Chelsea clinch this season’s community shield in a nervy and controversial contest at the New Wembley and also get their first victory against United in a penalty shoot out. Though the Shield has always been viewed as a glorified friendly, it gives a good indication as to how the teams would shape up for the following season.
Manchester United started the proceedings well and dominated Chelsea for the better of the first half. Losing Ronaldo did not take the sharpness in their attacking play as they could get behind Chelsea’s defence repeatedly and would have wrapped up the match bar the profligacy of the United players and the superb saves from Cech. Nani looked like a man possessed and was out there to stake his claim as the ‘New Ronaldo’. He put United into lead with a blistering drive after beating his man Ivanovic who had a torrid time dealing the Nani-Evra axis before being substituted at half time. United dominated the mid-field rendering Lampard to be a peripheral figure for Chelsea. Rooney- Berba partnership looked promising and linked well with Nani and Park.
Chelsea got into the game in the second half with retaining possession and controlling the mid-field. Ancelotti replaced Ivanovic with Bosingwa and that mitigated the threat caused down the left flank by Nani and Evra. Lampard got more involved as the clock ticked by and Anelka found himself in good positions down the left flank. Chelsea got their first goal courtesy to a number of reasons, Drogba’s presence in the box, Foster’s inability to punch out the ball clear and Nani’s lax defending in not following Carvalho’s run into the box. Chelsea got a hold of the match after their first goal and controlled the proceedings until a controversial incident which marred an otherwise fair game. Moments before Lampard celebrated the second goal, Ballack had gown down from an innocuous shoulder barge from Evra and Chris Foy stopped play when Evra found himself in a dangerous position. Chris Foy, comically though, decided to let the play continue when Ballack intentionally elbowed Evra in his face moments later which in turn led to Chelsea attackers finding themselves 3 against 2 at the edge of United’s box. The decision looks even more controversial when the replays show that the incident happened right in front of Chris Foy. So much for the referees’ consistency and so much for the ‘Respect Campaign’.
That sparked some of the United players who were mediocre at best until then in the second half. Rooney came up with a fine finish in injury time after being put clear by a superb through ball from Giggs. That equalizer took the match to the penalty shoot outs and sub par kicks from Giggs and Evra had ensured that Chelsea lifted the Community Shield for the 09/10 season.
Oh come on now? You are being fooled by all the media man united love in. Having watched the replay a few times, it was definitely not an elbow on his face as Sir Alex and the whole united loving media would have you believe. It was a shoulder barge although intentional and Evra made a meal out of it by clutching his face in agony only for him to join Rooney and Ferdinand in surrounding the ref moments later.
Chris Foy said later that he saw the incident but deemed it unncesary to discontinue play as United had possession in a good position. Surely that means he knew Evra was play acting? It was Carrick who lost the ball and Chelsea broke to score. An interesting point is had Evra not been play acting, he might have tracked Lampard back and probably stopped him from scoring.
Mate, I didn't mention about the ballack-evra incident. I genuinely commented in a positive manner about chelsea's midfield. May be, you were eager to present your defense :)
Lets talk about the incident
1. Ballack barged into him with his shoulder and not elbow! its elbow->shoulder->chest thing. He lifted his elbow initially to keep it down at the end and use the shoulder to obstruct him. But its quite clear.. was as blatant as 'System of a Down' Forget the rest.. has to be a free kick and an easy yellow card by the referee.
Later, Fletcher lost the ball is a different issue altogether. The foul (which was not given) changed the course of the play.
2. Evra overreacted. QUITE TRUE!
@Offside It was! but may not be '2 yards' in my view. I wondered the same , no one talked about it.
G is G is right. It was a blatant foul and needed to stop the play.
If Chris Foy had stopped play moments earlier for an innocuous challenge on Ballack who held his ribs, wonder who even touched them, then he ought to have stopped this time as well. The whole talk is about consistency.
