[vidal7]

What is fellaini trying to do, Look at rojo and smalling.

 

[acnumber9]

I thought we played really well first half and then slipped into some bad habits in the second with slow play and dicking around with the ball at the back. If we could've continue in the same vein of how we approaced the first half I think we would've won the game.

 

[Yorkeontop]

You're joking, right? From where we've been for 18 months, that was a big step forwards.

I wasnt impressed. It was ok for me really. Maybe you've bought into the hype about Chelsea.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

You're joking, right? From where we've been for 18 months, that was a big step forwards.

You do know you got a point in this game last season too?

 

[Brightonian]

This is what it always looks like when someone gets it right against Mourinho's Chelsea. Neither side plays much attractive football, but you come away with a decent result.

The alternative is lots of nice passing and good possession and being comfortably beaten 2-0, which has happened time after time after time to teams like Arsenal who go in and try and play their normal game.

 

[Ole'sbodyguard]

There's plenty of positives to take out of the first half display. We were defensively solid(bar some dodgy moments with Rojo), and looked likely to create chances. Tactically the way we set up to deal with Fabregas worked as he had very little influence and there was very little between both sides first half. Januzaj created a good chance for RVP and almost won a penalty.

Second half we were second best for the vast majority of the game and after conceding we did not really look like we had many ideas of how to get back into the game until the late equaliser. Di Maria and Januzaj struggled to create anything second half and the set piece delivery we had today was generally disappointing aside from the last free kick as we had plenty of set pieces in and around the box.

The attitude of the team can't be faulted and coming back to avoid defeat in two straight games is something we were not doing last season, so there's a positive there.

 

[JunesBoy]

Am I alone in thinking our defence wasn't that bad? I think Smalling did well, obviously Rafael shouldn't be marking Drogba and Hazard had that one chance when he got through, but other than that we weren't troubled that much. Would people say Chelsea's defence was awful? Because we had more chances than they did

I think this constant blaming our defence is due to the media obsession with trying to get us to buy certain players.. Defending is done as a unit and that we did today..
No one will question the Chelsea defending coz they are high profile players..

 

[Brightonian]

I reckon the midfield's looking decent now. With Blind and Herrera it's leagues ahead of last season, and add to that Fellaini looking halfway effective and the hope that Carrick will come back in some decent form.

The defence is the only serious worry, but it is a serious one. They did much better today for the most part, but yet again there was that one 'wtf!' error costing us points, and it's been the same story all season.

The smaller worry for me is that both Mata and RVP have quietly become less effective. Mata's problems seem to be connected to Van Persie's. I reckon if we could have started Falcao instead today, then he would have been more dangerous and Mata in turn would have had more movement ahead of him to try and pick out. Van Gaal needs to get over his RVP blind spot and pick either Falcao or Rooney ahead of him whenever possible.

 

[Brightonian]

How about that through-ball from Januzaj in the first half, btw. Superb vision and execution, unfortunately let down by RVP's current inability to score past a keeper who's come out to meet him. He's let four or five chances of that sort go begging in the last three games, needs to get himself a chip finish.

 

[Ole'sbodyguard]

Am I alone in thinking our defence wasn't that bad? I think Smalling did well, obviously Rafael shouldn't be marking Drogba and Hazard had that one chance when he got through, but other than that we weren't troubled that much. Would people say Chelsea's defence was awful? Because we had more chances than they did

Defensively that was one of are better performances of the season. I thought Smalling was very good and both full backs generally played quite well. There's still a lot of improvement needed generally though and we still guilty of making some basic errors today such as giving away the ball around the box in dangerous positions unnecessarily.

 

[Moriarty]

They scored of that corner mate. They could either get the corner and score or make hazard score. It would have been 1-0 only.

Doh. Of course. Hard a brainfart there. Sorry.

 

[stu_1992]

Decent result, I'll take it. It was a fair result as well as both teams were pretty equal. It was a good game. I'm not sure it was our best performance, I've certainly seen better attacking stuff this season, but we were solid and you could argue that the game had to be raised as we were playing better opposition.

 

[Moriarty]

It was still 0-0 then wtf ?

Chelsea got 100% from that chance of Hazard as it led to the corner from which they scored...

I know. My mistake.

 

[Sir A1ex]

I wasnt impressed. It was ok for me really. Maybe you've bought into the hype about Chelsea.

What, that they're the best team in the league? They are. Not a great team, but the best the Premier League currently has to offer, and after the constant bollocks we've put up with over the last couple of seasons it was a big improvement to a) match them if not edge it and b) actually pull off an emotional last minute equaliser for the first time since god knows when.

 

[Moriarty]

You didn't watch the match right?

Senior moment.

 

[MoskvaRed]

I think this constant blaming our defence is due to the media obsession with trying to get us to buy certain players.. Defending is done as a unit and that we did today..
No one will question the Chelsea defending coz they are high profile players..

I thought we conceded possession in dangerous positions too often due to sloppy clearances and distribution.

