Filed under: Football
An extraordinary game at Old Trafford saw Manchester United continue their equally extraordinary start to the season with victory over a Chelsea side Sir Alex Ferguson expects to be a serious title challenger.Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney were all on the mark in an action-packed first half in which Chelsea dominated for long periods but failed to find the mark thanks to bad luck, bad finishing and Spanish keeper David de Gea.
Fernando Torres' second goal in his Chelsea career, 30 seconds after the restart, breathed life into the visitors before Rooney missed a penalty with an embarrassing slip and a busy Torres missed an open net after rounding de Gea seven minutes from time.
THE GOALS
8 mins: Ashley Young's perfect, hanging free-kick is met by Smalling who directs an unstoppable header into the Chelsea net from six yards despite more than a hint of offside. (1-0)
37 mins: A wonder goal from Nani who cuts in from the right and is allowed space to score from 25 yards. (2-0)
45 mins: Rooney starts the move on the halfway line before Phil Jones surges on and, after a couple of lucky bounces in the area, the England forward is on hand to ram home unmarked. (3-0)
46 mins: Sub Nicolas Anelka makes an immediate impact with a clever pass which springs Torres and allows him to poke in from six yards. (3-1)
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
3 mins: Frank Lampard finds Ashley Cole on the left and his mishit shot finds Ramires whose first-time strike is kept out by de Gea's foot.
12 mins: Anderson is guilty of an horrendous mistake as he passes straight to Torres who take the ball into the box before scuffing his shot wide.
13 mins: Frank Lampard's 25-yard strike is deflected behind.
21 mins: Chelsea continue to press forward and Meireles' neat touch creates a shooting chance for Lampard who fires wide.
26 mins: Juan Mata's stunning pass plays through Torres who squares and, with the goal gaping, Ramires looks certain to equalise until de Gea somehow flings himself to deny the shot.
54 mins: Chelsea can smell a comeback and Mata's left-foot strike forces a smart save from de Gea.
55 mins: After Nani's strike hits the bar, Jose Bosingwa trips the winger as he tees up the rebound. Rooney slips as he takes the penalty and slices wide.
65 mins: Jones heads wide from a Young cross.
71 mins: A fantastic 18-yard strike from Torres is saved magnificently by de Gea before the striker hurries a follow-up shot well over.
77 mins: Rooney scuffs his shot from seven yards and sees his effort strike the foot of the post.
83 mins: Torres makes his bid for miss of the season as he gathers Ramires' pass, rounds de Gea and misses the open net from six yards with his left foot.
90 mins: Rooney breaks clear and squares for sub Dimitar Berbatov but Cole clears off the line.
WHAT IT MEANS
United retain the only perfect record in the Premier League which, given that they have negotiated home games with Spurs, Arsenal and now Chelsea, should fill their rivals with a degree of concern. Manchester City's slip earlier in the day at Fulham added to a productive day for the defending champions. Strangely, however, it was not a vintage United display and, for large parts of the first half, Chelsea were much the more dangerous side. Another goal for Torres should have been some consolation for the Blues but the Spaniard's astonishing late miss may have negated those positives.
REACTION:
Ferguson paid tribute to Chelsea, as well as his own players, for their role in an entertaining afternoon:
"For the neutral, it was a fantastic open match. Strange our games against Chelsea over the years have always been tight affairs but that was a very open match but I thought we created our own problems by giving the ball away so many times in attacking areas and they kept counter-attacking against us. In the first half they could have scored two or three. Of course some of our football was terrific at times, it was a marvellously open match that way and in the second half, we should have finished off the opportunities we had but they are always a threat because they have got experience and they kept at us and it was a fantastic football match."
On the quality of his team's goal:
"I think we created more chances, more opportunities, more fantastic opportunities particularly through Nani and Ashley Young, they kept getting into very good areas to finish them off but I think yes, the Nani finish was fantastic, an unbelievable finish.
"Phil Jones for the third goal, his determination has won us the goal, he didn't want to lose the tackle, he was determined to get to that ball and it rebounded off the defender straight to Wayne. It was a lucky break that way but at the end of the day, some of our football was great but we were very very careless."
