FA Cup Quarterfinal: Manchester United vs Chelsea: Goal Analysis

It started off as easy as it can get for the Red Devils who cruised into a two-goal lead thanks to some school level errors by Chelsea’s defensive line. It looked an impossible task for the defending Holders but then out of no-where the comeback kings were stunned for the second time in a week, this time by a team that looked completely out of sorts against Stauea Bucuresti in mid-week.

Exertions and emotions against Real Madrid definitely should have taken their toll, but still if you are Manchester United it is understood that you will overtake them and drive forward. Seemed to be the case but then something went wrong.

I am a big fan of the poacher, who does not like someone who is going to stay at the sharp end of the field, running with determination and cleverness and has an eye of the tiger for the goal, yes I am talking of Javier Hernandez. His looping header showed what an outstanding goal scorer he is. It had finesse, class, and cleverness written all over it, although Petr Cech helped him by making a really stupid decision, but still hats-off to possibly the only real goal poacher remaining in the English game.  I will mention Micheal Carrick’s pass as well and will show you what made it so brilliant.

When you are playing at school-level , they tell you as a defender to keep your line, well quite clearly, Gary Cahill forgot that lesson or may be the rest pushed up without telling him that he needs to come up with them. That played Hernandez on-side, and with Cahill poorly positioned, he was always going to win that ball. Center Forwards absolutely love that, one defender playing them onside, poorly positioned and then a midfielder who has the awareness and eye to pick his run out. Where Michael Carrick comes into the frame is that he sees the line (if there is one) and passes it in behind them. What makes him see the line, make the pass without much effort is what Chelsea FC typically does and that is no pressing what so ever. It looks even more lethargic if you watch it on video. Off goes Hernandez and to make matters even easier off goes Cech as well, wandering off his line, trying to pull out a Super-man stunt but failed miserably.

Now, coming to the second goal, which was another very basic mistake from Chelsea defensively. Here is how it went

 

Orange Line shows where Chelsea made their line, leaving next to no space between the defense and the goalkeeper, inviting mayhem and catastrophe. The green line shows where I think Chelsea should have made their defensive line; giving Cech enough of a sight to decide whether to come, stay back, where the ball is going to bounce, and where is it going to end up. With Chelsea stacked up so deeply, Cech was bound to get into confusion-mode again, and this time he completely lost sight of the ball as both his defenders, David Luiz, and Demba Ba (would Torres have made a difference here considering how he has been praised in the past on such duties) misdirected their heads. Jonny Evans did what he had to do and that was to put his body in between the defenders, it was the inability to judge the flight from the defenders and the mistake to put the line so deep by the goalkeeper that led to this goal. And yes, it was a fantastically weighted and elevated ball from Rooney. Another mention of the high line was illustrated when Chelsea got a 2^nd half free-kick a bit far from this range, and Manchester United held up a decent line at a decent distance from their goal, and Rio Ferdinand headed it away comfortably.

Now coming to Chelsea goals which in my opinion came after Manchester United were exhausted. I don’t know why they were; perhaps they were more emotionally drained than physically exhausted because of what transpired on Tuesday night. Let us see what happened to a fighting United team slipping up two goals. Here is the first one:

Look at that space behind the defense for Eden Hazard. Rafael gets sucked towards the ball leaving Hazard with plenty of room to work with. There is a variety of options that Mata and/or Hazard could have taken here considering how Manchester United absolutely sold themselves out here. There was no cover from midfield, no cohesion between the defense and then Rafael did not press Hazard either to force him out or to deny him space to do what he did;

an absolute cracker of a curling finish from the Belgian set the tone for the remaining time of the game. It was going to be all Chelsea after that.

Second goal as well came from the tiring legs, and you will read in my tactical analysis of how infuriated I was at Alex Ferguson’s substitutions. Here is how it transpired:

Jonny Evans must be wondering why everyone is so far away from him. Demba Ba gets the ball after a swift break-out from David Luiz. Manchester United at this moment is leading by a goal, so why are they playing at such a high-line with Carrick still on the field. As you can see here, the player closest to the Chelsea mid is Wayne Rooney, where are the defensive midfielders, oh wait, Alex Ferguson did not put any defensive midfielders here, and left themselves open to all kind of counter-attacks. And with the pace-battery that Chelsea has that was a decision he was going to rue. Ba to Oscar, Oscar slips in Ramires, and that little energy pack calmly and efficiently dodged Evans, and put it into the corner. It was 2-2.

Chelsea still had a lot more chances to finish the game off, but a bit of decision-making let them down. Hope for a cracking return leg at Stamford Bridge, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!