nani

Good game for Drogba

How did the youngsters fare ?

I think Ancelotti has been great in that he initially refused to pander to those who called for veterans Ballack or Deco to be thrown out of Chelsea.

Marca headlines today, Madrid seeking Pepe replacement in Chelsea's Ivanovic Marca

Mikel turned up almost 100 times for Chelsea at 22, it's a huge experience really but he doesn't often make a difference although he is reliable most of the time. I think Joe Cole is yet to find his form, and with a wayward Ballack it just cannot work. Zhirkov should be given a few runs in the starting 11 as he really is something else, as he showed today. Matic has been impressive at training according to Ray Wilkins so perhaps he'll get a chance when Essien and Mikel leave for the African Nations Cup.

Stamford Bridge's crowd isn't one of supporters, it's one of spectators, just like a TV audience, very much like Old Trafford's lately in that respect.

I agree, Cech should have done better.

Drogba by a mile. Ivanovic had two assists and Anelka was quite lively, but that is all.

Ancelotti was hardly responsible for the 3 enormous strokes of luck for Everton! These sorts of goals usually happen once in a year. Today you had three in a game.

Ray Wilkins' week at work on the official site

brilliant post

Here's another of our posters, roodboy, providing his views on yesterday's game. roodboy Cech 6 Unfortunately he didnt have much to do Ivanovic 7 Still looks a bit out of position, but worked tirelessly up and down the right flank Terry 6 Pulled down Valencia, clear penalty - also had the cheek to score a goal Carvalho 6 Was suprised by how much he manages to get forward from defence (hoped he would do it a bit more and give us an opening on the break!) Cole 6 Was kept busy on defensive duties so didnt manage to contribute to forward play Essien 6 Worked hard but I feel he is wasted in a holding role Ballack 5 Pretty anonymous for the most part Lampard 6 We didnt give him any space to play Deco 4 Was very happy to see him start ahead of Joe Cole. Worst player on the pitch Anelka 8 Chelsea's best player, especially first half. Drogba 5 Prematch I worried about how Evans&Brown would handle an inform Drogba. Thankfully he didnt turn up. Joe Cole 6 Alex "We woz robbed!" Clear penalty when Terry hauled down Valencia and the goal was both unjust and undeserved. Referee and his linesmen have had a shocker - vital offside and penalty decisions called wrong plus missed 2 opportunities to disallow the goal (Drogba foul on Brown and arguably offside). Not to mention some other big calls on yellow cards etc going the wrong way. It was probably our best midfield performance so far this season, we didnt allow any space to Lampard, and Deco couldn't keep up with the midfield battle. Our patched up defence looked mostly comfortable against an unusually ineffective Drogba (personally I thought the flying kick he received was well deserved ). Unfortunately we lacked the cutting edge upfront, Rooney didnt get properly going until the second half and Giggs was poor, I wish Obertan had come on earlier. We should have tested Cech a bit more as we had a lot more posession than I had expected, but too often we got players into good positions in the final third and wasted the opening. Out of all the players we had missing, Berbatov was the biggest loss. Anelka impressed me the most, we forced him to drop into midfield to get the ball but he looked by far Chelsea's most dangerous player. He wasn't getting much support from those around him though - I don't see how Deco can get into the team ahead of Joe Cole. Went to Stamford Bridge for the first time ever today - was suprised at the lack of atmosphere from the home support in one of the biggest games of the season, dont think I heard more than 2 or 3 songs until the last 10 minutes. All the noise was coming from the away end, even after you scored! Obviously, very disappointed to lose a game that I feel we deserved to win, but we played well and to lose it to such a contentious goal makes me feel like we got the moral victory! Chelsea are clearly our main rivals this season, will be interesting to see if they can cope with the loss of some big players at the African Nations, I hope not

Thank you Loz! I released it here. I think our posters are having a breakdown, I really hesitated as to allow responses to your post as it would probably end up in insults or scorn. Doesn't really matter anyway. Personally I think your ratings are spot on. Congratulations for today's victory !

