Well, it was a mixed day for the Blues, with many positives and a few negatives. Overall, it was hard fought loss for Chelsea and the end of Andre Villas-Boas unbeaten record. It was a story of big chances being wasted by top strikers from both teams. Wayne Rooney missed a penalty which went horribly wide, whilst Torres and Berbatov both missed open goal chances.
First Half
Both teams got out of the blocks quickly and it took just eight minutes for United to take the lead after some poor defending, that let Smalling score his header although it could easily have been disallowed for being offside.
Chelsea played well in the first half; we just didn’t take our chances and simply didn’t score. There were loads of chances with Ramires missing a shot two minutes into the match and hit one at the goalkeeper, that he could’ve let go for Sturridge to score in open goal.
Sturridge and Torres also had chances early on in the match, with Torres scuffing a shot wide and hitting an overhead kick going wide. The ex-Manchester City striker had another chance in the 25th minute when he hit a volley only for De Gea to clear it for a corner.
Nani scored United’s second goal when he was given time and space to dribble past defenders and fire the shot in from distance.
Later on, Chelsea defenders were more concerned in stopping Phil Jones, which left Rooney free in the process allowing him to score a third.
Second Half
Andre Villas Boas’ half-time talk surely worked, as Torres scored 30 seconds into the second half after a great pass from Anelka.
Out of the ten goals Chelsea have scored this season, they have now had nine different scorers.
In the 82nd minute, Fernando Torres showed his excellent dribbling skills getting around the United players and the goalkeeper but missing the open goal with his left foot shot – It was really bad luck but overall, I think, a great performance by Torres. Hopefully, he can build on this.
As I said earlier, many players missed many chances and in stoppage time Berbatov missed a sitter. If the strikers took their chances, Torres and Rooney could’ve had hat-tricks and Berbatov and Sturridge should’ve had goals.
Positives
A wake-up call for the team, they need to stay focused and go for the win. It’s going to be a long hard season and pointsaren’t going to come easy.
Despite the miss, hopefully the goal will boost Torres’ confidence and do him good. It was the best performance by the Blues this season despite the result, we looked strong, spirited and kept fighting until the last minute, which was great to see. Sadly, when we got the chances we couldn’t convert them, or the game could have been a draw or even a win for the Blues.
Still it’s early in the season – It will be interesting to see how Chelsea and United play for the rest for the season – I don’t think this match would decide anything.
Negatives
Our defence looked sloppy at times, especially in the build up to the United goals. We gave some players the freedom to move around. We still need to work on converting chances to goals in order to win matches. Overall, it was an entertaining match and tough luck for the Blues.
We face Fulham next, which takes place on Wednesday in the Carling Cup.
Article by: Zoya Sami
Twitter @chelsea4girls