United claim a point at the Bridge
Good point for Utd
By Chris,
September 21 2008
A first-half strike from Ji-Sung Park was cancelled out by a Solomon Kalou header as United and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw in West London. Sir Alex Ferguson resisted the temptation to start with Cristiano Ronaldo; whilst Luiz Scolari, flanked by new assistant Butch Wilkins, had to leave out the injured Deco. It's a result that the Red Army will be satisfied with on their journey back up the M6.
Dimitar Berbatov, who otherwise had a very quiet afternoon, saw his shot parried by Peter Cech and Park was on hand to poke home from ten yards out.
The goal followed a hugely positive start from United. Darren Fletcher floated an effort slightly wide after seven minutes, whilst Rio Ferdinand should have broken the deadlock shortly before Park's strike as he drilled over the crossbar.
Chelsea responded well and had a penalty appeal turned down soon after Edwin van der Sar collided with Florent Malouda. The referee waved play on and the Dutch 'keeper, after a few flappy moments, was forced to hobble off with an impact injury.
Didier Drogba, after fussing with a bracelet on the touchline, came on at half-time as Chelsea looked to find an extra cutting edge in attack. They had chances - but for the next 25 minutes were wasteful in front of goal and failed to take advantage of a number of set-pieces.
United made their own impact substitution soon after as Ronaldo entered the fray replacing Paul Scholes. His introduction seemed to confuse Wayne Rooney; and though the winger didn't have his busiest afternoon, he injected some much-needed pace.
Chelsea should have equalised on 73 minutes as Nicholas Anelka missed a sitter from yards out. Joe Cole's superb cross eluded United's backline but the Frenchman mis-hit his shot with an open-goal gaping. The wasted chance looked like summing up Chelsea's afternoon.
However, the equalising goal came six minutes later. A foul from Wayne Rooney gave Chelsea a free-kick and a mixture of woeful goalkeeping and defending allowed Scolari's men to restore parity. Mikel's free-kick should have been dealt with by Tomasz Kuzcazk and Salomon Kalou nipped in to nod home from six yards.
Chelsea's tails were up and they looked the far more likely to grab a winner. Gary Neville's block denied Kalou a second - but the Reds held on for a highly credible score draw.
A quick mention must go to referee Mike Riley who refused to let a hotly-contested game flow. No less that seven United players were booked and the club now face a fine.
United have to be more than satisfied with a point. We've enjoyed only a slow start to the new campaign and defeat would have left the Reds some nine points behind their West London rivals. Next up is League Cup action against Middlesbrough before United play host to Lancashire rivals Bolton.
Full Time - Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United
The most important thing is when we lose it, to lose it to someone like West Brom or Stoke - NOT you lot,the scousers, Arsenal, West Ham or Spurs.
Very balanced match report by the way - no mention of Rileys bottle job with our free-kick on the edge of the box with time still to play though - what did you all think about that?
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.