 

[DocRockter]

Good to see the youngsters playing better and better.. Januzaj stepped up big time, could had created a goal or two easily. Also, Smalling with a stellar game with Rojo. The two haven't been able to play as a pair and Rojo doesn't even speak English.

 

[Sir A1ex]

You do know you got a point in this game last season too?

Yes, but a) you're much better this season, b) we deserved it more this season and c) we actually showed the ability to fight till the very end and get an equaliser or winner deep in injury time for pretty much the first time since Fergie left.

 

[Catt]

I went crazy my dogs nearly had heart attacks and my wife gave out to me

My little fella got badly scarred there.

 

[Mister Ed]

Strange. but your opionion.

Di Maria and Mata were worse but RVP closely behind.

Obviously the last goal changes the overall feel of the game and RVP scoring it changes the overall feel of his game. But that chance wasn't hard to convert, the hardest work was done by Fellaini on that goal. Obviously RVP will get the credit for it and will be regarded as the one who saved us a point but his contribution on that goal was a tap in. Obviously it is an important tap in but it doesn't just erase his weak overall game before the goal. Second half he was completley invisible and first half he was decent and got 2 good chances one which the best RVP almost always scores but obviously he didn't.

In my view a striker has to do more than just be on the right spot when there is a chance to score a goal. He has to drop back to get the ball, be involved in the build up play and set up chances together with the attacking midfielders and wingers. In that regard RVP never has been the best around imo, nevertheless his overall play usually is decent but what sets apart the best RVP for me is that he gets involved in so many chances and he is the ultimate finisher, always scoring important goals. A striker can be worldclass if he does that and RVP was that in his last years at Arsenal and his first here at United. But if the biggest part of your game is finishing chances and you don't do that anymore on a regular basis than you are not a good player. Not saying that the chances RVP gets are easy an all that, but everybody knows the best RVP would score alot more goals from than has been the case in the last couple of months (and probably even longer). If he doesn't score those goals anymore and his contribution is limited to his overall game, he just isn't good enough upfront anymore. Falcao and Rooney in that respect just seem far more involved and far more usefull atm than this RVP.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Chelsea were made to pay for settling for a 1-0.

 

[Catt]

Good 1st half and considering I thought we'd lose I'm pretty satisfied. And Fellaini did well.

 

[JunesBoy]

I thought we conceded possession in dangerous positions too often due to sloppy clearances and distribution.

It's never perfect during a game, like every other team... The difference for us, when the united defenders get sloppy it's due to inexperience and lack of leadership but when the Chelsea defenders made the same mistakes no one seemed to notice...
Tbh our defenders were solid today and did a lot of things right..credit where it's due.

 

[Judge Red]

It's difficult to feel great about a last minute equaliser when Chelsea have had a midweek Champions League match. BUT for the second week running the players have grabbed a point that they wouldn't have last year.

Not setting the world on fire but going in the right direction - and nobody has done any better against Chelsea so far.

 

[Chorley1974]

I'd have taken a point before the game. After the first half I was optimistic for 3 points. At the end I was grateful for 1 point. Positives are LVG getting a tune out of what looked like a very broken Fallaini fiddle last season, and our attacking play in the first half.

 

[antsmithmk]

Very happy with the result considering how good Chelsea have looked this year. If they lost Costa for 5-6 games, it might not be the walk over people think.

 

[J-Stander]

Martin Samuel sounds absolutely gutted in his match report, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

 

[Crackers]

Nerve wrecking match. I loved watching us, we played brilliantly and matched Chelsea for a lot of the game. Missed a few key chances but overall we were solid. Nothing immensely special but we were very good all round.
What impressed me most was our "never say die" attitude. Seems like it roared back into life tonight. Something to build on for next week.
I think if we click a little bit more, next week could be a good game. Onwards and upwards.

 

[montpelier]

We were better, even in defence notwithstanding leaving Raf to mark Drogba at a corner. Team as strong as Chelsea will always make chances.

Would love a nice win by a couple of goals with a nice clean sheet thrown in too.

Probably not gonna happen next week, though.

 

[villain]

Smalling, Fellaini, Adnan and of course RVP all played well for me.
Happy to get the point hope it's a real turning point

 

[Mister Ed]

Hopefully Di Maria just had a bad day today, because he is so important for this team, we need him in the form of his first few games. Today just wasn't good at all from him.

Mata really seems lost in this team, if Rooney comes back he should be benched and with Fellaini playing like this and Herreras start to the season, there are now already 3 people in the team that deserve to start in front of him.

Januzaj also had a good game, happy to see him more involved.

two big things pissing me off about our game
1: We really need to start scoring more from corners
2: We need to to learn to keep a clean sheet

 

[MoskvaRed]

Martin Samuel sounds absolutely gutted in his match report, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

It's an incredibly distorted report, isn't it? I reckon he was about to file his report and head for the bar and got then got hacked off by having to rewrite it when Van Persie scored.

 

[J-Stander]

It's an incredibly distorted report, isn't it? I reckon he was about to file his report and head for the bar and got then got hacked off by having to rewrite it when Van Persie scored.

