It was a masterpiece of preparation by Sir Alex Ferguson and an excellent performance by his team — and still it didn’t add up to enough. And Chelsea, who are always proclaiming a determination to expand their global fanbase, suddenly acquired millions of new supporters, all dressed in red; for Liverpool, and their followers across the world, this was a very good result.
As all but the least attentive know, a fourth successive Barclays Premier League title would be Manchester United’s nineteenth in all, taking them one above the record total achieved by Liverpool in 1990. That would heap insult on the injuries inflicted on Liverpool’s pride by some of the recent displays from Rafael Benítez’s team, a notable exception being their forceful dispatch of United at Anfield 15 days ago.
If that 2-0 defeat was galling for Ferguson, this latest blow will have hit harder because it put United five points behind Chelsea when their football and its tactical framework merited a win that would have made them league leaders. The manager blamed missed chances first and the referee second, which was refreshingly proportionate, given that the issues surrounding Martin Atkinson’s decision to allow the goal were marginal.
On the one hand, it did appear that Didier Drogba, with his wafted foot, interfered with play; Edwin van der Sar was certainly distracted. On the other, the question of offside against Drogba was so cloudy as to oblige the officials to give the attacking side the benefit of doubt.
Anyway, if Ferguson expected a home-town call in an away match so soon after calling Alan Wiley unfit and asking if Andre Marriner, who refereed during his team’s defeat at Anfield and happened to be the fourth official yesterday, had enough experience for the biggest matches, he has learnt a lot less about human nature in a half-century in football than we all assume.
The better side lost; it happens. But the worry for Ferguson now is that those five points, should they still separate the teams at the end of the year, may prove a lot harder to claw back now that Chelsea have been allowed to spend Roman Abramovich’s money in the January window, just in time to plug any gaps left by the departure of Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel for the African Cup of Nations.
Not that Fifa’s lifting of the transfer embargo imposed after an inquiry into the signing of Gaël Kakuta, initially of Lens, pending an appeal by Chelsea, was any surprise or out of line with how other allegedly errant clubs have been treated. It is just that United and, for that matter, Arsenal must have been hoping it would conspire in a mid-season dilution of Carlo Ancelotti’s resources.
Another concern for United, in the light of a weekend in which the highest-profile match produced the lowest score, is that they have two London challenges with which to cope; after rather fortunately beating Arsenal at Old Trafford in late August, they can hardly have expected to be level on points with Arsène Wenger’s team a couple of months later, having played a match more — and 11 behind on goal difference.
To put matters in perspective, United trailed Liverpool and Chelsea at this stage last season. But it is fair to say that those who thought they would struggle to replace the goals of Cristiano Ronaldo are feeling sage. United have scored 23 goals in the league, Chelsea 29 and Arsenal an extraordinary 36, which, if projected over a whole season, would give them a total of 124 to United’s 75.
The figures are, of course, subject to the usual fluctuations and it will be late January when United next meet a member of the established top four: Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. But Ferguson will go into the international break hoping that, upon the resumption, Dimitar Berbatov, missing yesterday, and Wayne Rooney can find the net in tandem. Yesterday Rooney showed that he can be a lone spearhead as well as operate behind or alongside a co-striker; it was yet another accomplished display.
The midfield, meanwhile, looked a lot more healthy at Stamford Bridge than against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday; the 4-5-1 formation had much to do with that and Darren Fletcher, reunited with Michael Carrick in front of the back four, did splendidly industrious work in blunting the Chelsea diamond, yet remained ready to launch counter- attacks with a degree of penetration that Ancelotti’s team could seldom emulate.
And the defence made nonsense of pre-match fears that Drogba and Nicolas Anelka would mince any combination Ferguson put out. The goal apart, nothing proved too much for Jonny Evans and the outstanding Wes Brown to handle. But the day was done and the points were gone, and the supporters of United’s most bitter rivals would have appreciated that almost as much as Chelsea’s. Liverpool fans will gather for tonight’s match against Birmingham City with hope in their hearts.