Rooney & Co Finally Break The Bridge.

Well, how does that make you feel?
We allowed finally allowed the ogre to seize control of the Bridge. It was annoying watching Shrek score but painful to see that we couldn’t bounce back. So what went wrong? Who do we point the disapproving finger at? Do we point it at the referee, Carlo, Roman or the players?

The referee
This probably the best referee we have had for an important match like this in years. I know you are disappointed that he denied Ramires a penalty. I understand but it happens in life. We can’t keep blaming referees forever. If we play our best football, no amount of poor refereeing will be able to deny us a result.

Carlo
Carlo had most of his tactics right that day. Zhirkov for Malouda was sensible given Malouda’s lack of pace and recent poor form. On Bosingwa, he no choice given Alex isn’t back for Ivanovic to play as right back. Hence the back four was okay. Moving on to midfield, we have one problem. The problem was Essien, Essien hasn’t played well lately (and that’s being generous). He has grown slow and as a result is often pressed when he has the ball. What aids Essien is his strength and ability to quickly switch play to the flanks. I expected Mikel to start ahead of Essien. I expected this because Mikel has been well rested from missing many of our recent games. Mikel is better than Essien defensively. He has a better pass completion ratio than Essien. He is equally strong and I doubt he would have been pressed as often as Essien was in the game. If Carlo knew he wasn’t going to start Mikel, why didn’t he play him against Stoke? If he had played him against Stoke, Essien could have had some rest to make a real impact on the United game. I’m sure Mikel wouldn’t have played if Bosingwa hadn’t given Carlo enough heartburn to try Essien at right back. As for the strike pair, I did not understand it. Drogba scored two goals for Ivory Coast during the international break and scored the equalizer against Stoke. I have no problem with Drogba starting. My problem is with Nando starting. Nando has played games against lesser opponents and he is yet to score. What inspired Carlo to believe it was going to be against a very organized United defense? Meanwhile, our leading Champions League goal scorer was sitting down on the bench. Moving on to Carlo’s substitutions, I understood the Mikel for Bosingwa one but I didn’t understand the Malouda for Zhirkov one. Malouda has never proven to us that he can come off bench and change a game; I felt Kalou should have come on instead. The substitution Carlo made that got me livid was Anelka for Drogba. It is not that I was disappointed Anelka on, I was disappointed that it was coming at Drogba’s expense. Unlike Torres, Drogba wasn’t waiting to be fed with the ball. Drogba was creating his own chances, he holding up the ball well for our players to get in position. He tested Van Der Sar and amongst all our players on the pitch, he looked most likely to get us a result.

The Players
I won’t criticize the players much. We know their abilities and we should not expect it to change simply because it is a champions league game. I believe our best three players were JT, Lamps and DD. Our worst three were Ashley Cole, Torres and Ramires. I know you might be surprised that Bosingwa is not in it. Bosingwa is not in it because of how good he was on the attack. Bosingwa made me wonder where Ramires was on the right wing. With that said, Bosingwa poor defending would put him fourth from the bottom.

Roman
I wonder sometimes if Ancelotti choosing to play Nando even when it doesn’t make sense is because he truly believes in him or because Roman wants to see his new signing play. Since Roman signed Nando, we have had the Toy Story scenario here at Chelsea; the only difference is that Nando’s falling in style only got him a yellow card. I hope Roman reasons and come to the conclusion that Drogba is still the star striker of our team. We have to give him the respect he deserves. If Nando wants to make an impact, Nando has to find a way to blend with the team, not the team with Nando.
If you don’t agree with me, I would love to hear your opinions in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter @super_chelsea

Up The Chels!