Chelsea v United: Player ratings

Mike Whalley

August 05, 2007

VAN DER SAR: Hero of the penalty shoot-out, after an uneventful 90 minutes. 8

BROWN: Shored up the right flank well enough after a shaky start. 6

FERDINAND: Caught out in a battle of strength for Malouda 92s equaliser. 6

VIDIC: No frills from the giant Serbian, who might have had a penalty in the second half.6

SILVESTRE: Struggled all afternoon against the zippy Wright-Phillips.5.

RONALDO: A constant problem for Chelsea in the first half; shackled more effectively after the break. 7.

CARRICK: Will look more comfortable in midfield when he has Scholes or Hargreaves alongside him. 6.

O 'SHEA: Workman-like as usual in central midfield, but he may not get too many chances there this season. 5.

EVRA: Key part in the goal, excellent going forward. Switched to left-back, and suffered against Wright-Phillips.7.

GIGGS: Still got the magic after all these years. How composed was that finish? 7.

ROONEY: Didn 92t happen for him at all, but had the last laugh in the shoot-out. 6.

SUBSTITUTES:

NANI (for Silvestre, 68): Kept it simple by sticking to short passes rather than trying the spectacular. 6

FLETCHER (for Giggs, 81): Solid cameo in central midfield from the Scot. 5.

Not used: Kuszczak, Pique, Bardsley, Martin, Eagles.

CHELSEA: Cech, Johnson (Sidwell 77), Ben Haim, Carvalho, A. Cole (Diarra 68, Wright-Phillips, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, J. Cole (Sinclair 82), Malouda (Pizarro 52).

Goals: United: Giggs (35). Chelsea: Malouda (45).

Bookings: United: Rooney (45). Chelsea: Ben Haim (33), Carvalho (63), Mikel (90).

Referee: Mark Halsey (Bolton): Might have given a penalty against Ben Haim, but kept the game under control. 6.

Attendance: 80,731

Agree with the ratings? Have your say below.

Articles

Chelsea 1 United 1 (United win 3-0 on pens)

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Kevin, Tralee, Eire (05/08/2007 at 17:54)

For me, Evra was far & away our m.o.m. Involved in everything good about our play, from both a defensive & attacking point of view. a lot of lethargic play in evidence from the likes od Rooney, Ronny & Rio, but overall a good performance & a spanking result in the shootout. Btw, very impressesd with Nani's performance, seems to be the real deal, good passing & intelligent attacking runs. Overall i'm very happy, roll on Reading!

Jonathan Chin, Truly Asia (05/08/2007 at 18:26)

Van the man, save all last 4 penalty, yes include the city one..

Steve, Glossop (05/08/2007 at 18:36)

Reasonable entertainment. Agree Evra looked excellent up front. I think I even saw Carrick getting a few tackles in shame about the boots though. Wont take OH long to be next to Scholes.

Davey Boy, Kuwait (06/08/2007 at 07:28)

VDS deserves great credit for the shootout but realisictally not alot to do in the 90 minutes.
Defensively looked comfortable made easier with no dogbreath available. Up front better than them more attacking threats ....Evra MOM would probably have to agree with that one, who the hell gave cashley cole MOM??
The ref not good as this report says penalty for the embarrasingly intentional barge taking rooney out of the game, look again he is not interested in the ball, as well as the blatant push on vidic, joe cole studs showing challenge on vidic and here is a different one not being biased the booking of carvalho for absolutely nothing challenge on evra poor performance from halsey! OK season just about to start still don't like mourinho but the chavs will be strong challengers but big problem for them will be the lose of essein, obi one these 2 especially as lampard doesn't look that good right now maybe Barca are calling), kalou and dogbone for that crucial period in January! Really looking forward to this season can't wait!

Joe, Malta (06/08/2007 at 07:58)

Disappointed with Malouda's goal - both Brown and Ferdinand are to blame. Silvestre was awful.
Best of the pack - Evra, VDS (for the 3 brillian penalty saves), Rooney ,and Giggs.

