[bdecuc]

I'm a hopeless cynic, but you take the cake. We were the better side. Yes, Mourinho got his side to play negative, stale and boring football at home, again. This time it worked. It did not work well at all for him in the CL. They were made to look fools playing that way.

They may have conceded the ball and space more to be defensive, but we still had overwhelming possession and created far more chances. They took the one good chance they got, that was the difference. Aside from that, we were the better side. You may not know this, but this is, after all is said and done, a game. As such, it is for entertainment. I am damned proud to support a side that goes for the win in most situations. I could never stomach Mourinho as our manager making tactical decisions like he has today. Congratulations to them for winning the title. I am more proud of the massive strides we have made this season and now am really looking forward to another strong summer transfer window and coming out of the blocks at full speed next season.

Yes, yes and yes.

 

[bishblaize]

Honestly, not that gutted today, for a whole bunch of reasons.

In no way can you say the bubble has burst. The worry in each of the last few games is that the great performance we'd seen in the previous game would turn out to be a mirage and that we'd go back to the awful performances of earlier on this season. The truth is that every team loses games, its about how you lose them. We went about this game in the right way, the kind of way that more often than not would have won us the match. Indeed against almost any other team in the league, we'd have won.

Indeed its perhaps worth reminding ourselves that we've just played away from home, against the best team in the country, with perhaps the best manager in Europe for killing games and grinding out results and having conceded a goal to the best player in the country. That's what it took to get past us, and even then, we dominated the game in almost its entirity.

I'd go as far as to say that yesterday showed how good our progress has been. In the hardest game of the season we showed that LVGs philosophy of pressing and possession, moving as a unit and dictating the play at all times has truly bedded in.

Ultimately, going into that Spurs game I think that any fan on the caf would have taken 12 points from 15 in the games that followed. We've put ourselves in a position where defeat away to Chelsea isn't a game changer for our season. No more room for error of course, but even though the final 5 games look like 4 banana skins + a game vs Arsenal, we've put ourselves in a great position.

 

[buckooo1978]

proud of our players and we were unlucky to lose the game

the game did underline one or two things;

• I think Smalling is going to be a top defender
• In Shaw and Blind we have fantastic strength at LB
• If we bring in a CB who goes out - McNair looked good again, Jones and Rojo have impressed lately - Could Evans be odd man out?
• we have no natural replacement for Carrick - Rooney was ok but he naturally lacks Carrick's awareness and ability to perform that role - I think bringing in a CM is our number 1 priority
• Its never going to happen for Falcao - think he played well yesterday - he was bullied at times but his movement was good and got himself into a few good scoring positions - just feel it isn't going to happen for him
• Januzaj needs regular football - I'd loan him next year to help develop his decision making - its awful and he rarely picks the right option - with the lack of game time maybe this is a factor

overall disappointed as Chelsea crawled over the line...thought they did their best to nullify our players and we didn't take our chances....we'll go back next year stronger

 

[Red_Aaron]

For all those bizarrely creaming themselves over Mourinho are we just ignoring the opening half hour? I've heard people say Chelsea hadn't 'settled' then which is bollocks. The mastermind Mourinho actually set up quite positive with 3 in behind Drogba but spent the opening quarter watching us play circles around them so he takes oscar and fabregas (2 of the most creative players in the league) and pulls them back into a flat 4 and tells them never to cross the halfway line again. Who would have ever thought you'd see the day when fabregas is given a screening role against Wayne Rooney?

I'm actually happy that I'm so annoyed, who'd have thought a month ago we'd go there and boss them for 90 mins. No what happens for the rest of the season I'm convinced the non-utd fan's party is over, we're back motherfeckers. We're a proper team again

 

[Gannicus]

Chelsea played for a draw...and took the win happily.
We controlled the match for large parts especially up to their goal...then they controlled it.

Maurinho rightly played for a draw...at this stage...he would have been highly irresponsible if he risked a loss against one of two form teams in the league. He will again do the same thing against Arsenal.

But what this match showed me is we will be champions next season. That is not just hope.

Losing Carrick was the biggie today...not for the obvious reason....because Rooney can and did replace Carrick well enough...but we could not replace Rooney up top.