On de Gea:
"Yes, in the first half, it was an excellent save, but he's very quick the boy and it's the funny thing, those two chances, the one Ramires had and the one Berbatov had were actually bad passes, it was a bad pass from Torres, it was a bad pass from Wayne so it made it difficult for them to get a proper connection on the ball."
On leading 3-0 while not playing at their best:
"Well I think we did okay when we got the ball to Nani and Ashley Young, that was our strength, they couldn't cope with that. When we tried to be clever in the middle of the field, we kept botching it up and they kept counter attacking us. Yes, I can understand what you're saying, it wasn't our best performance but some of the quality of our football was very good."
On Cole's second half challenge on Javier Hernandez:
"It was a shocking challenge. The referee has booked him for it so I don't know why it wasn't a penalty. I must ask him. We will have to see what the damage is in the morning. His leg is very numb. He could be out for a couple of weeks."
Chelsea's Andre Villas-Boas could not believe his side were comprehensively beaten:
"It was an uneven score at half time and that's something that can happen. It was crazy against Arsenal and it can happen at half time.
"We had a good response straight away and we had a good game to be fair. We created a lot of opportunities, normally when you create 21 opportunities at Old Trafford you should come away with at least a point.
"3-0 at half-time is crazy and if one went in is a different story. It was a chaotic game and a very open game that played up to the spectacle of the fans. I'm happy with the way we reacted to a negative half time result. We did everything to try to find the second goal which is difficult because you're always exposed and because of that Untied found the penalty that they missed but we continued to attack to create opportunities but it just didn't fall our way. With a little bit of luck the result would have been different."
On Chelsea's league position:
"You are very nice in here with me and then tomorrow you take exactly the the opposite stance! Last year we started very well and it didn't happen towards the winter period. At the moment we are five points behind Man United but we could say we wouldn't expect City to also drop points at Fulham so this Premier League is unpredictable.
"We have always considered ourselves title contenders and need to concentrate straight away to get three points at Swansea because this is a natural reaction to a defeat. It's important we continue to believe in our work because our work was shown but we just couldn't find the back of the net."
On Torres:
"You have to be fair. The best world strikers missed crazy opportunities, it happened to Fernando and it happened to Rooney so it's nothing dramatic and normally these balls go in. Luck didn't fall our side because normally it's 3-2 and that could have given us mental edge for the rest of the 10 minutes."
On Anelka replacing Lampard at half-time:
"Me and my technical staff needed to do something different. We tried it with Mata playing as a number 10 behind the striker trying to find those gaps between the lines and then United reacted and made their changes as well. It was just something we felt we needed to do regarding the scoreline."
On United's position as title favourites:
"They are in a good position now but it's very, very early. I said before the game that nothing that happened here would mean anything in the Premier League table. Man City went to Fullham and Fulham needed the result and they got a point. They have the most amazing talent in the world, like we do and like United does.
"Arsenal lost this weekend and and Liverpool lost so all of the five contenders are there and anything can happen. We've shown we are up to the level of the champion. This didn't go our way but we will be up there competing for the title and Sir Alex corroborates this opinion."
MAN UNITED 3 (Smalling 8, Nani 37, Rooney 45) CHELSEA 1 (Torres 46)
PLAYER MARKING:
Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea 8; Smalling 7 (Valencia 62, 6), Evans 6, Jones 7, Evra 7; Nani 9, Fletcher 7, Anderson 5 (Carrick 62, 6), Young 7; Rooney 7, Hernandez 6 (Berbatov 78, 6).
Subs (not used): Giggs, Park, Fabio, Lindegaard.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech 7; Bosingwa 6, Ivanovic 7, Terry 5, Cole 5; Lampard 5 (Anelka 46, 6), Ramires 8, Meireles 7 (Mikel 78, 6); Mata 8, Torres 6, Sturridge 5 (Lukaku 68, 6).
Subs (not used): Turnbull, Luiz, Romeu, Malouda.
REFEREE: Phil Dowd
ATTENDANCE: 75,455
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Nani (Manchester United): The Portuguese winger marked his 100th appearance for the club in style with a memorable solo goal and a lasting impression on the game.
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