Chelsea 1 - 3 United

DDG

Rafael Vidic(s/o) Evans Evra(Smalling)

Valencia Carrick Jones Young(Chicharito)

Januzaj Welbeck

Another defeat, this time at the hands of Chelsea. Thats the way our season is going. It's been a start-stop season. Anyway, I didn't expect us to win the game today. When you look at Chelsea and then at our side, you'd have to be a tad crazy to think that we're better than them. Their midfield is light years ahead of ours and although I'd like to think that our defenders are better than Chelsea's, the way they played today doesn't suggest so. Our defending was shambolic at times. We've got much better strikers than them but two of ours are injured and their striker, Eto'o, decided to score a hat-trick today...that's one more goal than he had scored in the PL this season.

Having said that, the score does not really reflect what happened during the game. We weren't that bad. In fact, there were times when we were all over them. What killed us was their counter-attacks and our defending that followed. Furthermore, the timing of their second and third goals were a killer blow. There was never a way into the game after their third. To make matters worse, the ref turned down a blatant penalty when their left back, whose name I cannot spell, obstructed Welbeck when he was about to shoot. If that wasn't a penalty, then I don't know what is. Chicharito, who looked really lively, did pull one back but it was too little too late. 

Unlike the game at the Eithad, when we were absolutely mauled by City, I thought that our players did well against Chelsea today. I've seen United play worse at Stamford Bridge and still managing to come out with a point or three. Their first goal came against the run of play and they were lucky we didn't have Roo and RVP on the pitch because they would have buried some of the chances we had. Januzaj was a handful for Chelsea as he led proceedings at the front. Most definitely our best player on the pitch. 

Even the most optimistic of fans didn't expect us to win today. In fact, I was pretty surprised with the way we played. Obviously, the usual suspects are once again calling for Moyes' head but I won't judge until he's built a team of his own. What he's trying to do right now is play with the deadwood left by Fergie. At the moment, luck is definitely not a word that appears in Moyes' dictionary. We've had too many decisions gone against us and we've also had too many injuries to assemble some sort of title challenging team. Any team in the world would miss RVP and Rooney! 

What happens in the coming fortnight will be absolutely pivotal for this season as well as the next one. We've been out of the title race for a good couple of months now and what's worrying is that we're drifting away from the fourth spot as well. We need to buy a player or two. It won't suddenly fix our problems but any midfielder, who's better than what we've got, will improve our team. We're good at the front, Valencia isn't half bad and we've found a real gem on the left in Januzaj. What we need is someone to accompany Carrick in midfield. Will this player be bought during this transfer window? I don't know. The desperation we are in will give the upper hand to the selling team coz they'll charge us with inflated fees just because they know that our team is crying for an addition of a good player. That's something that worries me because our management certainly won't be spending silly money on any good football player even though we desperately need one! We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Until then, Sunderland await us in the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi final. Come on United!