I dont know what sort of pre-season Falcao had...coming from a surgery like the one he had...could not be easy. But I think the club rightly is not going to risk investing in him long term.
Van Persie will also be gone...Think we will see 2 strikers coming in and a solid ball winning midfielder. Perhaps a right back.

van Gaal has found his mojo...and there is no stopping us next season.

This.

The only thing I'd add is that Louis wanted to give Falcao a chance to play a full 90 against a top club and this, being an inconsequential game, gave him the perfect opportunity. It didn't work out for Falcao and he removed any lingering doubt that he might actually remain at OT.

Fair play to Louis Van Gaal, who showed masterful man management today even though we lost to a Chelsea side I have no doubt we could have been beaten.

 

[SqueakyWeasel]

I think that our early season form came back and bit us on the @rse today. If we'd have gone into that game with 9 more points (2x Swansea & 1 x Leicester wins) Chelsea would have felt that they had to win the game and would have had to go head to head with us … and probably would have lost. As it was they played (boring but effectively) for a draw and snuck a win.

I feel naturally disappointed (especially when I hear twats like Savage on MOTD giving us literally not a single compliment but lording over Mourinho) but at the same time very heartened by what I saw from us today. If we can go to Chelsea and play like that with our defensive injuries then there is strong hope for next season*.

* As long as the loss doesn't affect us and we continue to play this well right up to the end of this season

 

[Bojan11]

I think that our early season form came back and bit us on the @rse today. If we'd have gone into that game with 9 more points (2x Swansea & 1 x Leicester wins) Chelsea would have felt that they had to win the game and would have had to go head to head with us … and probably would have lost. As it was they played (boring but effectively) for a draw and snuck a win.

I feel naturally disappointed (especially when I hear twats like Savage on MOTD giving us literally not a single compliment but lording over Mourinho) but at the same time very heartened by what I saw from us today. If we can go to Chelsea and play like that with our defensive injuries then there is strong hope for next season*.

* As long as the loss doesn't affect us and we continue to play this well right up to the end of this season

Savage is a clueless tosspot. Predicted Spurs will draw against us. Liverpool and Man City would beat us easily.

He is always negative regarding us because he was rejected.

 

[Bobcat]

Very frustrating game, and while losing 1-0 at SB is nothing to be embarrassed about, i still find it weird that LVG (and some of our fans) deems it "the best game of the season". For all our possession we managed to create very little.

Chelsea shut us down and hit us on the counter, it was a classical Mouhrino game. Parking the bus is very effective against our style under Van Gaal, and we need to rethink our approach next time we face them.

 

[Sultan]

No Chelsea player looked like scoring or even being remotely interested going forward except Hazard. Even Drogba was trying to stop our defenders going forward all game. I did say in a few threads Hazard needed special attention. My idea was to stick Rafael on the right to either man mark or defend that side of the pitch. Mata or Valencia are not best suited to defend against such an in-form clever player.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

We do, but he was injured as well. Even if he is not the same player, Blind in there would've helped a lot. Imagine Chelsea had Matic out and whoever is next in line for that role as well. It would be difficult to deal with for any side, and we handled it pretty well I thought. But obviously, our squad needs to improve next season if we want to take that next step, both in first XI quality and in depth. But I'd say we're just one good transfer window away from a genuine title challenge.

I completely agree with you, but it is important to note that one of either Matic, or any other important holding midfielder in a top European is not an aging 33 year old. As important and great Carrick is we need to start thinking of moving forward. Having just Blind behind an aging Carrick is still not good enough.

As I said, I agree with you - we do need a few more signings, lets just hope they can all be done in a window without having it dragging on.

 

[RedOldBoy]

As I am contributing a bit later to this thread one or two observations of my own:

1. Too many knee-jerk reactions to the loss yesterday in terms of ant-Mourinho sentiment. The man is a winner and I would have taken him over Moyes last year any day of the week.
2. Luke Shaw's performance was very good yesterday. When Blackett came on I though that particular channel became much less effective. In contrast Blackett is not a left back.
3. Januzaj is a dilemma, clearly he has the talent but maybe not the application at the moment to make it into the first team. As so many people have stated, was much less effective than the man he replaced (Mata).
4. Rafael must be on his way out. One option yesterday was to have brought him on and move Valencia further forward but clearly LVG does not trust him.
5. Need another central midfielder. Without Carrick and Blind we have no effective replacements.

