The Titans and the Shield: Man Utd v. Chelsea

I turned on the TV just in time to catch the lineups. As I sunk into the couch, my expectation from the next two hours was of a scrappy, cautious English Premier League season opener between Chelsea and Manchester United; to be played mostly in the midfield and a final score of, say, 1-0 or 1-1 going to penalties! Community Shield finals are generally that way.

And boy was I in for a surprise!

The Lineups
It is amazing the difference one star player can make. The United lineup somehow seemed far less threatening without Ronaldo. Nani has long been likened to his compatriot and 2008 Ballon d’Or winner; and had to fill the gaping void left behind by the latter’s world record transfer to Real Madrid earlier in the summer. Ben Foster was in goal to replace the injured Van der Sar. No Vidic either, out due to injury and replaced by Evans. Akin to the previous season, Sir Alex had picked a hard-working, result-grinding midfield of Carrick, Fletcher and Park against Chelsea. The Rooney and Berbatov pairing up front was potentially lethal; with some amazing attacking options on the bench: Owen, Giggs, Scholes and the new signing Valencia.

Chelsea probably had their best 11 fit and playing. Carvalho returned to parner John Terry in the center of defense. I was rather surprised by the selection of Ivanovic over Bosingwa at right back; the Portuguese having had a great first season with the blues. The midfield diamond – the way for Chelsea this season as declared by coach Ancelotti – was anchored by Mikel, with Essien and Malouda on the right and left respectively and Lampard returning to the offensive midfield role just behind the strikers. It was going to be a test for Drogba and Anelka; the question still remains: can they play together? The blues also had a pretty good bench: Ballack, Deco, Kalou and Alex among others.

Twenty Minutes of Domination
Manchester United started the brighter side; had more pace and movement about them and that resulted in Nani firing a Ronaldo-like shot just outside the box in the 10th minute, eluding Cech who reacted late and Terry who actually made way for the ball. The game was on! So much for the slow start. The next ten minutes saw a string of chances being created by the Red Devils. Had it not been for two outstanding saves from Cech off Park and Berbatov, the contest would have surely been over!

Problems on the Right
Nani was just having his way with Inanovic on the right flank; the Serbian international unable to block off the winger’s pace and trickery. To be fair, Essien and Carvalho should have joined in to help the right back at times; with the diamond formation, there was always going to be room wide for the opposition wingers and fullbacks to attack. Ivanovic meanwhile huffed, puffed and tackled on Nani, earning him a booking. Patrice Evra also joined in at will and caused a lot of trouble with a couple of outstanding runs.

The Balance Restored
Half-way into the first half, the Chelsea midfield began to take control of things. Frank Lampard, however, found it pretty hard to get involved; Carrick and Fletcher taking him out of the equation at times. But Chelsea began to run the game at their own pace and few through-balls from midfield found Drogba and Anelka into the box; neither able to convert. Meanwhile, Ben Foster was having a shocker; a couple of wayward goal kicks and fumbles. His shakiness translated into the United game and as the first half ended, it was Chelsea who seemed more likely to find the net.

Tables Turned
Half-time saw the first substitution of the match; Bosingwa finally replacing Ivanovic for the blues. Still ahead by one goal, it was Wayne Rooney who looked lively and caused some early trouble for the blues, with his goal-bound shot blocked by Ashley Cole. On the other hand, however, Foster continued to err; failing to clear a Malouda cross, he punched it straight towards Carvalho, who headed easily in the 53rd minute to give Chelsea the equalizer. For the next twenty minutes, it was all Chelsea, controlling the ball and creating chances. Meanwhile, Valencia came on for Nani and Ballack replaced Mikel, slotting Essien into the holding role.

The Controversy
It just had to be there, didn’t it? No match between these two rivals is devoid of some controversy these days. Evra went down after being body-checked by Ballack, Carvalho cleared long, finding Drogba up the pitch who made a run and then set up Lampard, who shot hard. The ball caught Foster’s hand on the way but still ended up into the net. Chelsea had taken the lead in the 71st minute! With Evra still down, the players in red protested furiously over the possible foul.

Now, I thought it was a foul on Evra; but the referee didn’t think so. So the play went on. Chelsea could have put the ball out of play but, as they would claim, they were playing to the whistle. Of course, all would have been forgotten had it not resulted in a goal; no more though! Thankfully it was the Community Shield so it won’t serve as much of a talking point. But fair play vs. playing to the whistle: take your pick!

Ballack vs. Evra
It was feisty between the two! I actually enjoyed it a lot! Evra stepping onto Ballack, Ballack body-checking Evra, Ballack tackling Evra, Evra tackling Ballack, pushing, shoving. Evra didn’t like it much though; Ballack could be seen having fun with it. Let’s hope for more such stuff in the season!

The Final Rush
United made four substitutions following Chelsea’s 2nd goal: Giggs, Scholes, Own & Da Silva replacing Berbatov, Park, Fletcher and O’Shea; all attacking moves. The game remained in balance for the rest of the 2nd half though, despite United trying harder.

Just when it seemed the game was done and dusted, Wayne Rooney, with just a minute left to play, broke onto a Giggs through-ball, sprinted past Bosingwa and slotted beyong Cech to make it 2-2! We were going to penalties!

The Penalties
When it finally came to this, I couldn’t predict who would win: Chelsea have had a horrendous recent history with penalties, having never won for a long time. However, with Foster having had a shocker of a match, and Cech performing brilliantly, it certainly gave them a chance. Nervy stuff, I decided to watch and find out!

Lampard scored the first for Chelsea, firing in the middle as Foster dived to his left.

It was a little odd to see Ronaldo not coming up to take the first penalty for United; but Giggs was equally a good an option. I was stunned to see his meek effort, easily saved by Cech.

Ballack and Drogba slotted in perfect, low and into the corner penalties. Carrick converted too to make it 3 – 1. On came Patrice Evra. I had this feeling; somehow I thought he was gonna miss. His face told me he wasn’t too confident himself either! His shot was a shocker! It rolled right into Cech’s hands.

Kalou then converted the next penalty to win it 4 – 1 for Chelsea on Penalties! The stadium erupted and the blues celebrate! And the award for the widest smile in the stadium went to Carlo Ancelotti!

The Last Word
Far from my initial expectation of a scrappy, slow match, this was actually feisty! And with some great football too. Both teams looked in good shape having had successful pre-seasons. But it was the intensity and competitiveness from both the sides which was especially endearing to see. Both sides wanted to lay down the gauntlet; both see each other as the primary rivals for silverware this season. So the match was all about making a statement. And Chelsea would be proud to have done just that.