and Juan Mata. Mark Clattenburg has stood by his decision in sending off Fernando Torres for what replays have shown wasn't simulation however little contact was made by Johnny Evans.The United winning goal by Javier Hernandez was offside and his celebration so angered the Chelsea fans to the point that a match steward was pinned to the dash boards and twisted his knee,poor guy,probably doesn't even support United.
Chelsea stuck with their formation of 4-3-3 with the trio of Mata, Oscar and Hazard. As effective as they have been this season,the new attacking Chelsea side have lost their ability to be compact as their wide areas are left open,leaving their wing backs exposed. United exploited that weakness,using a 4-4-2 formation that had Ashley Young on the left and Valencia on the right. They took the lead in the 3rd minute when Ashley Young put the ball wide for Rooney who played the ball to Van Persie. Van Persie shot the ball,it hit the side bar,came out and hit David Luiz to give United the lead.Chelsea did not learn as in the 12th minute,down the right hand side again,Rafael to Valencia,ball in the 18 to Van Persie,right foot,united 2-0.
At this point the referee was anonymous and the match showed why the English league remains the most entertaining in the world.United may have started well but conceding goals is becoming a normal trend. As they have only kept two clean sheets in the league this season....Chelsea got their rhythm back and needed a goal before the break to ignite a possible comeback. They got their goal when Rooney brought down Hazard in front of the 18,free-kick to Chelsea ..up steps Mata and he makes it 1-2.with a few minutes left on the clock before half time,De Gea makes a terrible mistake with clearing the ball and it falls for Torres who's squares the ball for Mata,he pokes the ball with his right foot but De Gea redeems himself with a save...as the ball rolls out,Torres brings out the Jackie Chan in him by stamping Cleverly in the chest..and this is when it all begins for Mark Clattenburg...he gives the striker a yellow card..an offense that should clearly have been a red card.In this period where emphasis is always made on diving,credit must be given to Tom Cleverly for not making a meal of the tackle,he stood up and shook Torres hand.
Chelsea started the 2nd half buzzing and quickly found an equalizer,the creation of that goal started with terrible judgement from Johnny Evans,allowing Mata to control the ball in the 18,squaring it across field to Oscar who in return squares it back and Ramires makes it 2-2. You would expect that there should only be one winner as Chelsea had gotten back the upper hand but it was end to end game as both teams were going for the win. Van Persie turns Cahill and puts a through pass for Ashley Young. The winger goes for a one on one chance and his brought down by Ivanovic,it was a no brainer and a simple red card..|The referee get that right and the advantage goes to United.Chelsea showing why they are a top team even with 10 men,take the game to united trying to hit on the counter attack,a rare run from Mikel Obi who,cuts through the midfield and gives Torres the pass.The striker trying to take on the United defense was tackled by Johnny Evans,the defender slid,missed the ball and barely touched Torres.It was a slight touch but enough to bring a man with long hair running with such pace come tumbling down. Clattenburg pulls out a yellow card and shows Torres,a red follows which stuns Torres and his team mates beyond belief. Chelsea down to 9 men,game ruined..advantage United...and with Chicharito scoring an offside goal...United had the 12th man.
Games that have referees as the talking point overshadows what was very good 3 points for The red devils.The referee let slide a lot of other decisions and David Luiz should count himself lucky as he felt he should trade his football boots for kickboxing,swinging his arms and elbows like it was Ufc match.not to mention a stone wall penalty when he blocked Valencias cross with his arm.United fans have no shame celebrating the winning goal as Drogba scored what was regarded as the winning goal to win the premier league some seasons ago,4th april 2010 to be precise,a goal that was offside as well.Wayne Rooney's outburst at the cameras when he used the words 12th man at Stamford bridge when that intense match ended,also 3 season ago.in fact i have made a couple of pointers for Chelsea fans
1) Couple of weeks back. Torres offside goal allowed against Reading. Chelsea won the match
2) Wigan lost because Chelsea were awarded a goal that has not crossed the line.
3) FA Cup final. Liverpool were disallowed a goal by Andy Carroll that had clearly crossed the line. Chelsea went on to win the match
4) 2010 Chelsea were awarded a goal against Hotspurs when clearly the ball had not crossed the line. Chelsea went on to win the game and right back on the run for a title. Big Match Big Result..
5) Again Hotspurs were the victim here and yes the referee went on to apologize to Harry Rednapp after the match. Chelsea went on to win the match.
So according to what many have been assuming, "Officials makes a decision in favor of a team and hence he is involved in a fix" I guess it would only be fair to say that Phil Dowd, Mike Dean, Atkinson, Andre Marriner, Mike Cairns, Dave Bryan etc are all part of Chelsea's secret squads. But I refrain from making such dubious accusations. Its football things are going to go against you sometimes and if you really are as mature as you claim to be stop blaming clubs for this and that. Its naive and embarrassing.
Bottomline the officials should improve as much as possible. They are the problem and they are the solution but let us not forget that they are just humans too.
Maybe these things even themselves out over the years.(looking around me to hope no Chelsea fan is by me). The controversy killed a good game but Chelsea should wonder if they could be beaten by a less than vintage United side, then they are not as wonderful as they think.United wins with the 12th man but I doubt any of the players or fans lost sleep over it..
In more words to come..Sabi Boi
yep big bros smiley was exactly as you put it.nyce piece.
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