Manchester United’s chances hampered by Sir Alex Ferguson’s substitutions – English Premier League
After leaving Manchester United’s top scorer on the bench for his team’s tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men started the match in ambitious fashion as Javier Hernandez and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736 started as the Red Devil’s two premier front men against the Blues.
However, it wasn’t Rooney’s characteristic energy or Hernandez’s remarkable ability to put the ball into the back of the net that ushered United towards their dominance of the first 45 minutes of football at Stamford Bridge. It was a little ginger boy in the center for the Red Devils. The lad who has become the best at what he does and that is to spread play, get his team involved and lead the Manchester United midfield. The player in question is none other than the unmistakable http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paul-Scholes-c29394.
United started with a four men in midfield. This included Paul Scholes and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nani-c27299 on the left. A first half which was graced by Wayne Rooney’s remarkable strike also saw Paul Scholes control of the midfield area. Playing deeper than thought at first, Scholes produced a wide array of passing for the former English champions.
The league leaders maintained their superiority in terms of possession and Rooney’s goal came after a ten minute period in the middle of the first half which was perhaps United’s best display of attacking football on the night at Stamford Bridge. Going into the half time break with the score line at 0-1 to the visitors, everything looked good for the league leaders.
However, in the second half United gave up their initiative as Chelsea powered on to a well deserved equaliser through David Luiz’s finely executed volley. This was seen as a turning point of the match by many but what happened afterwards is way more significant.
Paul Scholes, who was running the show for United, was substituted by Ferguson as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Giggs-c31985 came on for the veteran central midfielder. Up front, Hernandez was replaced by Dimitar Berbatov as Manchester United aimed for the win. On paper, these substitutions look tactically sustainable over the course of the match.
Sir Alex was looking for more pace and fresher legs in the midfield area. He was also gunning for a player who can hold up play in the final third of the field in form of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dimitar-Berbatov-c11254. However, Ryan Giggs failed to do the task that Scholes had so effectively done in the first half, whereas Berbatov’s lack of energy meant that Manchester United were not only second best in the central midfield department but they were also surrendering possession way too easily to their opponents.
Comparing Sir Alex’s substitutions with Carlo Ancelotti’s, the Italian manager brought on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yuri-Zhirkov-c37683. Zhirkov gave Chelsea more width on the left side as Malouda was primarily drifting inside towards the midfield area from his wide right position, cramping the center of the park for the home side.
Drogba, as usual, did brilliantly to contain the ball up front for Chelsea as he held off challenges from the likes of Vidic and Smalling to bring http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 back into the match. Zhirkov’s effect led towards Chelsea’s second goal of the match which came through a controversial penalty kick on the 78th minute mark. This was just eight minutes after the substitutions had taken place.
All in all, the substitutions in the second half led towards a change in tempo and a change in mentality. This tempo proved to be too much for the English league leaders in the end whereas the English league champions gained all three points from it.
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