That's exactly what came into my head.

 

[Parry Gallister]

Smalling, Fellaini, Adnan and of course RVP all played well for me.
Happy to get the point hope it's a real turning point

Smalling looked really good on the ball today, good game from him. Could have given away a penalty mind. I'm looking forward to getting a bunch of 'I told you so's' with Fellaini on here.

 

[Roboc7]

Good result, defending was much better and overall we deserved the point but the second half performance was poor and we lost out way a bit. Good to see smalling back but how long he can stay fit for we will have to wait and see.

Big problem for me is the lack of pace in midfield and attack, we look vulnerable to pace and it restricts our attacks, mata, fellaini and blind isn't a good combination, especially with RVP up top. That will be a huge problem when we face city next week but overall we have to be pleased, last season we took 5 points from the 12 games against the top 6, this year we have 4 points from 2 games against those sides so at least that is one area where we are improving.

 

[Devil may care]

I've never bought into the "spoiled" accusations made by some fans but I am really surprised at some of the posts in here today. Overall I thought this was a very solid performance, we weren't scrambling around at the back, Smalling and Rojo played their first game as a partnership and looked good, Rafael managed his game well after the harsh yellow card so early, and both Shaw and Januzaj improved greatly from Monday. That was also RvP's best game of the season and Fellaini and Blind made for a strong combination in midfield.

The only downside for me is that on the break Di Maria looked off his game and I think he is wasted as a pure winger, and Mata worked hard defensively but cannot break out of the deeper role quick enough when he got on the ball, thus slowing our counters.

However overall the mentality, solidity and commitment were all a step up along with several performances. This may be another false dawn, we will have to wait and see, but I don't see much to complain about from today's performance and I genuinely think some have allowed the amount of money we spent to lift their expectations too high, we are bedding in several new players into a new style of play, and all but one of these players has never played in the PL before, there will be ups and downs for a while.

 

[Borys]

We need to really get the fullbacks whipping the crosses in with pace. Too many easy balls to defend for Chelsea and too many times we got so far only to go back. I think at the minute we're guilty of trying to be too precise. I only counted one proper cross from shaw that had them on the back foot. Just whip them in and sometimes the ball will bounce for you. Put some pace on the ball and get their defenders facing their own goal. In hindsight we could and should have perhaps won. Robin needs to be taking more of his 1 on 1's because he's missed a few this season at key moments. Great for him to get that goal and hopefully it'll spur him on

I guess that will change when we play strikers who attack the ball, van Persie doesn’t do that often these days.

Some observations...
1. Luke Shaw played well defensively and even got forward well, but he needs to learn to run into channels when the winger has it on the touchline. He has a tendency to stand a few feet behind him. The play becomes all too linear and predictable.

2. Overlapping doesn't happen much. In Chelsea's system, it's almost automatic on both sides; Hazard and Willian almost always had a runner wide of them or inside them in the channel.

3. Smalling is very good defensively, but his general technique is so far off making him good enough for this system. He often passes it to the players feet rather than into their path. This is no small thing. It slows momentum of the building of attacks and allows players a chance to reposition.

4. Thankfully there's more belief in our play, even if technically and tactically we're not there yet. Glad we didn't give in.

AD 1&2. Fair points but we played a flat 4-4-2 today, I don’t think we will be doing that regularly during the season.

AD 3. I don’t think it’s technique, I suppose it has more to do with confidence on the ball. He’s no Evans, but it’s been a while since he played for us. This can be fixed easily I hope.

What system to play with Rooney back? Diamond? Can't see anything else. ADM prefer central midfield, Fellaini should start, so should Blind.

I would go with Blind, Herrera and Di Maria in midfield, Rooney at the top of the diamond, Falcao up front, Januzaj a wide attacker. What a devastating left side we can build!

 

[Ibi Dreams]

How about that through-ball from Januzaj in the first half, btw. Superb vision and execution, unfortunately let down by RVP's current inability to score past a keeper who's come out to meet him. He's let four or five chances of that sort go begging in the last three games, needs to get himself a chip finish.

It was a brilliant pass. Forget the chip finish though, if RVP just did a simple square pass to Mata who was free in the box we'd have scored an easy goal. Such a shame he didn't see Mata there

 

[dsch]

We still don't quite have the midfield balance right. Like on Monday, there were times when our defenders and Blind couldn't find the out ball. We either need more movement further forward or more dropping back to pick up the ball. Rooney would improve things, I think.

 

[Mister Ed]

I think this constant blaming our defence is due to the media obsession with trying to get us to buy certain players.. Defending is done as a unit and that we did today..
No one will question the Chelsea defending coz they are high profile players..

The defence today was ok, obivously Hazard should never be able to get alone infornt of DDG and obviously Drogba shouldn't be handled by Rafael on a corner. For the rest our defensive game was ok.

The only issue I have with our defenders is that they are lousy in the build up. Losing to many balls with the passes our defenders play in the build up, ultimatley forcing Blind and also Di Maria to fall back to much at times to take care of the build up and than we lack them upfront.