Gerry, Glastonbury (06/08/2007 at 08:33)

There really is nothing between these two sides but perhaps our new signings will just give us the edge in terms of creativity.
Can't get too worked up about the CS but I thought Ronnie looked in good nick and was always a threat.

edinburgh red, edinburgh (06/08/2007 at 08:58)

To be honest we were creating more chances but chelsea controlled most of the game and wright phillips was mom, how they gave it to cashley i'll never know, i wasn't too bothered of the result either way but didn't want to get any injuries or hammered so was glad we won but carrick and o'shea didn't do much in midfield, rooney should have a partner to help him, ronaldo should get free kicks taken off him and more than enough they just hit the wall , and i dont get the poster who was so impressed by nani, i'm not berating the lad but be honest he was eased off the ball a lot and didn't take anyone on.Most annoying thing was rio being muscled out for there goal.I'll be at the dunfermline friendly on wednesday so hope to see rooney and tevez partnered upfront, good to see jose already got his injury excuses in, I like how he said we were only missing scholes, almost as funny as sven wishing his new player to man utd, wishful thinking for him.

Demo, Glossop (06/08/2007 at 09:45)

how can ashley cole get MOM??? well done VDS, rio, carrick and rooney. Wasnt that impressed with nani he looked like he couldnt get his legs to work properly. dont get me wrong i think he will be a hit and requires time, it just made me smile cos iv had days when your legs just dont do what you want

bobbydazzler (06/08/2007 at 09:59)

kevin lethargic is exactly what i would describe jos midfield performance there where long period in game when i forgot he was on the pitch. he proved to us all yet again that he is totally ineffective there

bobbydazzler (06/08/2007 at 10:01)

sean you were maybe right in your postings last week suggesting that fletch is not good enough for our reserve line up. afterall he agreed with you preferring jos even when scholes hargreaves and anderson were unavailable

Dredstar from Da Endz (06/08/2007 at 10:53)

Evra was the M.o.M for me. Took a bit of a battering for his performance against Inter, but I think he did himself justice with that performance yesterday. He tracking back was excellent, and he managed to break up play a lot in the first half. In fact I feel he looks more comfortable in that position. Could he be a better winger than full back?

Peace

Roy (06/08/2007 at 10:59)

Nani taking corners is a nice change, and there was some thought in the free- kick-taking. VdS was outstanding - these were not fluffed penalties but rather top saves. Im delighted for him given the recent questioning of his form: you can't win a penalty shoot-out in fewer kicks. I also loved the way Rooney finished it off - it was almost like Cantona taking the two penalties against Chelsea in the FA Cup final - you just knew there was only going to be one outcome. The TV shot of the Special One looking bemused after the third save was priceless.

John Broughton (06/08/2007 at 11:07)

Rooney should get a special award every season for being the most unjustly booked player in the premiership. JOS is never a midfielder he's what he looks like, a big, strong-tackling, but slow defender. I'd like to see Pique play a few games this season though as first choice change in central defence.

COLIN, CANADA, Canada (06/08/2007 at 12:24)

Don't understand the choice of JOS over Fletcher. A full back over a central mid fielder. Fletch is a mile ahead of JOS but Fergie's the boss. Mikel's a piece of work. Lot's of reds ahead for this boy.

DC, Amsterdam (06/08/2007 at 12:37)

Dredstar, I actually think Evra was a winger first before he was converted to a defender only a few years ago, although I could be wrong on this one.

As for JOS in midfield, I'm slowly coming around to recognising him as an important squad member. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from his biggest fan, and in midfield he can be pretty awful, but as essentially our sixth choice centre midfielder (behind Scholes, giggs,hargreaves, carrick and anderson) he can do some sort of job. God forbid he plays there every week but if he can step in against a team like Chelsea and put up some form of resistance then its not so bad, is it? Plus he's also good back-up for the defence, and I also think that last year was chastising for him; he had it easy the previous seasons, clocking up 40-odd games with minimal effort, but he was made to work for scraps last year, and he seems a bit more dedicated and not so lax.

