Chelsea 1 - 0 United

DDG

Valencia Smalling Rio Evra

Nani(Giggs) Carrick Jones Cleverley(RVP) 

Welbeck(Young) Chicharito

I never really expected United to win this game. As I said in my last post, Chelsea had extra incentive to win this game plus they were playing in their own backyard. Our real chance of progressing to the semi finals of this competition was thrown away when we blew a two goal lead at Old Trafford. Chelsea were there for the taking and we couldn't take advantage of that. Today's result is fair. Chelsea were that bit better than us.

The first half was dire. It seemed like the two sets of players were competing in a wayward pass contest. Mata, Oscar, Cleverley and Chicharito were doing their utmost to win this contest but Nani was the undisputed winner. The guy was dreadful today. I swear I would've mustered more accurate passes than him, had I been on the pitch. Nani hasn't played for two weeks now so tiredness is definitely not an excuse to go for. I like the guy, I still think he's our best winger but today he was absolutely awful.

I was pretty pleased with Welbeck and our defence. The former was our only live wire during the first half. He did fade out of the game eventually but his effort was a joy to watch. Rio and Smalling were solid but had to bow down to an excellent Demba Ba finish. I don't really applaud an opponent's goal but that finish had class written all over it. No chance for our goalie who had a good game in goal. Evra did very very well on the left and Valencia was firm on the other side. 

Jones was rock solid in midfield. In fact, when Phil was put at right back, Chelsea started attacking our back four much more often. There wasn't anyone breaking their attacks in our midfield area. Carrick started well and did his utmost to keep up with the tempo of the game BUT our best player this season looks tired. Really tired. Let's hope he's refreshed by Monday night. We need him for the derby. Chicharito was too isolated up front but when given the chance only a world class save from Cech denied him another goal vs Chelsea. I'd a tad worried by RVP's form. He SHOULD have scored today. 

So we'll have to do without the FA Cup. To be fair, if we win the league, it will be more than enough. Not too gutted about today's result, if I'm honest.