[stevoc]

This.

We were missing our first and second best strikers.

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

So you were only weakened in one position then as opposed to United missing players in 4-5 different positions.

So bar up front that was the strongest team Mourinho could have selected yes?

 

[Paul the Wolf]

This.

We were missing our first and second best strikers.

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

But that's only one position and if Drogba's not good enough then why did Mourinho bring him back - you always play with one striker. And you could say the same with us with RVP out and Rooney not playing as striker who most would consider as our two first choice strikers

 

[nick2004]

Chelsea missed a second goal. In the second half, we never came that close to scoring.

But most of all, it was obvious that they had a strategy and their strategy worked perfectly for them. As the game progressed, they were more and more comfortable. Why? Because we had nothing new to show. We were predictable, playing the ball among ourselves in the middle of the park. Our strategy was naive. SAF, when playing against Mourinho tried to play with counter attacks or mix it up a little bit.

Mourinho's remarks are the truth:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32370432

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said Manchester United's important players were "in our pockets" in a match that went "exactly" as they wanted.

Possession is great if you win 4-2. Possession means nothing if you lose comfortably 1-0.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

But that's only one position and if Drogba's not good enough then why did Mourinho bring him back - you always play with one striker. And you could say the same with us with RVP out and Rooney not playing as striker who most would consider as our two first choice strikers

Hes not good enough to lead the line over a lot of games. Hes got qualities that we have benefited from this season, such as leadership and coaching, defence and a few goals. (won us a few points this season).

Your injuries were worse, but its not like we had our first string attacking team out there to play gung ho anyway.

The whole thing comes down to, would you rather win 1-0 or lose 4-2?

Unless you are in a team who are light years ahead of the rest of the league (Bayern) (Barca and Real) then you need this kind of pragmatism to be successful.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Not sure if anyone has posted this so apologies if they have already...

Louis Van Gaal: Proud Of My Team! Post match press conference -

First time we have really seen that level of emotion. Nice to see.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Hes not good enough to lead the line over a lot of games. Hes got qualities that we have benefited from this season, such as leadership and coaching, defence and a few goals. (won us a few points this season).

Your injuries were worse, but its not like we had our first string attacking team out there to play gung ho anyway.

The whole thing comes down to, would you rather win 1-0 or lose 4-2?

Unless you are in a team who are light years ahead of the rest of the league (Bayern) (Barca and Real) then you need this kind of pragmatism to be successful.

I don't blame Mourinho for playing that way to win the match but can't blame injuries either , he's never going to play gung-ho unless the opposition are down to 10 men or the opposition is really poor. Feel you are too reliant on Hazard and if Hazard and Costa are both out injured ..., what happens?

 

[royboy16]

Good performance given the injuries. Typical Jose win by playing ugly, he's the master at it.

Don't understand the substitutes. Januzaj was pointless & taking Shaw off didn't help.

Hopefully Carrick/Blind is back. On this performance I'm confident we'll secure top-4.

Just back from an injury and his fitness has been an issue for us this season,thats probably why.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Chelsea missed a second goal. In the second half, we never came that close to scoring.

But most of all, it was obvious that they had a strategy and their strategy worked perfectly for them. As the game progressed, they were more and more comfortable. Why? Because we had nothing new to show. We were predictable, playing the ball among ourselves in the middle of the park. Our strategy was naive. SAF, when playing against Mourinho tried to play with counter attacks or mix it up a little bit.

Mourinho's remarks are the truth:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32370432



Possession is great if you win 4-2. Possession means nothing if you lose comfortably 1-0.

That isn't the full story though. Hazard's second chance was the equivalent of Falcao, but other than that Chelsea offered nothing. Rooney had two sitters that he missed, and but for some very good defending by Cahill we would have had other opportunities. Chelsea were not as comfortable as you make out.

 

[izec]

Chelsea won comfortably in the end, their game plan worked. Neville said on Monday they would put Zouma and nullify Fellaini, which worked perfectly. Our right side was disrupted, as was our left side, and we missed Carrick. Rooney in midfield and Falcao up top didnt help either. Fair play to Chelsea and Mourinho, they won and thats what counts for them this season. Their defense was brilliant, midfield ok and they had an old striker up top. Hazard had his moments, we had some chances too.

Overall, i was a bit disappointed. Chelsea let us have posession and i thought they were there for the taking at times. But when it counted, we couldnt create much.

With the right tarnsfers, hopefully it will be easier to break teams down that park the bus. That is our only concern so far. Liverpool and City played football, teams that park the bus and let us have the ball are our virus.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

That isn't the full story though. Hazard's second chance was the equivalent of Falcao, but other than that Chelsea offered nothing. Rooney had two sitters that he missed, and but for some very good defending by Cahill we would have had other opportunities. Chelsea were not as comfortable as you make out.

