A Catalogue of Misses

The latest edition of the Manchester United – Chelsea contention has left us with innumerable talking points. An end to end, a thrill a minute spectacle involved some good football, but rather than the class that was on display from time to time, it is the comedy of errors by which this encounter will be remembered.

Both teams started on the front foot and the Reds made the breakthrough from an Ashley Young free kick that was expertly met by Smalling. The young defender was probably half a foot offside but the alarming space he found himself in points towards the lacklustre marking. Chelsea responded with wave after wave of attack, amassing several attempts but none proving fruitful. One of the best chances fell to Torres when Anderson clumsily gave away possession in range of his own penalty box but the below par Spaniard dragged his effort wide and prolonged his goal draught. The striker found space in a forward position once more and smartly squared for Ramires who produced a point blank save from De Gea who seems to be improving with every game. It must be said though that it was more of a miss by Ramires than a save by De Gea.

Defensive frailties continued at both ends of the pitch and in the 37^th minute Nani finally discovered the spectacular that this game was begging for. Drifting in from the right he darted past Mata far too easily and unleashed a thunderbolt to which Cech had no answer. Lack of closing down perhaps, but take nothing away from the strike. After his marauding run last week at the Reebok stadium, Phil Jones went on a similar expedition on the stroke of half time and reaped the same reward as his efforts lead to the ball dropping perfectly for Rooney who converted comfortably. 3-0 at half time was harsh on Chelsea but the difference was that United were clinical while the Blues were wasteful at best.

The introduction of Anelka in place of the jaded Frank Lampard brought immediate results as United’s defence were slow out of the blocks and failed to deal with Torres’ superbly timed run to get himself on the end of Anelka’s through ball. With United’s number one isolated, the “El nino” of old chipped the ball into the vacant net. The finish oozed class and he worked the keeper again later on before blasting the rebound over the crossbar. Nani was having a great game and shimmied past a couple of players before his powerful shot took a slight deflection and rattled the bar. He won a penalty as he raced for the rebound and was brought down by Bosingwa who struggled throughout. On the back of consecutive hat tricks, you would have put your house on Rooney converting from twelve yards but this was a strange game and the number ten lost his footing just prior to his strike and sent his effort looping harmlessly away from goal. Perhaps only John Terry looked on with sympathy when everyone else donned bewildered expressions. Miss of the game surely, but Wayne challenged it with another scuffed effort from a cross that trickled onto the post before Ashley Cole nearly took off the left leg of the on rushing Hernandez. The referee punished the full back with a caution but did not point to the spot. The strange decision was probably befitting of the game.

For all the comical errors on display, Fernando Torres once again decided to steal the headlines. He timed his run to perfection, rounded De Gea with aplomb and then with the goal at his mercy his effort pathetically flew wide. The roar from the Stretford end matched that of when Nani scored in the first half. Berbatov should have scored when Rooney broke free and unselfishly rolled it into his path only for the Bulgarian to see his tame effort intercepted on the line. The miss proved unimportant and along with the rest of the errors was eclipsed by Torres’ epic failure to score his second. His blunder came at a time when his team were on the up and with time remaining could have rallied to rescue a point.

The score line certainly does not tell the whole story. Rooney and Torres should both have scored hat tricks. United’s defence looked in desperate need of an old guard to anchor it while Chelsea’s maintained the question marks surrounding it. The bottom line is United’s finishing just wasn’t as bad as Chesea’s and the Reds deserved the win in the end. They had the lion share of possession and were more effective with it. Having scored 21 goals from their opening 5 games, the Mancunians have made their best start to the season for over 25 years and are playing quick attacking football. Chelsea will feel aggrieved and have some work to do while the Reds, as ever, go marching on.