By Joel Martin
Both Manchester United and Chelsea looked very beatable today. Cheslea, who started Joe Cole as a lone striker, were without Terry, Drogba, Shevchenko, Kalou, Robben, Ballack, Bridge, and Makelele. Hargreaves, Scholes, Anderson, and of course Tevez were the only notable absentees from Manchester United’s side.
Missing so many key components, Chelsea surprisingly dominated the early going of the game, barely giving United a sniff of the ball. But, when they got into attacking positions, they had no strikers, and could not score. Had Drogba played the game could have been over in the first thirty minutes. Wright-Phillips burned Silvestre and probably would have set up a goal or two had he played consistent first-team football in the last two years.
United’s goal was against the run of play. Evra, who is an unimpressive left back and an awful left winger, played a lucky pass in between five blue shirts to an unmarked Ryan Giggs, who was standing at the penalty stripe and promptly finished it in the top corner. Even though they scored first, United did not look dangerous in the first half because Ronaldo was not dangerous. Ronaldo disappeared for long portions of the half, only really being a threat in short spurts on the on the left-hand side, working against Glen Johnson instead of Ashley Cole. The only time in the entire first half that Ronaldo really got involved was when he beat Johnson on the left and fired a ball off a Chelsea defender and into the path of Giggs, who would have scored had Petr Cech not dealt with his effort so well. United are reliant on Ronaldo. If a team can nullify his threat, United becomes very average (as Gattuso and AC Milan showed us last year).
Not long after United went ahead, however, Chelsea had drawn level on a good goal by Florent Malouda. Malouda burned Rio Ferdinand and just got enough of the ball with the outside of his left boot to place it just past Van der Sar and into the United goal. The goal came with a price, however, as Malouda injured himself in the collision with Van der Sar and had to be subbed out early in the second half.
After Malouda subbed out, United started to take control of the game. Each side had strong cases for penalties, and neither side got one. Nani subbed in and did nothing. He might take at least a year to adjust to the English game. Lassana Diarra, who had been heavily linked with Arsenal in the past few days, came on for Chelsea and looked good. If he is leaving Stamford Bridge I don’t think it will be to the Gunners, as Chelsea will not be keen to sell such a versatile and talented young player to their London rivals. New signings Steve Sidwell and Claudio Pizarro both came on and were disappointing.
In the end, although United eventually won the trophy on a joke of a penalty shootout, neither squad should really be happy with their performance. Manchester United, given the amount of talent Mourinho had sitting on the sidelines, should have taken this game like Liverpool did a year ago, but they could not get a hold on the game until it was too late. Ben Haim had no problems with Rooney, and O’Shea proved yet again that he is not a central midfielder (still don’t know what the hell Ferguson sees in the guy) as he was non-existent in the United midfield. Michael Essien had a bad game by his standards and still made Michael Carrick disappear. Evra, Silvestre, and Wes Brown all looked second-rate as well; good teams will beat United on the wings and in the center of midfield.
And while Chelsea did look better than United in the first half, they hardly looked great. They controlled possession well, but sorely missed their strikers. When Malouda went off injured and Pizarro came on, they finally had their target man—but Pizarro looked bad and couldn’t really get a good hold on the game, and he did not help their attack at all. Chelsea’s offense was as pathetic as their effort in the penalty shootout, as Pizarro, Lampard, and Wright-Phillips all took terrible penalties that were easily saved by Van der Sar, and United won the trophy.
Arsenal did not look great this weekend, but they looked better than both Chelsea and Manchester United.
Wenger’s boys had a very tough test this weekend, playing at the Amsterdam Arena against Ajax. Ajax played them the same way PSV did in the Champions’ League, putting ten players behind the ball and making Arsenal try to pick them apart. Huntelaar was nullified by Gallas and Toure, who both looked very comfortable in the back. Sagna looked good, and did well to keep up with the very quick Dennis Rommedahl—who subbed in halfway through the first half and took the game by storm. Clichy was fantastic yet again and proved his never-ending motor when he set up Van Perise for the winner after burning several defenders up the left-hand side. Eboue looked good again as a right winger. I am liking him more and more at that position every day. Denilson kept possession well and rarely played a bad ball. Flamini also did well, showing his superior stamina by marking Sneijder very tightly. Rosicky did not look match fit for the second game in a row, and I would not be surprised if he did not start against Fulham on Sunday. Hleb started in the hole, right behind Van Persie and looked good in the attacking third. He tried to dribble out of the back too often and Arsenal nearly paid for it. He has to stop doing that. Van Persie was average in the first half and good—not great—in the second half. He missed a couple chances late in the game, but it was good to see him score even when he wasn’t playing his best. That’s the sign of a great goal scorer. Eduardo subbed in for Rosicky in the second half and made an instant impact. He doesn’t like to sit around and pass around the box, he just wants to score goals. He is a valuable member of the Arsenal first team already, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up scoring a goal on his debut at the Emirates Sunday.
What was most impressive about Arsenal’s performance was that they never really lost control of the game. Even though Ajax was playing a very defensive, physical game, the Gunners did not got flustered. I have to admit I thought they would sink, like they always do against the more physical Boltons and Evertons, especially because they were on the road, but they kept pushing and pushing for the winner and broke down Ajax in the end. Had Stekelenburg not done so well to save Van Persie’s effort late in the second half and if Hoyte’s shot had not cannoned off the post, Arsenal would have won in a blowout. The young Gunners looked ready and eager to prove that there is life after Theirry Henry, and their first test is now only a week away.
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