Congratulations... We were unlucky but you had a good game all-round. Here is how some of us United fans rated your performance. Johnmufc Nani Cech - 7 : two decisive saves, a very good performance all-round Ivanovic - 8 : Seems to have settled in his right-back position, great defensive performance Terry - 7 : One goal, some good challenges. Neat. Carvalho - 6 : Decent but some reckless tackles and a useless yellow card. Cole - 5 : Invisible. Essien - 7 : Very active, everywhere on the pitch, skilful on the ball, should have signed for United Ballack - 6 : Pretty anonymous Lampard - 6 : Not the usual threat Deco - 5 : completely invisible for most of the game Anelka - 7 : Very active, a moving danger Drogba - 4 : Shocker. Seriously bad. Joe Cole 5 Alex 5 All in all your victory is due to a great defence tonight, as we had the upper hand in the midfield and should have been awarded a penalty in the first-half. You are now officially the favourites to win the title

Ivanovic was unbelievable. I'm impressed really, I don't get to watch Chelsea often but the last time I saw him he was really not the same player. Between him and Bosingwa is a close call as to who should be in the starting 11 as Ivanovic does bring something offensively (he has more assists and goals than Bosingwa), and besides he is a rock defensively.

couldn't agree more, deg0ey

cheers lads. I wouldn't mind a tedious 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge given how strong you looked lately.

Cheers lads, I'll try and compile your posts in a thread I'll make tomorrow. I released sals' article about Chelsea winning the title this season, it's great. have a look !

some interesting points there loz. Cheers for that. I could make a thread about this in our forum for the game's build-up to see you getting slated by our muppets. would you like to ? :)

Well you need to use terms such as "probably" when projecting a player's yield in a new team, don't you. I see where you're getting at with him and Rooney having too much similarities in their play, but I reckon there's a level of abilities where players' output are additive and not exclusive. Namely the fact Aguero drops deep would enable us to keep possession higher up the pitch, thus adding much-needed consistency to our attacking flow. On the contrary, having him in a free role behind a target man would definitely nullify Chelsea's width on the wings, where Anelka was/is the last to sometimes stick to the byline, allowing the midfield diamond to work. Take Anelka out to make room for Aguero and you're completely uncovered on the wings.

Yeah, evidently, I meant for us United fans in the heat of the moment where we were trailing to Moscow, it wasn't a fathomable decision. Last season's semi-final was the final proof the video should be implemented in football (or at least the possibility to appeal a decision or two in a game)

Rooney should retire ? You're too harsh on Vidic, who had a decent game against Liverpool and who will probably score a header on Sunday given your terrible weaknesses on set-pieces. Also, Giggs has never been as good, first time he's nominated in the Ballon d'or list as well. I kind of see where you're getting at otherwise. And I can only agree with you that we need a few more quality attacking players. For the record, this is exactly the sort of stuff I was seeking, although perhaps a tad more diplomatic so to say, if I published something saying scholes is useless people would probably find my house and burn it.

Absolutely, Fletcher is our best midfielder so far this season. His booking for an alleged dive was probably the most preposterous piece of refereeing ever seen. Gary Neville was my unlikely man of the match. The man was slated on our boards in the past few months, but he proved all critics wrong. Scholes too was good, it was a great evening for our veterans.

Akinfeev was brilliant. I already wrote about him on the caf, I think he is a great potential. Many disagreed and pointed out at his numerous flaps in the Russian league.. The choice is quite restricted these days, Lloris at Lyon is brilliant but too expensive.

Cheers Bluebeard. We'll release loz's ratings and the least drunken analysis of the game in our blog. For the record, this thing stretches to any time of the season beyond sunday's game, if you happen to watch a United game and want to write something about it, feel free to do so. The Shed end harbours quite a few insightful posters really. If any of you feel like subscribing to the Caf too, feel free to do so, and PM me so we can get you in the main forums quickly that's about it for me, see you on sunday lads!