Agreed and the difference between this week and last week was because 3 players who played well last week, didn't this week and that was Young, Mata and Fellaini, not because of Falcao who was Ok but lacking the service that caused City problems last week, Young was far too cautious

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Agreed and the difference between this week and last week was because 3 players who played well last week, didn't this week and that was Young, Mata and Fellaini, not because of Falcao who was Ok but lacking the service that caused City problems last week, Young was far too cautious

Yes Young was a surprise, him and Shaw were on fire at the beginning of the game, but he then went missing. I thought Mata just got muscled out of the game by the LB. Zouma did a good job on Fellani, so it was a surprise that Fellani stayed on, I thought Di Maria may have come on for him to offer a different approach.

 

[Irrational.]

Yes it's the result that matters, but in the grand scheme of things it really means feck all. This was always Chelsea's title and it will simply go down as another result that Chelsea ground out/ squeaked past*. (*Delete as appropriate)

The way Mourinho set up was cowardly, and a typically Mourinho-ish tactical set up - to nullify rather than to play - but it worked a treat. Hazard turned up against us as usual and Cahill/ Terry/ Ivanovic were magnificent. Even the almighty Young/ Mata had no success against them. That's where my praise of Chelsea ends.

In general, I believe we were great; we had Chelsea penned back for long periods and they tried every trick in the book to slow the game down, or to pester the ref into making decisions in their favour.

I think we could've made slightly better subs. Not really sure bringing Mata off for the tactically naive Januzaj was the best idea. And Blackett is simply not United standard, shame Shaw had to go off really as he was excellent. Does anyone know if he was injured or was he taken off for fitness reasons?

I'm far more optimistic about our long term future after seeing our display over the past few weeks. Even if we assume Blind/ Rojo/ Jones/ Carrick will be injured, I think the same team with a fit RVP up front rather than the flagging Falcao will work wonders. I really do believe this was Falcao's last start in a United shirt.

 

[kundalini]

We didn't create much and Chelsea appeared to see us coming. I'm not sure us dominating possession is worthy of great credit as Chelsea were quite content to play on the counter-attack.

Herrera looked a bit out of his depth as a holding midfielder, failed to recognise the threat from Hazard when they scored and his passing got us in trouble a few times; most notably when Drogba's deflected shot was turned against the bar by Hazard. Rooney also struggled.

Young and Mata didn't offer much. I was surprised the substitutions didn't happen earlier. Di Maria and Januzaj weren't much better. Falcao was a mix of rusty and slightly unlucky. Fellaini largely nullified. De Gea not at his best.

McNair and Shaw played well; a lot better than I expected.

Overall a decent effort from us. But in future we need to offer more in the final third.

 

[ManUnitedCanuck]

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

 

[nick2004]

That isn't the full story though. Hazard's second chance was the equivalent of Falcao, but other than that Chelsea offered nothing. Rooney had two sitters that he missed, and but for some very good defending by Cahill we would have had other opportunities. Chelsea were not as comfortable as you make out.

But they didn't have to. You see? Their strategy was different.

And anyway, they would be very happy with a draw. We had to win to make things interesting. We failed. Yes, we have progressed and we are playing well now and that's great ... but we are still a level below Jose.

 

[Raoul]

Chelsea missed a second goal. In the second half, we never came that close to scoring.

But most of all, it was obvious that they had a strategy and their strategy worked perfectly for them. As the game progressed, they were more and more comfortable. Why? Because we had nothing new to show. We were predictable, playing the ball among ourselves in the middle of the park. Our strategy was naive. SAF, when playing against Mourinho tried to play with counter attacks or mix it up a little bit.

Mourinho's remarks are the truth:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32370432



Possession is great if you win 4-2. Possession means nothing if you lose comfortably 1-0.

Falcao hit the bar so we did come just as close, and that's not counting McNair's shot.

Also, we were hardly any more or less predictable than they were. They had a couple of chances and converted one of them, and that was the difference.

 

[bosnian_red]

But they didn't have to. You see? Their strategy was different.

And anyway, they would be very happy with a draw. We had to win to make things interesting. We failed. Yes, we have progressed and we are playing well now and that's great ... but we are still a level below Jose.