 

[Getsme]

Very frustrating game, and while losing 1-0 at SB is nothing to be embarrassed about, i still find it weird that LVG (and some of our fans) deems it "the best game of the season". For all our possession we managed to create very little.

Chelsea shut us down and hit us on the counter, it was a classical Mouhrino game. Parking the bus is very effective against our style under Van Gaal, and we need to rethink our approach next time we face them.

We really don’t

 

[Shiva87]

Jose mate, I think you may need to redo this interview

Great Pick Out! It will be good to have Jose's post match interview yesterday immediately after this! 'When you decide to play strategically - stats don't matter'!

Anyway, proud of our performance yesterday but we need to get a strong defensive midfielder in this summer. Carrick will play when 100%, and Blind can play there too. But we need a midfielder with a presence - that is just not Herrera's game! We did miss him in the advance role in midfield - all Rooney did was ping the ball to the other side - but he could not do the neat inter-play with Mata that has resulted in so many good moments over the last 5-6 weeks.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

Fair dos.
Have to hand it to Mourinho cause he had a plan to stop the rampant United surge, and it worked. Basically if they won this game, it pretty much sealed the title, so he didn't have to set the team up to come out and win it, he just had to keep everyting tight and wait for a mistake like with Liverpool last season. It worked. Have to give him credit there.
The sad thing is, we know that Mourinho would do the same thing if the game was early in the season. This is why I'm glad he's not at United. His tactics didn't work against Atletico last season, or PSG this season, because when the opposing team gets ahead in the game, chelsea have to come out. Such a shame for us and the neutrals that we conceded first yesterday.

Chelsea are worthy champions this season, well done to them, but i think Arsenal and United will be a much stronger force next season. Can't wait for it already.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Jose mate, I think you may need to redo this interview

 

[pierrethesnack]

Jose mate, I think you may need to redo this interview

Quite the actor

 

[Striker10]

Weird game really. We had some good chances but they looked more threatening on the breath though we improved second half. I know we were playing Chelsea, but we controlled the match in 3rd gear. We should have done better in the first half and we lacked quality. Most people knew Chelsea would win the league in the summer and they have. The ball fell for them so they're going through the motions but it's over pretty much. We have left a marker but now we need to beat Everton and get back on track

 

[Mister_Stubbs]

A Jose "mastermind", jesus I've heard it all now.

 

[Bobcat]

Was pissed after the game yesterday, but have calmed down now and can see it for what it is. Chelsea went out to secure a/three points and did that extremely well. You can say what you want about Mouhrinos pragmatic approach,but it works and in the end, that's what really matters.

Not happy with the result of course, but a lot of encouraging signs yesterday. McNair looks like the real deal and Shaw was on fire yesterday. If we keep going in this direction and add Clyne to the mix on RB, we are going to have a young, and very competent backline the next couple of years.

Also, it is crystal clear we need more depth in MF. While Herrera did well in that DM role, he is much better further up the pitch. Carrick won't play forever, and not sure if Blind is good enough to fill his boots yet. Feck Bale, i'd say this summer we must buy A RB, a DM/CM and a striker

 

[rover]

as long as we didn't give up to the title chase then you didn't have much choise but to setup up to play for a win in this game at the stamford bridge. otherwise, we may have room to adopt a more neutral strategy to counter. nonetheless, this is a game which we had to operate under everything gone against us conditions: an opponent with tactical mind as well as being very happy to park their bus at their home soil; injuries; referee; our successful run in previous games which means our tactics, strength & weakness are more easier to be spotted out... etc

as i mentioned before, our current play way depends a lot on the individual performance of the front four above the anchor behind the striker, when they were blocked on purpose (ivanovic on young, zouma on fellaini, alpa on mata), it's not easy to penetrate-in, especially the lone striker (no matter rooney or falcao) is not effective enough to serve as an additional point of attack.

shall we make a big change for this game after a good run? maybe. but this is always easier to be said than done, especially to say so after the game. anyway, we can expect we will see some other players in particular adm to have a run for the remaining games of the season. for reason, i can understand why we are hesitating to start adm, herrera & mata altogether in a single game. it's just too easy to be bullied in a physical game

lvg said this is our best performance of the season. i think he meant this was the first time we had kept focus for the whole 90 minutes that we failed to do previously

 

[Riz]

Also, it is crystal clear we need more depth in MF. While Herrera did well in that DM role, he is much better further up the pitch. Carrick won't play forever, and not sure if Blind is good enough to fill his boots yet. Feck Bale, i'd say this summer we must buy A RB, a DM/CM and a striker

A centre back as well. I'd only want another striker who's comfortable out wide cause I'm hoping we'll continue with the 433 and Rooney up top when everyone's fit.

