Chelsea 2-3 Man United: That was one hell of a game!

If you meet any football fans walking around today, you'll probably ask that person "did you watch the game last night?", most of them will probably say that he/she did watch the game, unless that person happens to be either a dude with no-tv at home or a guy who doesn't give a shit about that game.  However, this is where all the fun starts, the reaction after the answer.  If you happens to talk to a Chelsea fan, that person will probably say a lot of negative things about referee decisions or some might even go deep to "cheat" from the United side.  Anyway, here's my opinion on this game.

First of all, the game is very fun.  Full of excitement and you can't really take off your eyes for any minute.  Man United were sharp in the first 15 minutes, 2 goals.  Both goals were contribute by Robin Van Persie, although the first one was an own goal from David Luiz.  I think nobody can really argue that United were very sharp and played very well.  Chelsea received a freekick just before the half-time, which Juan Mata just curve it in.  Epic goal!

The fun part started when Ramires scores an equalizer for Chelsea in the middle of the second half.  That was when Chelsea really shows that United's defence is still a pile of crap.  2-2 was the score.  Then at one point, Ashley Young broke through Chelsea defence which made Ivanovic sprint to reach Young.  Young fell down and Ivanovic shown red.  Well, that was not cool.  Personally, I think that that shouldn't have been a red.  Yes, Young was the last person but that light touch isn't that much.  And as always, Young overacted.  But okay, decision can't be changed (unless you happened to play against Juventus).  So thats one red for Chelsea.  At that point, I thought to myself that United HAS TO WIN because one defensive wall has been eliminated from the game.

Not long after, Torres got a chance to break through and goes down in flash.  The ref walked to him and Torres was the second player to be shown red in the same night.  Well, this one is hard since Torres already had one yellow.  But like Sir Alex said, he could go through and score but he chose to fall down.  I do not that Evans deserved a foul, but a yellow to Torres?  That was kind of harsh.  But too bad, you can't dive or overact (unless you happened to play for... nevermind).  So by the 70th minute, its 9 against 11.  United kept attacking until they received their reward in the 75th minute when Javier Hernandez scored.  That was an offside goal, but I do not want to comment on that.  Done.  Chelsea tried hard but failed to score an equalizer.  United defeat Chelsea at the Bridge for the first time in 11 years (Premier League only).

During the match, I also read Twitter feeds and Facebook pages.  Most of their posts were about how United bribed their referee (Mark Clattenburg).  Personally, I don't think there were any bribe or cheat, but most decisions were going against United's opponent and it seems really awkward nowadays.  Just think about it, in the past two years, most of United's big games, there were always controversies and most of the time concerning referee decisions.  I can list some off my head now.

1. Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool [FA CUP 2011] - Gerrard sent off and undeserved penalty. (Howard Webb)
2. Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United [FA CUP 2012] - Kompany sent off and United handball in the box.  (Chris Foy)
3. Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United [PREMIER LEAGUE 2012-13] - Shelvey sent off and controversial penalty.  (Mark Halsey)
4. Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United [PREMIER LEAGUE 2012-13] - Ivanovic and Torres sent off and United's offside goal.  (Mark Clattenburg)

Although I believe there were no bribery, it will nice if FA are willing to investigate the issue, just for the sakes of angry fans.  Honestly, Chelsea happened to be the team that is stronger last night, but because of De Gea, United are still safe.  The gap in the Premier League now is just 1 point, this is going to be real damn fun.  I'm going to end my post here.  Just watch, United is going play Chelsea again this midweek.  Let's hope for a peaceful and fair game. 

Good Luck Everyone!

Image Credit: Zimbio, Guardian, and BreakingNews

Season Analysis so far... [Oct 2012]

Hi again.  Didn't update this blog for quite a long time, due to my works and other stuff.  So a quater of the season has passed, and we are the top of the league (hoo-ray).  But the sad thing is, its JUST a quater of the season, another 7 months to go.  8 points lead [against Madrid] isn't an easy thing.  So here, I'll analyze and criticize everything that happened so far this season.

We started the campaign very sharp.  We won 6 matches straight.  We drew our first game in the El Clasico (Oct 7th).  This is a big contrast to our arch-rival, they started the campaign very poor.  That's how we are still 8 points above Real Madrid.  However, it seems to be that 22 points we gained from our 8 matches, its damn hard.  Harder than its suppose to be.  We won each games, usually in a goal margin of 1.  And how many games that we need to comeback or score in the last minute of the match. It's not right for the so-called "best team in the world".  We conceded TOO MUCH.  But it is still understandable since 3 of our main defenders are injured.  And yeah, putting Alex Song in the back was not a wise decision.  And goalkeeper?  No comments.  Although I do wish him to return to his top-from in a very near time.  A lot of goals conceded came from shitty mistakes, but okay, we still need you, so don't give up.

About our attack, this year, Messi seems to participate more in all goals.  Not just scoring, but also provide beautiful assists and mind-blowing passes.  He is currently the top scorer, 11 goals.  However, the problem is, who is the best to play with Messi.  Villa?  He's good, but pretty slow and pretty out of form as well.  Pedro?  This kid is inconsistent, but is still crucial to the team.  A sharp scorer.  Alexis?  Oh man, this guy is seriously out of form.  Tello? Now we're talking.  This guy provides good assist and is improving match-by-match.  Sometimes, you can even put Cesc or Iniesta in such position, if we really need to. What Tito is doing is very clever, rotating players every matches.  This is a brilliant way to test the abilities of each players and improve the form.  Just think about it, have you ever seen Messi being benched?  Well yeah, it happens during Tito's time.

Overall, I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of FC Barcelona and looking like the 2012-13 should be a good one for us.  But still are still struggling in many ways.  I hope that when our crucial players are back from injuries and forms, Tito will find a way for us to be an invincible team once again.  Good luck to everyone!

Visca el Barça!

Photo Credit: Zimbio