Chelsea, ManU and Gabriel Obertan

Chelsea 1 - 0 ManU, Sunday Nov 8 2009

It wasn't the great game people thought it would be, at least in my opinion. It was a game that was full of energy channeled into all the wrong departments, tempers flying high, happenings that did not meet the referees' eyes, so on and so forth. It was a match right out of Bundesliga, what with all the hits and pushes.

To begin with, the blues deserve the lead they have at the moment, not for the effort they put in yesterday but for the effort they have been putting in all season. Yesterday though, they were mediocre compared to what they can do. Without Vidic and Rio, Chelsea should have ideally annihilated the Manchester United defence. Instead, they were left with problems in their own, unable to contain Antonio Valencia in many situations. ManU midfield was having a field day passing the ball into the Chelsea box at will. Terry and Carvalho had a tiring day clearing the ball by all means possible. Overall, it was no impressive performance from Chelsea, although credit has to be given to Ivanovic for a fine attacking(?) display.

To ManU's credit, they kept the opposition's defence busy, limited Ashley Cole's running time & space (worked wonders) and came up with an artistic midfield display. Fletcher, Rooney, Obertan and Giggs were impressive. I have a feeling Terry's goal can be attributed to missing Vidic and Rio. It wouldn't have been that easy with them around. Another positive point for ManU is that they did not concede a single corner. The number of shots off target is something SAF should look into. Only two of them even threatened to be a goal if hit right (esp the Rooney one).

Next, I must come to the case of Gabriel Obertan. The French Winger is clearly an amazing talent with an amazing Arsenal-ish style of play. He is still settling in, with his performance against Chelsea much better than his Blackburn outing. I am sure he would be a force to reckon with, post January, given time and importance. With Chelsea losing players to the african cup of nations and Obertan fitting in the ManU first team with Rooney and Fletcher, my opinion is that five points will not be a good enough lead. Hope SAF gives Obertan more playing time in the first team in local cups before that. He is clearly better than Macheda.

And oh, shouldn't forget an Arsenal waiting to swwwishhhh past the two teams. Arshavin & Fabregas together can create more opportunities than any other combo in England at the moment.

Chelsea
# 01 Cech - got the job done with one superb save
# 02 Ivanovic - Brilliant performance
# 03 A Cole - good, as usual
# 06 Carvalho - one amazing block, man-marked rooney very well, but had his bad moments.
# 26 Terry - Ref's eyes did not see him tugging Valencia. Saw Chelsea through.
# 05 Essien - Was all over the place. Very intelligent passes.
# 08 Lampard - The freekick that decided the result. Go Frank!
# 13 Ballack - A really wonderful cross into no man's land is what I remember of him from yesterday's game.
# 20 Deco - Lot of effort but ineffective due to many reasons. Will be the difference as the season progresses.
# (J Cole) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Drogba - Nothing much to say
# (Kalou 83) - Did not have enough time to prove anything
# 39 Anelka - Surprisingly good
# (Alex 90+3) - Did not have any time at all

ManU
# 01 Van der Sar - Good game. Had his moments.
# 03 Evra - Tried much to prove his talk off the pitch. Couldn't.
# 06 Brown - Good enough to block Chelsea yesterday
# 22 O'Shea - Nothing much to say
# 23 Evans - I really did not like the way he played
# 08 Anderson - lot of tricks. no results.
# (Owen) - Nothing much to say
# 11 Giggs - Very good. Except that I believe he should have taken on Cech initially when he had a go. Cech was clearly tensed when Giggs had the ball at his feet with no defender in between.
# (Obertan) - Very very impressive style of play.
# 16 Carrick - Somehow don't like him as much as I like Fletcher. Not half as impressive.
# 24 Fletcher - Developing into something solid.
# 25 Valencia - Brilliant stuff. In amazing touch.
# 10 Rooney - Lone fighter yesterday. Berbatov's presence would've unleashed rooney on Chelsea. If not for the harsh offside, ManU would have been ahead early.