[Jazz]

Not bad. Made it to half time without conceding... enjoying the game though.

 

[LARulz]

If Mourinho takes Drogba off and brings Schurrle on then we'll be in trouble. They will be fast and precise, our defence can barely handle a long ball.

 

[Deleted member 78215]

Carrick on for Van Persie, and let's false nine this thing.

Carrick - Blind
Di Maria - Mata - Januzaj
Fellaini
​

Fellaini interchanging with Mata. Can't get a goal? HOOF!

 

[Matty7]

Good half! RVP should of done better, but Drogba should of also. Fair score line so far. Just hope we can keep this level up, and cut out the silly mistakes!

Play like this for the rest of the season and top 4 will be fine. Easier said than done though.

 

[Raoul]

Good half by us. You'd think we would've been down 3-0 by listening to some of the pre-match lineup whinging.

 

[zlatan_ish]

Only chances Chelsea made were some blunder by a United player otherwise a solid defensive performance by United so far.

 

[ElectroManiac]

De Gea and Courtuis have this 0-0. Both keepers are amazing. I'm liking how De Gea is coming out and getting those crosses and corners with much more composure.

 

[wr8_utd]

Good half. Mata and RvP have both been decent, ADM a bit disappointing and Smalling fantastic. Wish RvP had taken his chance though. He misses too many of those now.

 

[MDFC Manager]

So far, so good. I'm impressed at the way we've approached this.

 

[Someone]

Good first half, we look the better team and if we keep it going in the second half, we'll win it.

 

[Irrational.]

Positives from the half:

DDG
Smalling
Shaw
Rafael (attacking)
Fellaini
Januzaj
Mata (chance aside)
RVP

Negatives:

Rojo
Rashael
ADM

 

[penalty snot]

Andy Gray, Hairy Hands Keyes, Zenden and Keegan all on beIN sports (Middle East) all saying Chelsea should have had penalty for corner grabbing but "this is Old Trafford and you know how things go there".

Not once, but twice.

fecking ABU cnuts.

 

[Tincanalley]

well

goods and bads from this first half

good: we are not losing

bad: we are not winning

i should be a pundit

 

[Raw]

Impressed with Smalling also. Looking more like his former self, shame Rojo's looking nervy.

 

[charleysurf]

A decent display, but game looks like it could go either way. That defence looks so fragile. If we get a bit of luck back there then maybe....

 

[poisson]

Ok so far, Van Persie should've buried that chance - he's missing too many of those lately.

Di Maria is quiet, no surprise really as it was to be expected that he'd be marked out of the game.

Janujaz our main attacking threat, Rojo is a mistake waiting to happen. Lads have done well but depending in Chelsea's mood, this will stay 0-0 or they'll nick it. I fancy the former

 

[Mali_Zeus]

mata misses a shot and suddenly hes been terrible..


ffs..

 

[Revan]

I am loving seeing our two nineteen years old players (Januzaj and Shaw) destroying Chelsea and league's best RB.

 

[Joker]

Adnan has a lot of potential, you can see in a game like this how raw he still is. Has an exciting future and needs the game time.

 

[Dazzmondo]

Now to all the negative Nancys. We should be winning, poor finishing. Van Persie has been really poor again. We need something else up front. Adnan has been fantastic, such a huge improvement over last week. Angel hasn't been great, I expect more from him. Hope he improves in the 2nd half. Smalling and Shaw doing well. Rafael is doing well outside of his stupid yellow card. Rojo looking very shaky to me, I worry about him making a mistake every time he gets the ball/is ran at with the ball. Fellaini's doing a great job, Mata's doing pretty well imo. Blind just doing his usual solid job. De Gea with a decent save, has been commanding. Great performance from us imo, but we really should be winning. RVP has to improve in the 2nd half, simple as that. Hope we don't regret missing those chances in the 1st half.

 

[KeninDC]

Good tempo. Smalling and Fellani have been stand-outs. Januzaj's been a mixed bag. Mata not doing enough pulling the strings in final third. Rojo's been awful.

 

[royboy16]

Decent half.
Real test will be once we hit the 60 minute mark when we start to tire.

 

[tom33]

Very solid half, certainly matched them at least. Not keen on the wrestling from Smalling and Rojo, but I'm sure if you watched our set pieces closely there'd have been similar tactics from Terry and Ivanovic. Have a feeling Chelsea will start the second half strong, so it's vital we don't lose concentration, particularly Rafael.

 

[Raptori]

I read that article the other day. I still think it's a poor use of the word. (Literally) has been around for almost 500 years. It's only been in the last few years where it's been used incorrectly so much that it's started to stick. Four online dictionaries doesn't mean it's been universally accepted though.