Even if we won, there was no title race. They'd need to lose 3 on the trot for that, never going to happen. It was a game that didn't mean much to either team result wise really, a win/draw/loss doesn't have a big impact on our season, a win for them gets the title to them slightly sooner then if they dropped points.
As for the game and your other posts, it was very even overall on chances, and we should've scored and would've on another day. Nothing to do with Mourinho, we hit the post, Mata missed a good chance and Rooney missed a great chance that he would normally put away. Not to mention that their goal and one of 2 chances they created all game came out of a foul that wasn't called.

 

[dinners85]

Not really our style but no 'striker' today could have been an option.

 

[nick2004]

Even if we won, there was no title race. They'd need to lose 3 on the trot for that, never going to happen. It was a game that didn't mean much to either team result wise really, a win/draw/loss doesn't have a big impact on our season, a win for them gets the title to them slightly sooner then if they dropped points.
As for the game and your other posts, it was very even overall on chances, and we should've scored and would've on another day. Nothing to do with Mourinho, we hit the post, Mata missed a good chance and Rooney missed a great chance that he would normally put away. Not to mention that their goal and one of 2 chances they created all game came out of a foul that wasn't called.

You don't take into account the general feeling of the game, the strategy or the philosophy (call it whatever you want) ... which is far more important in this case. Mourinho would be happy with a draw, he decided to give us the ball and see what we can do. We did nothing, we did not not score. That's all that matters. Mourinho had no reason to try and win 3-0 or whatever.

"If this" and "if that" mean nothing. If we were up 0-1 then ... we would be talking about something else, not today's game. In the actual game we saw today, Mourinho had a plan, it worked perfectly and he did not have to change anything. On the other hand, we were losing 1-0, obviously we had to do something different, we tried ... but we failed: we were predictable from start to end.

 

[nick2004]

Even if we won, there was no title race.

Yes, it would be a long shot. That's why I said "We had to win to make things interesting".

Anyway, I do believe that Mourinho won the race in November. This was a very comfortable championship for him. Actually, I'd say that overall our squad is a little better than Chelsea's. We face a gap of 14 points because 1) we started so badly, and 2) Mourinho.

 

[bosnian_red]

You don't take into account the general feeling of the game, the strategy or the philosophy (call it whatever you want) ... which is far more important in this case. Mourinho would be happy with a draw, he decided to give us the ball and see what we can do. We did nothing, we did not not score. That's all that matters. Mourinho had no reason to try and win 3-0 or whatever.

"If this" and "if that" mean nothing. If we were up 0-1 then ... we would be talking about something else, not today's game. In the actual game we saw today, Mourinho had a plan, it worked perfectly and he did not have to change anything. On the other hand, we were losing 1-0, obviously we had to do something different, we tried ... but we failed: we were predictable from start to end.

Games like this are decided on moments like a shot hitting the post or a referee decision that doesn't go your way. Doesn't mean one team is better then the other or that one managers style in the long term is better or some shite like that. It worked for them today, while we lost. On another day, the exact same game would go a different way if both managers did the same style. Maybe Rooney would have scored his sitter and Chelsea would have had to attack. Maybe the ref would've called the foul on Falcao and it just would've been a bore draw instead of them scoring. Maybe Herrera gets a penalty at the end. It's very fine margins that you can't really read anything from. You make it sound like it all went perfectly for Chelsea, like they completely shut us down and like we had no chances at all when that is far from the truth. We had our chances, just didn't take them while we are usually very clinical. That's about it.

Comparing the two styles, it was probably an even game in terms of how it all went. They sat back, had a couple of good chances. We controlled possession as always, they didn't try to take it from us really, but they didn't exactly keep us out all game. They took one of their chances, missed the other, we missed 3 or 4 good chances. About it.

 

[bosnian_red]

Yes, it would be a long shot. That's why I said "We had to win to make things interesting".

Anyway, I do believe that Mourinho won the race in November. This was a very comfortable championship for him. Actually, I'd say that overall our squad is a little better than Chelsea's. We face a gap of 14 points because 1) we started so badly, and 2) Mourinho.

No way is our squad better then Chelsea's IMO. Our strongest 11 is as good as anyone else's in the league, but we have so many injury prone players while Chelsea have the least injury prone squad. Makes a huge difference as they never have 3 or 4 players out in the same position. Personally, I don't think there's anything between Mourinho and Van Gaal in terms of trying to win the league title. We were just a year behind in our development so it took a while for us to get going and this year was always going to be about getting champions league football. We'll see next season how it goes but I think it'll be United and Chelsea neck and neck for most of the season.

 

[Red Dreams]

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.

