Manchester United 1-2 Chelsea

I hate to say it, but my lack of confidence going into this game proved fully justified by the kind of performance that i had been dreading. We seem to have run out of legs at just the wrong time of the season. It's all going wrong in the middle of the park. I suppose we are paying the price for the amount of agmes our midfield players have been asked to play. I can't belive im going to say we have missed Anderson, but i am, and we are. If only as another pair of legs to give Fletcher, Scholes and Carrick a rest. Losing Giggs who may well have played a game or two during the closing phase of the season in the middle of the pitch was another injury that seemed a blow at the time but was probably a bigger blow than we realised.
It took all of five minutes to realise that it was going to be a long afternoon. Chelsea took possession of the game straight from the kick off with no United midfiled players able to get near them. Chelsea passed it around as comfortably as you like as United didn't seem to have the energy to press them. Fletcher didn't have his usual zip, Scholes tried his best and Park gave a pretty good impression of a headless chicken running around in circles expounding a lot of energy and affecting the course of the game, not one bit. Chelsea were the better team without being anything special, but unfortunately they didn't have to be. The defence seemed reasonably solid Gary Neville apart who unfortunately should be nowhere near the starting line up in a game of this magnitude.
Berbatov has come in for some stick in the papers this morning but i thought he wasn't that bad. The amount of support and service he got in the first half would have probably seen Rooney go mental. I don't know what Fergie was thinking off playing Giggs on the left or with not starting Carrick in midfield. I have been as critical as most of Carrick's form lately but i still wouldn't have dreamed of not starting with him yesterday. I would have played Giggs but in the middle alongside Carrick and Fletcher. The shape of the team and the personnel selected just seemed wrong right from the kick off. When the goal came, it was inevitably from Gary Neville's side as a run from Malouda saw Fletcher unable to tackle him the area for fear of bringing him down and his cross was cleverly flicked home by Joe Cole. The way United were playing the last thing we needed was to have to try and chase the game. The longer the game went on the more i just wanted the ref to blow his whistle because the only team who were going to score before half time weren't playing in red.
To be fair to Fergie, he must have got something right at half time, because even though he didn't change the team as i think most of us would have liked, we did start the second half far better. We still weren't playing fluently or looking partciularly like scoring, but we were getting our foot into the game. In fact the second half showed me that this is definitely not a really top Chelsea side. We could have been embarrased yesterday but they were not the team to deliver humiliation.
We created half chances with Berbatov having two or three decent headers, but we weren't really banging on the door and it was just a question of when he made his substitutions. I was critical of the timing of his substitutions on Tuesday, but less so yesterday. It was obvious with the subs bench and the team we had out that we would have to go 4-4-2 when the changes were made. But it was obvious that we would become more susceptible to the counter attack when he did. Sure enough when he made the change we were caught on the break for the all important second goal. It's just so gutting that he was so clearly offside, i couldn't argue with the scoreline though as we had been a clear second best for most of the game. When Macheda bundled home our reply it gave us a glimpse of a fightback but as all afternoon we were unable to press home any real pressure.
So just as the crunch phase of the season has arrived we have hit our worst form of the season since our defensive injury ridden winter. It would be wrong to write us off this soon but the next two games are absloutely crucial. They are going to have to dig deep and show some character, but i can't pretend to see light at the end of this tunnel. The sooner O'Shea is back to replace Neville the better, but how fit will he be, and it goes without saying that we are deperate for Rooney to reappear.

Fergie less than impressed by yesterday's officials
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7086811.ece

Mark Ogden thinks Fergie's reliance on our golden oldies is coming back to haunt him. I'd go along with that to a certain degree. Giggs is still well worth his place in the squad but he should only be used in the middle nowadays especially against our main challengers. Scholes is still good enough for the squad, and i still think he is good enough to play in the big games but only when he has two top quality central midfield partners. Yesterday he had Fletcher who is yet another player looking jaded and Park who is not my idea of a central midfield player. But i can't defend Gary Neville, he is, sad to say, well past it. Never mind us preying he doesn't make a mistake, he plays as if he is himself sometimes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7550260/Manchester-United-v-Chelsea-champions-pay-price-for-reliance-on-golden-oldies.html

Patrick Collins thinks Fergie must know that he has problems
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1263317/Patrick-Collins-Fergie-know-Uniteds-problems-deeper-offside-goal.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0k8CfHX0G
Well if we all do he surely must.

Fergie will be looking forward to the return leg against Bayern to try to get the better of Van Gaal writes Duncan White. I wish i could be confident. I think it will come down to how well Bayern defend. If they can defend reasonably well and have a fit Robben back they must have a good chance as we just seen to have lost our legs, our form and our best player at just the wrong stage of the season.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7549697/Manchester-United-v-Bayern-Munich-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-targets-revenge-on-Louis-Van-Gaal.html

Ferguson reveals Rooney is working hard to get back as soon as possible, it can't come quick enough. As bad as we were yesterday in the first half i still don't think we would have got beat if we'd have had him in our starting line up.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/wayne-rooney/7548028/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-Wayne-Rooney-working-hard-to-get-fit-for-Manchester-United.html

The red knights are busy preparing their final plans for the proposed buyout of the Glazers. I'd like to be more confident about this, i suppose we will have to wait and see.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/davidbond/2010/04/red_knights_continue_to_manoeu.html

Steve Richards writes that a victory for the tories would be a vote for the status quo
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/04/cameron-change-party-blair

David Blanchflower is not sure that the BA airways staff going on strike know how dangerous a game they are planning.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2010/04/british-airways-strike-workers

Will Hutton is not impressed by the executives who wrote to the times supporting the tories tax policies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/04/will-hutton-capitalism

Rupert Cornwell salutes the German Americans who never seem to receive any credit for their part in the success of the USA.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-do-mention-the-germans-uncle-sam-1935438.html

Electric soft parade