Yeah, completely agree. I was under the impression it was in the Cambridge & Oxford dictionaries, which I thought were gennerally considered pretty definitive. If it's just online dictionaries then that's less of a big deal, but still irritating

 

[WR10]

We have been dominant. Chelsea have been very weak in possession and is giving our midget midfield + Fellaini a very easy time to close down and bully. Mourinho will put rockets up their arse and send out a mentally different side in the second half. It's going to be a different game in the 2nd half, brace yourselves!

 

[pawanraj]

Decent half. Good save by Dave. The defence has been decent. We would've created a lot more if Fellaini had an iota of positioning sense. He has been out of position about a bazillion times.

 

[Will Singh]

Januzaj has been brilliant and so has Rafeal, created so really good chances in fact we should be at least 1-0 up.

Di Maria has been quiet so hopefully he wakes up for the 2nd half.

Don't want to jinx it but I'm really happy with the effort they've put in and hope we going on a get something out of this.

 

[Member 5225]

Janazaj slows it down a bit too much...

 

[Relegation]

Januzaj seems less confident than last year, doesn't he?

Good half overall. Rojo has been a bit shit though.

 

[Amethyst]

Well, we've rode our luck at times but that was a good half. Fellaini, Januzaj and Shaw have been impressive, and van Persie's all round play has been the best this season. I can't believe people are criticising him for that through ball chance, it was just a really good save by the keeper who was quick to smother it. He hit the ball hard, low and on target- what more do you want? Mata blasted a free shot over the bar. We need to stop getting turned over so easily, but to say that people were worried we'd get destroyed before the kick off, it's been decent stuff. Fabregas and Oscar have been kept quiet.

 

[Clas Sified]

I don't watch Mata

 

[UnofficialDevil]

We are playing very well, if we had Rooney instead of Mata. Then again they are also missing Costa.

 

[Freak]

Di Maria needs to get involved more.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Blind again has been very good

Adnan and mata have both improved compared to last week

Fellaini looks very comfortable, I think LVG has worked on his confidence more than anything

Rojo and rafael pretty dodgy at times but have also done well at others, Smalling been very good

All in all I am delighted with how we are set up and playing as a team

 

[hirotan69er]

What? Januzaj has been our best player.

I wonder why couldn't he perform like today against WBA...he's a lot more aggressive and eager to win. I guess he's only interested in the big stages.

 

[Kraftwerker]

Causing them lots of problems.

Ivanovic, strangely, looks jittery and ripe for the exploiting.

Fantastic at the back, except for Rafael's yellow which was disappointing. Smalling and Rojo immense. Fellaini having a decent game.

Wrestling in the box, yeah, but nothing that Terry and Ivanovic don't do down the other end.

Need more from Mata and RvP.

 

[montpelier]

well... better than most people (me included) thought, innit?

keep it going

 

[Red Dreams]

if Blind had Mata's chance, it would be a goal.

 

[Taher Shah]

A bit of topic but...

http://www.thesportbible.com/articl...different-for-southampton-star-graziano-pelle

 

[In Rainbows]

Decent.

Janujaz is getting a lot of the ball but is too slow to let it go, and gets surrounded by 2 or 2 Chelsea players and we end up playing it backwards from an offensive position.

AdM has been ok, but need a bit more fire from him

He's waiting for players to make runs. He's good at splitting the defenders with a pass. Unfortunately sometimes players don't make the run.

 

[DevilRed]

Decent first half and as expected a very tactical encounter.

Feel like Janujaz has been bittersweet on the left flank. Posing a lot of problems for chelskis defence but making the wrong decisions a lot of the times. A bit like watching a young Ronaldo actually.

Thought Fellaini is doing a magnificent job in the midfield. Taking up the "Phil Neville" destroyer role and marking fabregas tightly. The big man also showing he can keep possession and lay it off to our attackers.

A bit unfortunate that RVP didn't open the scoring and Mata didn't take a better shot off the freekick from Di Maria. On the other hand, chelski probably should have had a penalty for ivanovic when Rojo wrestled him. Rojo seems to be struggling a bit and making one or two mistakes. Hopefully he stamps that out in the second half.

We really need to get the ball to RVP and try to fashion some chances. Easier said than done in such a tight affair but maybe Di Maria needs to go back on the left wing?

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Yeah, it's Di Maria, Blind, Rojo and Shaw.

Yes, but the other players are more comfortable on the ball. Fellani, Rafael and Smalling look very comfortable in receiving the ball. Adnan, is getting more confident, but till slowing things down at the moment, done some really good passing. Mata, is being pressed, but still contributing more than last year. RVP got his touch back, still making good moves, just need a bit more pressing from him.