Dom Forth Presents...

This was such a travesty of justice that Manchester United should follow Chelsea’s recent example and appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wayne Rooney was utterly brilliant, Darren Fletcher had Deco in one pocket and Michael Ballack in the other, while Patrice Evra mocked Ashley Cole’s billing as the world’s best left-back, yet the table shows Chelsea five points clear. Lady Luck was a blue-rinsed hussy strutting down the King’s Road merrily picking visitors’ pockets.

Just how many black cats United ran over on the way into the Bridge remains unclear but they departed shaking their head at the fickleness of fate... United had so impressed. It was not simply the gutsy way Rooney, Fletcher and Evra largely bossed a game of gathering drama. It was not only the defensive determination of stand-ins such as Wes Brown and Jonny Evans, who flung themselves at shots and crosses as if the season depended on it.

It was not solely Sir Alex Ferguson’s clever tactics, flooding midfield and forcing Chelsea’s full-backs deep. Frustration bit deep into United’s soul because of the genesis and execution of Chelsea’s 76th-minute goal. This was one incident in a long season, just one minute in the 3,420 United will negotiate, but it felt so pivotal.

Challenging Cole for possession, Fletcher clearly targeted the ball but the referee, Martin Atkinson, ruled that the Scotland midfielder had fouled the Chelsea man. Fletcher raged at Atkinson, splenetically spelling out that he had made contact with ball before man. Cole had indeed reacted like a startled cat falling off the airer onto the Aga.

Dismissing all pleas, Atkinson signalled a free-kick and United retreated to form the barricades, seething with injustice. Maybe they were distracted but, for once, the rearguard let down its guard. Brown allowed himself to be wrestled down far too easily by Didier Drogba, a clear foul, but Atkinson’s vision was obscured by Joe Cole.

As Frank Lampard’s free-kick curled in, United failed to attack the ball, allowing John Terry to rise and head down, the ball clipping Nicolas Anelka on the way in. Ferguson can moan about Atkinson’s errors but his defenders should have responded more assertively to the incoming danger. It was their only mistake all afternoon against a disappointing Chelsea.

Yet if it is a sign of champions-in-waiting to pick up points while playing poorly then Ancelotti’s side look ready to end United’s three titles on the spin. Terry played well, ignoring the morning’s distressing headlines about his father’s alleged activities to stand firm in the face of the Rooney-inspired storm, again protecting a goal that has now not been breached at the Bridge for 872 minutes. The way Terry shepherded Rooney away from goal midway through the first half was a masterpiece of intelligent defending, echoing Franco Baresi at his very best.

For all Terry’s excellence, United will reflect that they need to sharpen up their finishing. Ferguson could have started Michael Owen but he clearly felt the need for security in midfield, deploying a 4-5-1 formation spearheaded by the tireless, peerless Rooney.

How the striker ended up a loser here is beyond comprehension. How England or United will fare if he ever succumbs to injury is beyond the stuff of nightmares. Constantly showing for the ball, constantly turning and taking on Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, Rooney was magnificent, even tracking back at one point to nick the ball off Drogba. The Rooney v Drogba debate was a no-contest.

Some sympathy must still exist for the Ivory Coast forward, who claimed afterwards that he sustained a nasty injury when Evans jumped up and caught him in the chest. Drogba being Drogba, he certainly rolled around, looking as if St Vitus’ Dance had got into his legs.

A streak of indiscipline did stain United’s game as the final whistle loomed. Antonio Valencia left the ground in launching into a nasty two-footed tackle on Lampard that could have broken the Chelsea midfielder’s left leg. Fletcher shredded the fair play manual by demanding that Atkinson send off Carvalho, who admittedly was flirting with expulsion with some of his challenges on Rooney.

No wonder Fletcher’s fellow Scot, Ferguson, was fuming like a faulty smoke-stack in the dugout. His plan to stifle Chelsea had so nearly worked.

Valencia kept Ashley Cole deep. On the other flank, Ryan Giggs sought to push Branislav Ivanovic back, though the Serbian was one of Ancelotti’s few successes, even testing Edwin van der Sar with an early strike.

But it was in the centre where Ferguson’s game-plan really impressed, particularly in the first half. Fletcher and Michael Carrick patrolled and destroyed, suffocating Deco and blunting the forward point of Chelsea’s diamond, while Anderson never let Michael Essien settle.

Rarely have Chelsea been pressured into so many mistakes. Ballack and Essien both gave the ball away. Lampard lifted one free-kick into the wall, then another into the Shed. Chelsea did create a great chance before the break, Anelka cutting inside Carrick to force a fine, stretching save from Van der Sar.

If the first period intrigued in a tactical, chess-like way, the second half offered more obvious entertainment and incident. The temperature began to rise, starting when Giggs sportingly stopped play after Ashley Cole and Terry collided painfully. Ferguson went spare, arguing that the initiative was lost.

A few yards away, Ancelotti was making his first move, introducing Joe Cole for the ineffectual Deco. Evans and Brown made some important clearances. When Lampard unleashed a piledriver, Brown threw himself at it.

Yet Rooney looked the likelier to score, taking a pass from Valencia after 66 minutes and curling a shot wide before then bringing a marvellous save from Petr Cech. But Rooney and his team were then kicked in the teeth by grievous misfortune. Advantage Chelsea.

By Henry Winter at Stamford Bridge
Daily Telegraph
Published: 8:30AM GMT 09 Nov 2009