 

[Thisistheone]

That felt like the current best team in the country holding on at home vs the team on the rise.

We can finish above Chelsea next year. Terry will be a year older, Hazard will start to pick up injuries, Costa will get red cards and more injuries. Defeding the title is harder than winning it first time around (just ask City) and we'll have a whole season as a settled van Gaal team. Bring it on!

 

[finneh]

Honestly, not that gutted today, for a whole bunch of reasons.

In no way can you say the bubble has burst. The worry in each of the last few games is that the great performance we'd seen in the previous game would turn out to be a mirage and that we'd go back to the awful performances of earlier on this season. The truth is that every team loses games, its about how you lose them. We went about this game in the right way, the kind of way that more often than not would have won us the match. Indeed against almost any other team in the league, we'd have won.

Indeed its perhaps worth reminding ourselves that we've just played away from home, against the best team in the country, with perhaps the best manager in Europe for killing games and grinding out results and having conceded a goal to the best player in the country. That's what it took to get past us, and even then, we dominated the game in almost its entirity.

I'd go as far as to say that yesterday showed how good our progress has been. In the hardest game of the season we showed that LVGs philosophy of pressing and possession, moving as a unit and dictating the play at all times has truly bedded in.

Ultimately, going into that Spurs game I think that any fan on the caf would have taken 12 points from 15 in the games that followed. We've put ourselves in a position where defeat away to Chelsea isn't a game changer for our season. No more room for error of course, but even though the final 5 games look like 4 banana skins + a game vs Arsenal, we've put ourselves in a great position.

Exactly this. We had 3 of our starting 11 out injured and were the better team.

It was a game where the most clinical team were always going to win, Rooney/Falcao miss their chances, Hazard scores his.

The only thing I'd add is this game should be completely meaningless for both teams, so I'm not sure why it ended up as attack vs defence. It could have been a real spectacle.

 

[Sarni]

No.. Remy too, we were down to having a 37 year old as a lone striker.

Yeah, and United were playing their first choice Falcao up front.

 

[Oneunited26]

No question we need to add to the squad in terms of the depth in the defence and midfield, but it does show this teams ability to dominate games, it's just a damn shame we did not manage to get something from that domination

 

[Blue always red]

We had chances, Rooney and Falcao could easily have put their 2 chances away on another day. Its obvious though the likes of Mata and Fellaini need Carrick who can pass inbetween the lines instead of Rooney who plays it out to the wing, although I thought he did well bringing in a bit of composure.

 

[17Larsson]

Such a shame we didn't take our chances. Dominated Chelsea at home. It should be LvG being lauded today

 

[legball]

There's still people saying we didn't create "much". How many chances did this Chelsea create then? Sorry, it was a game of fine margins, and it went fot Chelsea. All their chances came from us missplacing a pass etc. My personal opinion is that I don't think they are a great team, or as great as people make them out to be. I like what Van Gaal is trying to do, and next season, I expect many teams to play like Chelsea did against us, more often than not, we'll win. Yesterday was a good performance, lacking a bit of cutting edge. Some of you don't understand how difficult it is to play through such defensive organization, even Barcelona struggled at times, I don't know how they do it, but Chelsea are masters of this, with or without Mourinho, fair play to them as results are all that matters in football. I think we'll be very good next season, if Di Maria pulls his finger out, and we get some good players in obvious positions where we need them.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

Yeah, and United were playing their first choice Falcao up front.

Cahill and Terry still have nightmares about him.

 

[Mani]

Agree with all apart from RVP start! Falcao deserved his start more than RVP

May be, but RVP would have made deference.Especially with his premiership experiences.

 

[Raoul]

Jose mate, I think you may need to redo this interview

 

[Rams]

Unlucky not to get a result yesterday, deserved better. Also disappointed in the way LvG behaved towards the journalist in the post match interview, but we've seen this many times before with LvG in the Netherlands and Fergie could be like that as well.

