Chelsea's Eden Hazard
celebrates after scoring a stoppage-time penalty equaliser against
Manchester United in the Capital One Cup. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
It was another breathless encounter and, this time,
Chelsea will not care too much about the refereeing they think went in
Manchester United's
favour. They were behind three times, dragged the game into extra time
with a 94th-minute penalty and, finally, booked their place in the
quarter-finals by the odd goal in nine.
Where to start? This was
also a night when the referee, Lee Mason, booked nine different players
and was fortunate, perhaps, that Eden Hazard's penalty spared him
another inquest about a key decision going against Chelsea. Mason had
missed a pretty obvious penalty not long before when Juan Mata's cross
struck Michael Keane, United's 19-year-old centre-half, on both arms.
In
the end it was largely inconsequential, thank goodness, and Sir Alex
Ferguson's decision to play two raw and inexperienced centre-halves
eventually counted against his team. Scott Wootton, 21, was culpable for
giving away the penalty Hazard converted when he bundled over Ramires.
The same player then gave Sturridge the chance to put Chelsea ahead for
the first time when he failed to get enough on his header back to the
goalkeeper, Anders Lindegaard, seven minutes into the first period of
extra time. Wootton and Keane tired badly during the late stages and the
younger man was fortunate not to be sent off after fouling Sturridge
when he was the last defender.
Chelsea, on the balance of play,
deserved to go through. They, like United, were guilty of some terrible
defending at times, but they had subjected their opponents to some
draining second-half pressure after Nani made it 3-2 just before the
hour. It was difficult thereafter to keep count of the number of chances
they accumulated before the late flurry of goals that culminated with
Ramires eventually putting in Chelsea's fifth, going round Lindegaard
after some lovely play from Hazard. Even then, there was another late
twist at the other end as César Azpilicueta fouled Javier Hernández to
give away the third penalty of the match. Ryan Giggs completed the
scoring on a night of drama, excitement and intrigue, but very little in
terms of organised defending.
The tone had been set in the 22nd
minute when Petr Cech played a short goal kick to Oriol Romeu and the
Spaniard dithered, lost the ball and watched helplessly as Giggs picked
his spot to open the scoring.
David Luíz's penalty, after Alex
Büttner's badly-judged trip on Victor Moses, made it 1-1 nine minutes
later but the Chelsea defender then reminded us of his own capacity for
inviting trouble, running over the halfway line with the ball and being
caught in possession. The Luíz slalom undoubtedly looks good when it
comes off, but it also has a habit of endangering his team when he loses
possession. Rafael won the ball, Anderson played the killer pass and
Hernández did the rest with an angled shot.
So much has been written about
what happened when these sides met on Sunday and, specifically,
whatever Mark Clattenburg reputedly said to Mikel John Obi and Mata,
it seems to have been almost overlooked that the two sides both came
away from that match with considerable questions about their defending.
In truth, their reconfigured line-ups – Sir Alex Ferguson made 10
changes to his United team, and Di Matteo settled on six – fared even
worse. The night was rife with carelessness.
Chelsea, though,
played with the greater urgency in the second half and had the stronger,
more experienced bench. Ramires and Hazard were among the substitutes
and their introductions had a significant impact.
Sturridge had
passed up two presentable opportunities by the time Mata, Chelsea's best
player, swung a corner over from the left and Gary Cahill issued
another reminder about what a handy knack it is when a centre-half can
cause problems in the opposition penalty area. His header had flashed
past Lindegaard and gone a yard behind the goal-line by the time Rafael
turned it against the crossbar and out.
This was the first spell
of the match when Chelsea were clearly on top but they were level for
only seven minutes, Nani scoring with a lovely, clipped finish, bursting
into the penalty area and dinking his shot over Cech at the end of a
cultured exchange of passes involving Hernández and Anderson.
What
followed was an extraordinary succession of near-misses, desperate
clearances and wasted chances in front of Lindegaard's goal. United
always carried menace in their own attacks but they were in a
dishevelled state by the end. Ferguson withdrew Büttner after a
difficult first half for the Dutchman, moving Rafael to left-back and
Darren Fletcher to the right of defence. In the circumstances, it was
probably no surprise they were so vulnerable.
For Chelsea,
reflecting on a trip to Leeds United in the last eight, it will not make
up for what happened on Sunday, when their unbeaten record in the
league was sacrificed. Yet it still represents a satisfying evening's
work, particularly given how close they were to going out.
source http://www.guardian.co.uk
Wilfried Bony (à droite) fait un carnage©Maxppp