CHELSEA boss Jose Mourinho said he went to Old Trafford for maximum points and could well have won at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday but for his penchant to sit on one goal. This tactics worked for him so well in the past. But in modern football you are always courting trouble if you decide to protect a goal lead especially at difficult away grounds.
The Blues took the lead through aged striker Didier Drogba whose header from a corner-kick in the second half went in off RVP’s miscued clearing header. Chelsea dominated play thoroughly in this half and United looked beaten already.
But rather than press home his territorial advantage and capitalize on the hosts inexplicable confusion and seeming fatigue, Mou killed his team’s attack by introducing John Obi Mikel for Oscar with Andre Schurrle kicking his feet on the bench. That plus the coach’s signal to the players to curtail their offensive runs with about 10 minutes to go were the wrong moves that gave United a faint hope that they could still salvage something from the match.
Of course, the Red Devils rode their luck as they escaped two possible penalty calls in the first half when Marco Rojo and Chris Smalling grappled and wrestled down John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic respectively ahead of a Cesc Fabregas’ free-kick. Another ref like young Michael Oliver could have spotted one of the foul incidents and pointed to the spot in Chelsea’s favour, but not Phil Dowd who flatly rejected the Blues vehement protests.
Furthermore, Dowd caused Chelsea more harm as he awarded Ivanovic two soft yellow cards which led to the defender’s expulsion deep into injury time. The Serb was detailed to man-mark United’s Marouane Fellaini during set-pieces. And with him gone on 94 minutes, United took full advantage from his absence because Angel Di Maria, who had had an indifferent game all day, just picked out the rangy Belgian’s bushy head from the resultant free-kick that led to Ivanovic’s expulsion.
With nobody marking him at the death, Fellaini nodded firmly for goal only to see his effort brilliantly parried by Thaibut Courtois, though to United’s relief, the Belgian stopper’s save rebounded kindly to the lethal left foot of RVP who rifled home a scorcher from close range. Thus did United steal a point when defeat had looked so sure even before a ball was kicked.
Interestingly, I had boldly predicted this match would end in a stalemate on LTV8 Sports Live with Qasim Elegbede on Saturday morning. I told viewers that United would earn a point in that match not because they would deserve it but because of Mou’s tendencies to become unnecessarily defensive in big away matches even when presented with a chance to win easily.
Time will tell whether these dropped points would come to haunt him in May. But beyond himself at OT on Sunday, he could also look at ref Dowd whose questionable calls or failure to make them could be said to have influenced the match in United’s favour.
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