If a player is down on the floor, the referees do stop the play, how do you even know if he is injured or not ? Fair play to him for giving an advantage but the refs do stop play when a player is down on the pitch. There were a number of incidents when Foy stopped play instead of giving an advantage. Whats the general norm that referees follow ? Give an advantage and once that is lost, stop the play if the ref thinks it was an intentional foul. From when was an intentional foul allowed not to be punished. Neither Ballack and Evra had the ball and it makes even more a compelling case that the foul happened off the ball and should be a more serious one.
Yes,as you say Chris Foy was a few yards away from the incident and could have easily spotted the intentional shoulder barge and a high elbow. The worst part of it, he didnt even yellow card Ballack after that.
Rooney was not offside, the camera angle that is being showed is not level with the ball, so there is no way one can decide seeing from that angle. The only indicator might be the pitch patterns and from that you could see that it was a close call and the benefit of the doubt goes to the attacker according to the book.
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11 comments:
i would lie if i say i didn't get a bit afraid by seeing chelsea's midfield strength and formation.
They looked formidable and effective in mid-field. Though still not sure, if they have really adopted to diamond formation.
I chalked out the arsenal midfield formation and almost dreaded to see fabregas, song, denilson, walcott in front of mikel, essien, ballack, lampard
Oh come on now? You are being fooled by all the media man united love in. Having watched the replay a few times, it was definitely not an elbow on his face as Sir Alex and the whole united loving media would have you believe. It was a shoulder barge although intentional and Evra made a meal out of it by clutching his face in agony only for him to join Rooney and Ferdinand in surrounding the ref moments later.
Chris Foy said later that he saw the incident but deemed it unncesary to discontinue play as United had possession in a good position. Surely that means he knew Evra was play acting? It was Carrick who lost the ball and Chelsea broke to score. An interesting point is had Evra not been play acting, he might have tracked Lampard back and probably stopped him from scoring.
here's a video for reference...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2vSpBGUFDo
An by the way that superb through ball by Giggs was two yards offside. Quite how these guys miss such blatant offsides is beyond me.
Mate, I didn't mention about the ballack-evra incident. I genuinely commented in a positive manner about chelsea's midfield. May be, you were eager to present your defense :)
Lets talk about the incident
1. Ballack barged into him with his shoulder and not elbow!
its elbow->shoulder->chest thing. He lifted his elbow initially to keep it down at the end and use the shoulder to obstruct him. But its quite clear.. was as blatant as 'System of a Down' Forget the rest.. has to be a free kick and an easy yellow card by the referee.
Later, Fletcher lost the ball is a different issue altogether. The foul (which was not given) changed the course of the play.
2. Evra overreacted.
QUITE TRUE!
@Offside
It was! but may not be '2 yards' in my view. I wondered the same , no one talked about it.
Finally, August 15! Roll on! ...starved
G is G is right. It was a blatant foul and needed to stop the play.
If Chris Foy had stopped play moments earlier for an innocuous challenge on Ballack who held his ribs, wonder who even touched them, then he ought to have stopped this time as well. The whole talk is about consistency.
If a player is down on the floor, the referees do stop the play, how do you even know if he is injured or not ? Fair play to him for giving an advantage but the refs do stop play when a player is down on the pitch. There were a number of incidents when Foy stopped play instead of giving an advantage. Whats the general norm that referees follow ? Give an advantage and once that is lost, stop the play if the ref thinks it was an intentional foul. From when was an intentional foul allowed not to be punished. Neither Ballack and Evra had the ball and it makes even more a compelling case that the foul happened off the ball and should be a more serious one.
Yes,as you say Chris Foy was a few yards away from the incident and could have easily spotted the intentional shoulder barge and a high elbow. The worst part of it, he didnt even yellow card Ballack after that.
Rooney was not offside, the camera angle that is being showed is not level with the ball, so there is no way one can decide seeing from that angle. The only indicator might be the pitch patterns and from that you could see that it was a close call and the benefit of the doubt goes to the attacker according to the book.
elbow or not...it was a blatant push OFF the ball..enough to call it a foul.
Its a charity game btw and it just showed what a big loser ballack is.
offside reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQwFZ1Vtbnw
look at the text in the video :)
Also shows what a loser Evra is play acting in a charity game.
I am enjoying it ...
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