Chelsea 1 United 1: Player ratings

September 21, 2008

EYE ON THE BALL: Dimitar Berbatov fires in a shot

Van der Sar: Brave goalkeeping cost him after his 50-50 with Malouda 6

Neville: Getting back into things with a strong unyielding performance 8

Evra: Never allowed anyone to overrun his channel 8

Ferdinand: Led by example at the back with commanding defending until bumped for equaliser 8

Evans: Looked anything but a Red rookie. Handled Anelka expertly 8

Hargreaves: Right, left and centre midfield he did the business 7

Fletcher: Had his usual impact on a Category A game 7

Scholes: Set tone for Reds but stepped over the line which probably cost him bulk of second half 7

Park: On the spot for goal and full of energy but impact lessened 7

Rooney: Worked his socks off and some intelligent inter play with Berbatov 7

Berbatov: Started off holding line well and some classy play but became isolated as Chelsea got on top 7

Subs:

Kuszczak (sub Van der Sar 32) Solid stand-in 7

Ronaldo (sub Scholes 55) Brief moments 6

O’Shea (sub Park 74) Did okay 5

Not used: Brown, Giggs, Tevez, Nani

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, A Cole, Terry, Carvalho (Alex 12), Malouda (Drogba 46), Mikel, Lampard, Ballack (Kalou 80), J Cole, Anelka

Bookings:

Chelsea: Mikel (67)

United: Scholes (35) Ferdinand (41) Neville (58) Berbatov (59) Rooney (79) Evra (86) Ronaldo (90)

Battle of the Bosses:

Scolari out-pointed Fergie when it came to his substitutions

Referee: Mike Riley – Ridiculously one-sided with booking count 4

Attendance: 41,760

Agree with the ratings? Have your say.

| Submit Comments | Comments (64) |

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manu expert (21/09/2008 at 16:39)

neville 8? park man of the match for me.

n0b0dY ... (21/09/2008 at 16:41)

dnt knw for hw much time vds will b out nw bt this would hav been the perfect opportunity for foster to booster his 1st team chance bt unfortunately he is also out

well agree with all the ratings...apart for the ref's instead of 4 it shud hav been 1 or 0

Redrose, Launceston (21/09/2008 at 16:53)

MotM ? For me, it was Evra. He is one, two or three every week. A little gem.

danny, WILMSLOW (21/09/2008 at 16:54)

They must have missed VDS yet again going for and missing the ball.It could be good if he is out for a bit.
ost of these marks are way over the top.
Park did the MOM so Fergie thought he should take him off and replace him with the village donkey.

magdannatryan, singapore (21/09/2008 at 17:04)

Park, man of the match for me, though very impressed with evra and hargreaves. rooney worked his socks off but gave away that free kick that led to equalizer. 4 out of 10 for ref? more like 2 out of 10

Mrs Fullaway`s lodger (21/09/2008 at 17:06)

Neville, Hargreaves, Scholes and Berbatov should have a 5. Rooney an 8 for effort.

bobbydazzler (21/09/2008 at 17:20)

vds 3 kit kat 5 neville 5 rio 7 evans 6 evra 8 hargreaves 4 scholes 3 fletcher 3 park 4 rooney 6 berbatov 5 opie 1 fergie 3

Gilly, Belgium (21/09/2008 at 17:26)

What an idiot the ref was omg !

Shorty and the Other Fellers, Saskatoon (21/09/2008 at 17:36)

I liked Evra, particularily in the first half going forward.

Was a funny line up to begin with but it worked very well until we got a goal and sat back a bit. Too many long kicks from our penalty area and not enough control and possession.

Thought the ratings generous overall. We were well down in posession after the goal. Gary Neville did not look an 8 to me he looked shaky a few times. I would have had more confidence in Brown.

I look forward to a more offensive game where we see some combination of Berbatov, Rooney, Tevez and Ronald linking up.

However, coming away from an away game with Chelsea with a tie is just fine.

Venturer (21/09/2008 at 17:36)

Park man of the match for me, taking him off nearly cost us the game. VDS must go now.
We could and should have won this one, even playing against 12 men, Mike Riley would not let the game flow and wanted to book all our players, maybe the forced GK substitution stopped Fergie from replacing Berbatov with Tevez but why send give it away O'shea on?

ibblyobbly, nottingham (21/09/2008 at 17:47)

Thought we had won when i saw the MEN ratings for the game. I think the reporter must have left after 25 minutes

Britt/Canada (21/09/2008 at 17:50)

Good game and some excellant displays...I do not like to be negative but the midfield is very one paced (too slow) and lacks power,do not know how they will overcome this problem as it as been like this for two seasons & SAF seems to think there is no problem there,anyway good point against a strong side.

Lee , Heywood, Heywood (21/09/2008 at 17:55)

VDS-0 Bottled it. Embarrasing.

GNev-5 Short of match fitness and pace

Evans-8 qaulity full debut in the Prem.

Rio-8 fantastic

Evra-8 MoM

Hargreaves-5 not enough effect when Chelski had the ball

Fletcher-7 becoming a very decent player

Scholes-5 The sands of time are catching up with the meastro

Park-5 did well for the goal but little else of qaulity and for the hard work he didnt win much ball

Rooney-6 better and in flashes qaulity

Berbatov-5 looks off the pace.

KitKat-3 Let us down again we need to buy a keeper if Foster isnt the imeadiate answer

Ronnie-5 needs to find his feet again

Oshea- should have played in the morning with me.

Season starts here for me. Was always going to be a tough start but we have a nice run of games now to get going.