Balders, Tier 2 Stretford (06/08/2007 at 12:52)

jos must have played ahead of fletch cos he's got slightly more physical stature - says a lot about the spindly one !

The poster who commented on Silvestre having a shocker ..... quelle surprise !!

Bill69, Bury. UK (06/08/2007 at 12:57)

will you kindly tell me when you expect to play Anderson in the first team. Its bad enough waiting for Hargreaves and Nani for a full match, how long do we have to wait for Tevez to play a full game. And what about another striker as promised.
Bill
Lees

Fredrik, Sweden (06/08/2007 at 12:58)

DC, you are wrong. He started his career as a striker.

Dredstar from Da Endz (06/08/2007 at 13:07)

Thanks DC. I just thought he looked really comfortable playing in that position.

No disrepect Colin, but I do. O'Shea slowly starting to find the form that he first displayed when he broke into the 1st team. I still don't think he is a midfielder, but he is capable of doing a better job at DM than Fletch. He's bigger, stronger and can get his foot in if needed. He is also better at reading the game defensively. Now we know that Fletch is'nt a winger and he's certainly not a midfield destroyer. That means that the one position he is capable of playing in is that of a creative midfielder. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you feel)he has Scholes, Carrick and now Anderson in front of him. Expect him to be used sparingly this season methinks!!!

Peace

chris, oxford (06/08/2007 at 13:33)

Therein lies the problem Dredstar; most on here would have you believe that DF is a defensive midfielder but if JOS is prefered over him what does it say? Just another mystery as to what he actually does for us.

I think this game also shows why we must do everything to keep Gabby and move Sly on who, according to reports, is looking to get out anyway...

Alias Smith, over the moon (06/08/2007 at 13:33)

Good to Steve keeping up his anti-Carrick campaign. It's starting to remind me of his old anti-Fergie rants.

For me Carrick was up there with Evra and VdS as our best performers. I thought he passed, tackled and found space well. As a partnership with JOS, they coped quite well against the quality and power of Essien, Mikel and Lampard.

Don't agree that SWP was a contender for man of the match, I thought he was one of the poorest performers yesterday, along with our very own Silvestre.

Duncan, London (06/08/2007 at 13:38)

Evra MoM for me - looked very comfortable as a strong tackling attack minded left sided midfielder - like Fortune should have been but never quite made it. In fact I didn't even think Cole was Chelsea's best player I thought SWP was. With regards JOS against Fletcher as defensive midfielder, I find JOS impossibly lethargic in that role and is not as comfortable on the ball. Dredstar (welcome back btw) I'm afraid the stats point at Fletcher as a better tackler in that position even though he may look a little waif like at times. At right back JOS is plenty comfortable and I would put him there over Wes Brown in an attacking lineup.

Dredstar from Da Endz (06/08/2007 at 14:22)

Cheers Duncan,
I've been keeping a close eye on the postings, and I think you've mmade some excellent comments over the past few weeks. I think we agree on more things Utd than I realised. However you know what the saying is. "There are three types of lies: Lies, Damned lies and statistics!!!"

Peace

Sean, NYXMC (06/08/2007 at 16:20)

bobby,

you know that I'm a supporter of Fletcher's, so don't be such a jerk. Again, he wouldn't be in my starting 11, but he's a great squad player, as he proved again yesterday. Didn't you see that beautiful ball he fed through to Rooney? No of course you didn't...

bobbydazzler (06/08/2007 at 17:27)

sean was merley pointing out how perceptive you were. your lineup suggested that fletcher was 7th in line for a central midfield place and it looks like fergie agreed with you preferring a left back cum centre half ( very very bad midfield player ) to him. you were spot on in your assesment.

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