 

[matt23]

And it all started so well, with me celebrating Rooney's ghost goal like a right tit in a pub full of bitter City fans. Like others have said, I can't remember being less arsed about United losing to be honest. They were more clinical and their game plan worked.

Heard a bit of Talksport on friday though wondering why everyone hates Chelsea, and there's your answer. The most charmless, boring champions in a long time. But fair play to them, being some dodgy Russian's play thing and winning trophies in the most tedious way possible must be super fun.

 

[acnumber9]

No.. Remy too, we were down to having a 37 year old as a lone striker.

The only thing Chelsea needed a striker for was defending corners so it was beneficial having Drogba.

 

[Nathan]

I was really pleased with our overall performance - McNair looked comfortable on the ball and smalling was superb alongside.

I never though Chelsea threatened, again I think the referee bottled that decision at the end was wrong.

We didn't deserve to lose the game.

 

[Lawman]

I was really pleased with our overall performance - McNair looked comfortable on the ball and smalling was superb alongside.

I never though Chelsea threatened, again I think the referee bottled that decision at the end was wrong.

We didn't deserve to lose the game.

Nathan if you are talking about Herrera in the box it was a clear dive.

 

[jojojo]

Mourinho played it the way I would have expected him to. He's playing a big team who like to keep possession, so he set up Chelsea around that. It wasn't an inspiring tactical masterclass, it's just what he does and sometimes it works. I admit, after last season, it's good to see that we have that kind of status.

On the result itself. Two good teams, a low scoring game, it can go either way. Hazard did his job, our forwards weren't as sharp.

Performance-wise, we played Chelsea away, with our fifth choice centreback, our third choice defensive midfielder and a leftback who hasn't played for weeks and they played well. But you can't just switch players and expect no side-effects. Mata and Valencia missed having their Herrera to pass to. Shaw and Young haven't played much together and with Fellaini and Falcao under Chelsea's control, there weren't many chances being created.

On another day that shot from Rooney goes in and the game changes, or we have a fit and on form Carrick allowing Herrera to link the attack, so losing the Fellaini option doesn't matter as much. It's football, it's 1-0, I thought we deserved at least a point, but it happens.

 

[iHicksy]

What I really liked about this game was how terrified Chelsea were of us. There were the home team and resorted to playing 2 defensive mids and hoping to snatch a goal on the counter. Admittedly it worked, but with a full strength team I think we would have won comfortably. I don't think there's many teams that go to Stamford bridge and dominate. If Chelsea are our main rivals next year I think we will pip them to the title.

In a way our current style of play reminds me of barca, albeit no where near as fluid and intricate. But in the way other teams are going to have to start parking the bus against us just to get a result. It's been a long, long time since i've watched a united team outplay the other top teams but it's fast become a reality and it's very exciting.

 

[LR7]

I'm normally furious/annoyed after a defeat yet I felt none of that yesterday. Just positive and optimistic based on what I saw.

That was one of our better performances, we just lacked the finish unfortunately.

That Chelsea performance was reminiscent of some of the performances under Di Matteo in their CL winning season. Ugly as feck. Ultra defensive. Nicking a goal against the run of play then defending for their lives with everybody behind the ball making a million blocks/clearances thereafter.

I thought Herrera was fantastic as a makeshift DM however the right sided triangle of him Mata and Valencia was disrupted in his absence, so we were less dangerous down that side.

Shaw and McNair both deserve praise as well but I think the result would have been different without the injuries.

 

[Bloxy]

The loss yesterday provided us with allot of information;

• the "philosophy" works. with 4 key players out we still maintained high level of possession with an attacking approach
• shaw and paddy are gonna be colossal for us
• smalling is just getting better and better and is now becoming a commanding presence.
• Herrera is not a dm, however he showed his class and adapted well

we will be a force to be reckoned with but for next season..

• we need dm\playmaker as understudy or replacement for Carrick. top priority.
• or another dynamic cm that would help with defensive duties should Blind be preferred as replacement for carrick
• Valencia slows us down so we need a rb who shows a more adventure
• januzaij needs to be loaned our where he will be getting game time.

despite the loss, all we wanted initially from Moyes and LVG was good football, and we now have it.