 

[sunama]

I'm not sure why you guys are castigating Mourinho.
Mourinho knew his team cannot beat Man Utd, by "playing football". We are possession based team, so we will dominate and create more chances. Mourinho knew this. So, he looked at Man City, LFC and Spurs and how they lost to us. Then he looked at Southampton and also Villa (when we drew against 10 men) and thought...to beat Man Utd we need to park the bus. So, thats what he did.

At present, the only way to beat Man Utd is to park the bus and hit us on the counter. If you try and "play football" against us, you are very likely to lose. This is why I believed that the Man City and Arsenal (see not below) games are 3 point easy wins for us, because they wont park the bus. Chelsea was the only game I feared because of the Mourinho factor.

Note: I know that some people will say that Arsenal beat us in the FA Cup game, but that was because Valencia (was it?) provided an assist to Wellbeck. And Di Maria got himself red carded very cheaply. This is unlikely to happen again. Arsenal really did get lucky on that occasion.

Now the question is, that if all teams realise that parking the bus and hitting us on the counter is the best way to play us, how do we get around this? My belief is that if we have a top class striker, then even if a team parks the bus, we will still score. RVP in top form. Or a player like RV Nistlerooy, would definitely score 20+ goals/season for us, against the "park the bus" tactic. Our problem right now is that Rooney is our best striker and he was played in midfield today. And Falcao is like a new born calf who can barely stand straight without going to ground. If we get a top striker in the Summer, then I am confident we will be favourites for the league title...but we desperately need to get shot of the (4-goal-a-season) Falcao and possibly RVP.

 

[GeneralGattuso]

Chelsea are very ordinary. Tall, workman-like players but no great shakes. Hazard is their best player but he's no Ronaldo or even Bale. Fellaini would have been better playing further back in midfield, that would have ruined Mourinho's plan and left Chelsea with a CB in midfield doing nothing. I didn't think trying to play the balls up to Fellaini in this game was going to be an effective tactic vs a team with so many tall players and so it was. We needed to be tougher in the tackle today, Dean was letting a lot of it go so we should have been more aggressive with the tackles, it's something we lack.

Even though Mourinho was playing for a draw, the fact that he played so defensively (at home!) shows how worried he was of his team being turned over, had this been a must-win game for them (or a cup game) there would have been only one winner. Mourinho has reverted to type, play defensive, score on the counter and grind out wins - effective but about as fun as watching paint dry.

Major plus points from today were Shaw and Valencia - both played well. Januzaj just doesn't cut it for me, he needs to go out on loan but I think he's going to be a Hazard-like player: good but never great. Oscar annoys me, for all the talent he has, he's a dirty mink, so many of his tackles are meant to injure but worst of all, when someone does the same back to him he'll cry like a baby. Can't stand players who give but can't take, it's the same with Costa.

 

[reelworld]

Don't understand why anyone would say we offered nothing. Our build up play was very good, except when it comes to the final third. It's not we were standing around passing to each other in our own half. Herrera, Rooney, Fellaini, Falcao, Mata, all tried to make something happened. If we offered nothing then Rooney wouldn't have his chance, or Falcao. It's a game of fine margins, and going to Stamford Bridge to play like that it was good. I forgot that whether Ferguson himself got the balls to do that against a Mourinho team.

 

[Nozzy]

Yes, it would be a long shot. That's why I said "We had to win to make things interesting".

Anyway, I do believe that Mourinho won the race in November. This was a very comfortable championship for him. Actually, I'd say that overall our squad is a little better than Chelsea's. We face a gap of 14 points because 1) we started so badl There's also

Yes, it would be a long shot. That's why I said "We had to win to make things interesting".

Anyway, I do believe that Mourinho won the race in November. This was a very comfortable championship for him. Actually, I'd say that overall our squad is a little better than Chelsea's. We face a gap of 14 points because 1) we started so badly, and 2) Mourinho.

There's also the fact, that we have undergone an earthquake in reorganisation over the last 2 seasons with innumerable changes in the playing & coaching staff . However I believe this has left us in the stronger position moving forward, where like City, who have a defence that has passed the tipping point, Chelsea are not going to improve in that vital area of their game, simply due to the age of their defence.

I do not believe they can strengthen/improve this aspect of their squad, in the same way that we, could not bring ourselves to move on Ferdinand, Vidic & Evra & it will catch up with them, in the same way it did with ourselves and, as we have seen this season, with City. In addition, they have the problem of Costa's hamstring. Can they bring in a world class striker, purely as cover for Diego?

Meanwhile, United are linked with hundreds of millions of pounds worth of the best talent in the world. A half decent transfer window, together with a settled style of playing, will mean we don't drop the silly points we have this season. The future is bright, the future, is red.

