Chelsea 1 - 0 United

DDG

Valencia Smalling McNair Shaw(Blackett)

Mata(Januzaj) Herrera Rooney Young(Di Maria)

Falcao Fellaini

What a game by Shaw!

How we lost today's game I don't know. We passed Chelsea out of the game but it's goals that count and they managed to score one of the very few attempts they had at goal. We had 70% of possession at Stamford Bridge. I'm not sure I can remember United dominating a game away to Chelsea as they did today.....not against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea anyway. It's true that there were a lot of sideway and backward passes but that 70% is still a very very very impressive stat. 

We had a few players missing but I don't think Rojo, Jones and Blind were really missed. I thought their replacements, Paddy McNair and Shaw, were excellent today. Herrera did very well in the Carrick role but I'd rather see Carrick and Herrera in midfield and Roo up front, so we did miss Carrick. Falcao worked hard, as always, but his touch wasn't good and was bullied off the ball far too easily. The goal we conceded was the result of Falcao being too soft on the ball. LVG thinks it was a foul but I don't really think so. Rooney would have been more effective up front. Our captain doesn't really hurt teams when he gets the ball deep in midfield and, despite his pin-point cross field balls, he didn't really do much today. He had three decent attempts and should have scored one of them. At this level this is what makes the difference. Hazard had one chance and he buried it. Rooney had three chances and wasn't even on target once. 

Much ado has been made about the attacking prowess of this Chelsea side. I wasn't impressed. Yes, a moment of magic by Oscar and Hazard decided the game but I thought they were always under control throughout the game. Smalling and McNair did really well today. Fabregas wasn't that good either, Herrera was miles ahead of him. Chelsea's defence, however, was very good. They blocked some decent efforts from our side. I hear this is the 7th consecutive Chelsea win by a one goal margin. They're not impressing but they're still winning games and that's why they'll be champions very soon. Fair play to them. Their only player who impressed me today was Matic. Brilliant.

Our boys did well today. I'm not complaining. There were one or two players who could have done better when at the final third of the pitch but Chelsea's defenders were really good so it was difficult to make that one incisive pass that turns the game on its head. Other than that, I think we're really improving. What's even more encouraging is the fact that we had three injuries and their replacements still managed to do very well and extend United's recent run of excellent performances. When I looked at the fixture list a month ago and saw Tottenham, Liverpool, City and Chelsea, I thought we'd be lucky to get 6 points. We managed 9 and were unlucky not to get, at least, a point today. This game gives me further hope that we'll be up there next season. Yes, we could do a Liverpool and fuck up our chances in the first part of the season but, with LVG, you get the feeling that he really knows what he's doing. We just need 2 or 3 class players and I think we can challenge again. But before thinking about next year, we need to win some tricky fixtures and make sure we're in top 4. Come on United!

Ps. Our man of the match was Luke Shaw. What a way to answer your critics!
Pss. Herrera's fall inside the penalty area was never a penalty but a blatant dive but it was worth a try, I guess.