I thought we played some nice measured stuff second half. Fellaini was startng to pull a few strings and they found our play down the flanks a bit hard to handle. Only one team in it in the last 20 minutes for me.
We didnt do that first half and tried passing it around their box as per usual. When we hit the flanks and spread the play, leaving the striker in and around the box, it worked and its basic. For some reason this season we've use the flanks less and tried to walk it in. The minute we use the wingers/full backs and get good deliveries in this season, we've scored. Not a coincidence that IMO.
But add to the fact Chelsea had a 3 man midifeld of Mikel, Essien and Ramires at one point did mean we could boss their midfield if we played it wide.
dont agree with any of that highlighted.
i thought the first half was very good ,both teams were working very hard to combat each other.
our overall play i thought was superb from start to finish considering we are away and playing against the prem champions.
we looked more handy than them imo.
1st half they bossed us. We were slow and every time we had the ball there was no one to pass to. Happened to Fellaini, Pienaar and Rodwell lots. Even Neville had nothing on and did a piss poor pass back. Felli and Rodwell sat too deep and they came at us.
2nd half, Rodwell played more advanced and we used the wings more. Pienaar dropped deep in the middle (which he has done for most part of this season) and gave Baines acres of space to run into. We used it and pinged balls in. All you need then is your attackers to get on the end of it.
Which is why I honestly dont agree that Saha and Yak need binning etc. From the games I've watched, these players are never in the box. That changes, you ping crosses in and leave Cahill to attack late from outside the box, you're strikers score.