 

[berbatrick]

We didn't dominate like LvG is claiming but nor did Mourinho completely outsmart LvG - all their chances were the direct results of our wayward passing or bad marking (Carrick/Blind would've followed Hazard better for the goal, it was a foul on Falcao, the Drogba/Hazard chance was a terrible Herrera pass, etc). Given our injuries, that we were away, and that this is LvG's 1st season, it was a fantastic performance, and tactically, a draw between the 2 managers. I measure dominance not by either extremes of possession or goals but number (and quality) of chances and there both teams were roughly even.

 

[Melvyn]

At the end of the day, the result is all that matters. If we were in Chelsea's position, this place would be saying 'we got the job done'.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Think we could have done with Di Maria starting in place of Young or even replacing him at half time. The way Zouma was sticking to Fellaini for dear life, that inside left channel was there for the picking. Herrera did well in the DM role but I was disappointed in how Oscar got the space and time to create the Hazard goal.

 

[.Rossi]

Has anyone been to this place? What's it like?

Was in it awhile back.

It's very good. Not too pricey either...Although, I live in Ireland, where a bottle of Coca Cola is nearly 2 quid so, anything is gonna be cheap for me

 

[Mani]

If that Rooney goal would have gone in we could have seen some open game from chelsea.
Lot of positives from our game. Players are good on the ball especially back 4,McNair,inspite of playing not much in recent times showed lot of maturity.Herrera was decent as anchor man.
Only complaint would be,Rvp should have started this in place of Falcao.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

But they didn't have to. You see? Their strategy was different.

And anyway, they would be very happy with a draw. We had to win to make things interesting. We failed. Yes, we have progressed and we are playing well now and that's great ... but we are still a level below Jose.

I am on a different page to you, Chelsea didn't play against the team from the last few games. We had no DM, we had a youth player in the back line, we weren't able to play our ACM in his preferred position and we changed our striker. So whilst I accept that on the day Chelsea worked out how to stop the team playing against them, I think it would have been very different if United had played the same players as they did against City. Now that the players understand the system, I feel the gap between us and Chelsea is not so great. Chelsea strategy was as expected, and it was frustrating that LVG did not change style as soon as it was evident that Zouma had Fellani in his pocket. However, I still feel that Chelsea were not in a comfortable position for most of the game.

 

[J-Stander]

We played in to their hands. They knew that we'd have most of the possession and do feck all with it, playng it around the back and basically doing feck all. Deserved win for Chelsea, despite them playing like Hull.

 

[Getsme]

Both encouraging and disappointing. 71% possession with a shocking 9 shots off target. As for Falcao, cant make my mind up. He looks like he might explode into life, but his time is running out. He was responsible for giving away the goal when he lost possession. We are definitely going in the right direction, a few signings in the summer and we will be challenging for the title next season.

Blame him all you want, but he wasn't responsible for the goal.

 

[Getsme]

Going by the match day thread I'm convinced that some fans want us to lose so they have something or someone to moan at.

 

[George Owen]

Blame him all you want, but he wasn't responsible for the goal.

Though the same. There were no reason for Smalling to rush that ball. We were dominating an away game.... he could have recycle it and pass it back to De Gea to start over. A shame really because that goal killed us. But that's the way it is.

Now i'm just looking forward for this wasted season to finish and the new season to begin. We just need some tweaking in between and we can win everything next season.

 

[Lawman]

If that Rooney goal would have gone in we could have seen some open game from chelsea.
Lot of positives from our game. Players are good on the ball especially back 4,McNair,inspite of playing not much in recent times showed lot of maturity.Herrera was decent as anchor man.
Only complaint would be,Rvp should have started this in place of Falcao.

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

 

[POF]

United played really well today. A late equaliser would have actually been a good result for everyone. It would have kept United's momentum going and would have been enough for Chelsea.

Rooney's chance early on was huge. Getting ahead in that game was crucial. It's hard to say Mourinho didn't get his tactics spot on. Completely nullified Young and Fellaini. Herrera moving deeper nullified the right side. They felt they could snuff out United's attack and exploit the gaps on the counter. They did exactly that. In really big games Mourinho is easily the best manager in the league.

Taking into account the injuries it was a very good performance. Shaw and McNair played very well and Herrera did an excellent job in the deeper role. Subs failed to make any impact but can't complain with that performance. They were just beaten by a more streetwise team who are much further in their development.

 

[newgiz]

Not too disappointed with the defeat, although it does hurt to lose to them. I suppose this is one of those games where you can't really fault the performances. (Except of course of Falcao)

My only disappointment was with the subs. We should have brought on RvP for Falcao instead of bringing on Adnan.