Ed from Davyhulme, Manchester (21/09/2008 at 18:33)

In a game where there were no serious fouls by either side, how come we got 7 booked? 4 for Mike Riley is wildly generous - after last year's fiasco where Ashley Cole showed total disrespect for him as a ref or as a person, he was probably not the man to put in charge of the game. Frankly, he spoilt the game as a spectacle - presumably United will be up before the FA for incurring so many bookings but Riley should be the one charged (with being a total muppet!!?).

Andrew Kanchelskis, Bristol (21/09/2008 at 18:47)

Britt/Canada, in the last two seasons you refer to we've won the title twice and a Champions League. Your right, Fergie must address this problem.

bobbyc, manchester (21/09/2008 at 18:48)

Lets look at the result positively.Evans superb ,and more than adequate stand in for Vidic.Rooney did OK ,and Evra what a great fullback.Is there any better? Berbatov ,well only his 2nd game ,and can only impress when consolidated in team .Park was 100% better than against Villareal.Tevez should have played last 30mins in my opinion.Brown should also have been in the team with all due respect to Gary Neville.Scholes good for 35 minutes.Dont forget Chelsea whipped the" new world beaters" city last week,and whilst mentioning the berties somewhat reluctantly ,where were the missing 7000 at Wastelands for their match.Lost in the desert looking for the mirage of a trophy?Such loyalty from one week to the next,priceless!!!!

RemiMoses, Ireland (21/09/2008 at 19:08)

Evra, Park, Fletcher, Ferdinand and Evans had good games, Sir Alex put out smart Selection Today, Berba fairly quiet but his power shot which was spilled by Cech. Neviile done good too, WHERE WAS TEVEZ?? Whos been on FIRE since Pre-Season and SCORED GOALS FOR US TOOO!!!!!!!!!

Seamus, Vanisle ,ex-Stretford (21/09/2008 at 19:17)

vds 3 kit kat 5 neville 5 rio 7 evans 6 evra 8 hargreaves 4 scholes 3 fletcher 3 park 4 rooney 6 berbatov 5 opie 1 fergie 3
bobbydazzler,
21/09/2008 at 17:20

Bobby, you're not becoming a Bitter are you? Those ratings are very harsh, this was a pretty good overall team effort.

adam chance, lowestoft, suffolk (21/09/2008 at 19:34)

I cannot believe Mike Riley was given a game of such magnitude.
After all, EVERYONE knows that he simply does not have the stones for games involving the 'big four'.
His performance was that bad today it was ridiculous.
Him and Mark Clattenburg are off the scale, but I don't suppose Keith Hackett will do anything about today's performance.
Days like this almost make me miss Graham Poll.
Anyway, referee rant aside, I've got serious, serious reservations about Van der Sar, he's been diabolical since the opening day of the season against Newcastle where he was at fault for the opening goal, dodgy versus Zenit in the Super Cup, and then today when his a**e collapsed and got 'injured'.
He's doing a passable impersonation of a keeper whose lost his bottle, and with Ben Foster injured, we're suddenly looking very light in goalkeeping options...

Chip Barbre (21/09/2008 at 21:01)

Again w/ the Rooney nonsense. Again he failed to find the net, again he gave the ball away cheaply over 1/2 a dozen times by my count, and idiotically gave away the foul that decided the match. That warrants a 7?! Apparently if he actually had a good match, you people would give him a 15.

the artist formerly known as Saha Rocks, work (21/09/2008 at 21:43)

Who did these ratings??? You ARE joking, aren't you? Generous ratings is underestimating, to put it mildly!

Gerry, Glastonbury (21/09/2008 at 21:59)

Red Culture (21/09/2008 at 22:11)

For me Rooney was the worst player on the park. You can big him up all you like, the guy was pants!

I am not tip toeing around the Rooney issue anymore. Ferguson has got to wake up and smell the coffee. Rooney should have sat this one. We would have won it........

Gerry, Glastonbury (21/09/2008 at 22:19)

The back four played really well and special praise to the Nevster who came through it really well and showed great fitness and mental resolve. Evans also had a fine game, yes, an 8 for them. Perhaps Rio & Evra a 9.

A strange selection in many ways but Park did a really good job (7) for us, as did the Fletch (8). Hargreaves did OK and is a real mucker for the side where ever they stick him (7).
I wonder what Scholes feels after being subbed after an hour in two really big games - Liverpool & today?
Rooney still disappoints me. Yes, he works like a slave but his overall game is average at best. Tevez is twice the player at present.
The Berb was awful - no excuses, it has to be said.
A draw was a fair result. Chelseea dominated the last hour and a goal was coming.
I find Fergie's selections . tactics and substitutions a bit baffling at present.
Good result though, I would have settled for that pre-match.

tooth&claw, manchester (21/09/2008 at 22:38)

Excellent in parts, poor at defending set pieces. Similar story to the rest of the season.

Plus points, Fletcher and Evra were great. park gave 75 minutes of energy and commitment. Rio and Evans were solid apart from set plays. Rooney was a threat all game. Ronaldo got some ME time.

Negative points, Hargreaves is frightened of the football (I've never seen a worse player in the red of United and he can't blame this on injury), Berbatov nearly broke into a walk at one stage, VDS continues to be frightened of ruining his good looks by coming for the ball, Neville is not up to the pace of Premiership football. Final negative was the 4-4-2, which we may be lumbered with. If so, I'll revise my prediction for the season. We'll only win the Champions League where we rarely play 4-4-2 thankfully.

Conclusion, even with Berbatov, Hargreaves, VDS and Neville we came close to smashing Chelsea's home record, so it can't all be bad.

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