Alex Ferguson claims that his Manchester United team did not deserve to be treated so harshly by the referee in this weekend’s clash of the titans. He, however, as has been the case in the last few weeks, is wrong.
Claiming that Chelsea’s team was too old is surely foolish, when he has old stalwarts like Scholes, Neville and Giggs in his squad, (Scholes and Neville two players who were deservedly booked against Chelsea. Furthermore, had Ballack emulated Christiano Ronaldo’s diving, Neville would surely have walked, for a late lunging tackle which Ballack evaded).
Secondly, his speech about Chelsea being given preferential treatment from the FA is utterly ridiculous, because on the same day, Nejmana Vidic was only booked for a worse foul on Robbie Keane than John Terry’s on Jo; Vidic was the last man and he should have walked for hacking down Keane. Also, Manchester United, over the last ten years are widely thought to be the team that receives the most bias towards them from the FA. So for Ferguson to claim that Chelsea are getting the bias, is utterly ridiculous.
Justice, surely was served yesterday in late in London, when Chelsea scored their late equaliser from a free kick which was gained when Rooney kicked Ashely Cole out of the air (and was righteously booked for his ‘tackle’). Manchester United, who have slugged their way through the first few games, rarely impressing, (they were by far the better team during the first twenty minutes against Chelsea, but after that only threatened sporadically, on the break) seemed to have decided that the only way to stop the mercurial Chelsea juggernaut was with combative tactics. Ferguson put skill on the back foot as he selected both Park and Fletcher, ahead of Nani, Tevez or Ronaldo, and used the aforementioned players to put a block up in midfield. This worked for a while, but Chelsea’s guile came to the fore, particularly in the second half.
When Christiano Ronaldo came on, he did add a bit of pace to United, which made them look at least moderately dangerous on the break, but as ever, with Ronaldo comes the bad side of his game, which came to the fore yesterday. Typified best perhaps, when Lampard ventured near him, before deciding not to tackle in the end, and Ronaldo, as if both were the same side of a magnet, shooting away from him onto the floor. Lampard was so bemused at the decision to award a free kick that he could only laugh.
Frankly, Scolari’s gentle humility shows up Ferguson’s embarrassing attempts to get under his and Chelsea’s skin. Despite losing the pivot to their midfield, Deco, in the pre-match warm up, and Carvalho not long into the match, Chelsea easily stifled the Manchester United attack, Ji-Sung Park only netting from a slack piece of defending from Bosingwa, and lax goal keeping from Petr Cech.
In conclusion, the events of Sunday afternoon only go to confirm the likelihood of a first English Premier League title for Luis Felipe Scolari, given that his closest opponents had to resort to a playing style filled with little creativity, and plenty of hard graft, fouls and stifling. Rather like newly promoted Stoke had to do against Liverpool.
