By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
Manchester
United and Chelsea played out a truly dreadful encounter at Old Trafford on
Monday night. Neither side created any
clear cut opportunities in a match that promised so much and spectacularly failed
to deliver. The 0-0 draw was a fair
result, as United played out their first stalemate at the Theatre of Dreams in
the Premier League since April 2012.
Chelsea
manager Jose Mourinho will be happy with the point, and he seemed satisfied
with the result. He also claimed he got
his tactics spot on, but does the ‘Special One’ have an attacking Plan B to
use?
The Portuguese
manager has been clearly in the transfer market for a new striker, despite
having three forwards on his roster in Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku. He has publicly made his desires clear to
sign Wayne Rooney, although this now looks unlikely.
Anzhi’s Samuel Eto’o and Jackson Martinez of
FC Porto are believed to be alternative options.
Mourinho
surprised everyone with the team selection he made when the sheets were handed
in an hour before kick-off. Ba didn’t even
travel to Manchester, while Torres and Lukaku were left out of the starting 11
and placed on the bench. He decided to
copy a tactic often used by Vicente del Bosque in his successful Spanish squad
and played a false number nine with no recognised striker.
German Andre
Schurrle started in the position upfront, but he struggled throughout on his
full debut for the club. Schurrle failed
to hold up the ball throughout proceedings and made opposition defenders Rio
Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have a relaxing and painless evening.
The occasion
seemed to get to young Belgian Kevin de Bruyne, who was only making his second appearance
for the club since coming back from a loan spell in Germany with Werder Bremen. This left Oscar (pictured) and Eden Hazard having to try
and unlock the opposition, and for once, both failed to have the influence
required to make the ultimate difference.
Mourinho’s decision to leave the Blues’ Player of the Year for the past
two years, Juan Mata on the bench throughout the 90 minutes will only spark
further question marks over his future in the next seven days.
Torres
eventually came on with an hour gone, and even this was a wrong move. He simply is not the player he was when he
terrorised Vidic on a constant basis in his Liverpool days. In 30 minutes, all I can remember him doing
was going on one mazy run, and then losing possession with a stepover too many
and being booked for a lazy foul on Tom Cleverley. Lukaku, who scored a hat-trick in his final
West Brom appearance against Manchester United in May would have been a better
bet and could have created a spark the match badly needed.
Chelsea have
a raft of attacking players, and they look set to add to that with the
acquisition of Willian from Anzhi in the next 48 hours, but Mourinho needs a
frontman or you can count Chelsea out of a serious challenge for European
honours. He got his tactics right in
this match, but it made the game a lacklustre affair for the paying public and
the TV viewers.
Domestic
prizes are likely with the game plan he took to Old Trafford on Monday, but he
needs to invest or come up with a stronger Plan B to launch a fruitful campaign
on all fronts.
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