ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: PAUL HAYWARDon Alex Ferguson's decision to consign top scorer Dimitar Berbatov to the bench last night
ALEX FERGUSON’S decision to retain a starting line-up for the first time in 165 matches was above all a statement of faith in Javier Hernandez. To keep Dimitar Berbatov on the bench for Manchester United’s visit to the defending champions was an affirmation of Hernandez’s growing stature at Old Trafford. Not since the Premier League game against West Ham on May 3rd, 2008, which followed a midweek Champions League tie with Barcelona, had Ferguson pinned the same 11 names to a board.
Thus was delivered a painful blow to Berbatov’s seniority in a department where Wayne Rooney had been living off his reputation before his spectacular bicycle kick in the Manchester derby and a fierce 29th-minute drive here helped restore his status as a menace around the goal.
Even Chelsea’s fans jeered the airgun-wielding Ashley Cole with shouts of “shoot, shoot” but it was Rooney who fired first, beating Petr Cech minutes after exposing himself to more disciplinary peril when running into Ramires in front of the referee.
This was United’s chance to knock the holders out of the race. It was no time to reward Hernandez for his two goals against Wigan on sentimental grounds alone. He was here on merit, at a ground where Ferguson’s teams have tended to go home empty-handed.
So Rooney and Hernandez it was: the life-loving, God-fearing Chicharito and the irascible, elbow-throwing Rooney, who started this game in a familiar grump, howling at the referee when a push went unpunished.
Privately United recognise Rooney was fortunate to escape punishment for his elbow on Wigan’s James McCarthy but were not about to dwell on the vagaries of justice. Ferguson’s thinking may have been that Rooney and Hernandez were a stronger threat to John Terry at the core of the Chelsea defence than Berbatov would have been.
Hernandez’s mobility, lateral running and infectious enthusiasm are his best assets, along with a gift for subtle finishing. If he has a fault, 25 appearances into his United career, it is his final release from promising positions is sometimes hurried and or imprecise.
This will be coached out of him. His movement across the line allowed Rooney to start his own darts from deeper. The piercing Rooney run from just beyond the half-way line has been a rarity in this campaign. Here, though, he set off with some of his old locomotion.
David Luiz’s arrival from Benfica foretold the beginning of the end for Terry, many thought, but there were times in this game when it seemed Terry had found a new Ricardo Carvalho: a quicker, sharper partner to dive into gaps, intercept and quickly recover lost ground. With Branislav Ivanovic at right back and Cole typically combative on the left, this was a stern test for United’s strikers, who were under orders to pull Chelsea’s defenders around by varying their angles of attack.
There have been days, too, when Rooney has seemed more vulnerable than Berbatov to Chicharito’s advance. Now, Hernandez and Berbatov tussle for the second of two starting jerseys, just as Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka have consigned Didier Drogba to the shadows.
After his whipcrack equaliser, David Luiz showd us the other side of his game, taking out Hernandez with a shoulder charge, then chopping into Rooney, an offence that earned him a yellow card. On the hour Drogba came on for Anelka. Rarely, these days, do we see two top sides start with, and then stick to, a 4-4-2 formation, but both held this shape beyond the hour.
Rooney, generally a team player, drew a yelp of annoyance from Gary Neville, in the stands, when Nani slipped the ball to him on Chelsea’s right and Rooney advanced on goal in an arc but tried a shot from an acute angle rather than cutting it back for Hernandez. Territorial selfishness by the older player, and soon Hernandez was replaced by Berbatov, with Ryan Giggs trotting on for Paul Scholes on the 20th anniversary of his United debut.
No angel, beneath that mop, David Luiz waited until the referee’s back was turned to take Rooney down with his thigh, at knee height. Rooney folded, the United bench erupted. But worse was to follow for Ferguson’s men when Yuri Zhirkov ran into Chris Smalling in the United penalty area and crumpled. Frank Lampard dispatched the penalty.
It may not be the fashion but to see Rooney, Berbatov, Hernandez, Torres, Anelka and Drogba on a single night was a treat for connoisseurs of centre-forward play. Rooney is dangerous again, Hernandez is still learning, and Chelsea have not forgotten how to respond like champions.
Guardian Service
