Chelsea v Manchester United – Player ratings: UEFA Champions League (Part 3)
Following the player ratings for Chelsea’s midfield four, it is now time to elaborate on Chelsea’s front two and their substitutes for the match against Manchester United as a part of their first leg encounter in the UEFA Champions League at Stamford Bridge.
Fernando Torres
The Spanish striker must be wondering what sort of damnation has struck him ever since his 50 million pound move to Chelsea in the summer transfer window of 2011. Torres has turned into a profligate figure, a footballer that has forgotten how to play football.
Carlo Ancelotti made the bold decision on 6th of April, 2011, as he started Torres instead of Nicolas Anelka, a man who leads the goal scoring charts for Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League at the moment.
In the second half when Chelsea required creativity, Carlo again put his faith in Torres and withdrew Drogba as Anelka was thrown into the fray. But alas, Torres failed to fire once again. The pressure keeps on piling upon the former Atletico Madrid who
can’t score right now even if his life depended on it. Rating: 4/10
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Didier-Drogba-c11044
Chelsea’s best player on the night must have wondered what he will have to do to play all 90 minutes in a big UEFA Champions League quarter-final for the Blues, after Ancelotti substituted him for Nicolas Anelka in the second half. In the first half, Drogba
was lethal for Chelsea to say the least. He was at his best when he tested Van der Sar’s reflexes in the first 10 minutes. In the second half, Drogba conducted his business down the left hand side of Manchester United’s attack as he out muscled and manoeuvred
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Patrice-Evra-c29231 time and again.
Everyone at Stamford Bridge expected Torres to make way for Anelka, but it was Drogba who was sacrificed, perhaps, under certain pressures from Roman Abramovich. Whatever the reason, when Chelsea play Manchester United on 12th of April, 2011,
Drogba will be the main man once again, and his contribution will decide whether http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League or not.
Rating: 8.5/10
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Florent-Malouda-c13838
The French winger was introduced into the match by Ancelotti near the 70th minute mark, and he almost forced a breakthrough as excellent distribution opened up space for Ramirez, to play a teasing cross towards http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 inside the Manchester
United penalty area.
Malouda took the field for only 20 minutes against Ferguson’s team, but his contribution in that amount of time was fairly more impactful than http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yuri-Zhirkov-c37683 in the total 70 minutes that he spent on the field on Wednesday night.
Rating: 7/10
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicolas-Anelka-c27786
One might say that Anelka scarcely had substantial time on the pitch to make his mark on the match, but his introduction in place of Drogba failed to result in a significant change in the match.
Manchester United sat back and Anelka’s lethargic attitude only worked in their favour, as they obtained a one goal win at the end. Anelka failed to link up with Torres in the final moments of the match and he hardly showcased a direct approach in attack
for Chelsea. Rating: 5/10
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Obi-Mikel-c18882
Ancelotti threw on Obi Mikel in place of Jose Bosingwa towards the end of the encounter against Manchester United as his last card in the 79th minute. Mikel being a defensive midfielder for starters replaced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Essien-c25294 in the middle of the
park, a tactical change that barely made sense, as the Ghanaian midfielder is acknowledged as the attacking of the two central midfielders at Chelsea.
Moreover, Mikel scarcely did anything in the last ten minutes to validate his manager’s choice. He lacked imagination, innovation and creativity in the final third, a problem that Chelsea will have to find a quick fix for if they indeed want to force their
way into the last four teams of the UEFA Champions League on 12th of April, 2011.
Rating: 5/10
The views expressed by the writers are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of
www.bettor.com
Tags: