United 3 – Chelsea 0 : Match Highlights and Lots of Hyperbole

By: Taylor Rockwell | January 11th, 2009

As much as I would like to comment on how amazingly beautiful this match was in every way, I spent this morning standing on a frozen pitch going through the final trials to get my coaching license. So, it was only later this afternoon when I was able to sit down with a pint in hand (this happens whenever United play regardless of the time), turn on the television, and watch a newly invigorated United side CRUSH the Gene Hackman led Blues. I would really like to say a lot more, but I will refer to Richard Jolly for a more fitting description:

His summer smile had waned before winter set in. Now the Premier League’s most famous moustache flanks a grimace. While Luiz Felipe Scolari scowled, it was understandable his sunny disposition has disappeared. This was as comprehensive a win as can be imagined between title rivals. To borrow the cliché, Chelsea were lucky to get nil. They did not have a shot near target, let alone on it, and Edwin van der Sar was as much of a spectator as the watching Jose Mourinho.

He built a side on secure enough foundations to continue earning results for more than a year after his departure. Now there are signs the team is falling apart. Their defence, normally structured so solidly, was breached three times, by Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov. Their midfield was strangely shaky, their attack often non-existent. Chelsea, in short, were utterly uninspired.

And so now, with victories in the two games in hand, United could be one point clear at the top of the table. All talk of quadruples and trebles and whatnot are lovely, but what is more comforting is the fact that I continue to believe we haven’t seen the best of United this season. So, with half the season gone, the squad not yet at its peak, and many games left to play, this season (which I once felt would be a crashing disaster) could yet bear fruit. And were Sir Alex to go level on titles with another EPL championship this season, it would be all the sweeter to know that it was won at the expense (primarily) of Liverpool.

United 1 – Chelsea 0 (45′ – Vidic)

United 2 – Chelsea 0 (63′ – Rooney)

United 3 – Chelsea 0 (87′ – Berbatov)

Oh… and loads of respect to some of the visiting Chelsea fans who, in an obvious show of classiness, thought it would be wise to spend a portion of the match telling Slave: “You should have died in the tunnel.” I can’t wait for the next charity match when they mock invalids… or the inevitable firebombing of an orphanage… but I guess that’s what you get when your captain drunkenly laughed at American tourists on September 11, 2001. Classy indeed!