Half time, as they say. It’s just that the second half would be played in Old Trafford. It’s just that we are trailing 0-1. It’s not a common occurrence in champions league knockout round for a team to lose the first leg at home and win the tie at the away second leg. Odds are certainly in favour of Man Utd. But then, this is a competition that allows for some magic, sometimes even a miracle. Luckily for us, we don’t need a miracle. Just a little bit of magic would do.

When the champions league draw was made, I had mentioned that Fergie would be more worried than Carlo. I stuck by this until last week. We had the momentum. They had the injuries. It looked like we’re gonna finish this season with a strong performance like we did last season and also under Hiddink. What changed the mood was the weekend premier league matches. Man Utd comes back from a 0-2 deficit to score 4 in the second half. Chelsea slips up with a draw and let’s Man Utd take a bigger lead. Man Utd grew stronger in confidence while our shoulders dropped. Four days later, Chelsea and Man Utd play each other, coming from two contrasting results from the premier league.

The first leg at Stamford Bridge today was a very well fought game. There weren’t many goals but it was a good contest. The home team didn’t play like one but the away team did play to their plan. Still, it was a good contest of football.

Let’s get this out of the way. Man Utd were the better team tonight. They deserved to win. We should have won the penalty but at the end of the day, a 1-0 defeat tonight was not totally unjust. Chelsea were mostly predictable in their attacks and Man Utd defended very well. It even looked like we were playing to their plan.

Very very good goal . . .

Man Utd were fraction quicker, sharper and more disciplined in their attack. More importantly, their attacks did have a surprise element that could get catch us off guard – the goal being a prime example. The goal was created from nowhere. It all happened in a flash. Lovely ball from Fletcher and a great run and pass by Giggs and a perfect finish by Rooney. You can say that Bosingwa could have done better on Giggs. I was wondering how Rooney was left all alone inside the box with no one putting any sort of pressure on him. We were caught by a surprise attack and we were behind.

We could never surprise Man Utd as such. Our attacks were predictable and in our approach, it was only with our superior execution or a mistake from Man Utd that could have given us a goal. There were hardly any instances of our superior execution neither were there any Man Utd mistakes in their box.

Essien – Disappointing. Once Again.

I don’t think Carlo has decided on his best formation and who would be his first choice players in that formation. He has been switching between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2. He has used our strikers in various combinations. He hasn’t yet settled on a particular post-Torres formation and line-up. To play 4-4-2 today with Drogba and Torres cried of defensive mindset. We knew Man Utd would come with their usual 4-5-1 and crowd the midfield. Probably Carlo wanted to win the midfield battle and keep possession. He could have gone for the 4-3-3 and played only one of the strikers. He chose to play both and expected width from our full backs.

The one reason why our 4-4-2 may just not work is that our only hope for width is from our full backs. With the current form our full backs are in, we are doing ourselves any favour with full backs that are never too confident, unable to get back to positions and poor in crossing. At least in a 4-3-3, they might only play a support role or play in tandem with the wide men. Until our full backs get to cross decently, I’d not play 4-4-2.

It’s not all about formation and line-up. There was something else too. See, this is a champions league quarterfinal. You have almost no hope for retain the premier league title. Champions league is all that should matter for you. You have a fully fit near full squad to choose your line up from. You have Roman Abramovich watching. You have your home crowd cheering you. No matter how underplay it, you know you gotta give one back to Man Utd for what happened in Moscow. There were dozens of motivators.

Still, Chelsea were second best. Chelsea were a bit lethargic or ‘boring’ if I may so. Some of the players played like this was the dead rubber in the champions league group stage. The urgency just wasn’t there. Unfortunately for us, Man Utd showed that urgency. Whenever they got the ball, they made sure they gave us a scare. On the contrary, when we got the ball, we were going through the motions with our attacking routines.

Didn't do much to change the course of the match . . .

Even Carlo didn’t respond quick enough. The first half didn’t show much promise despite the stoppage time goal line clearance. The Chelsea performance in the first half and the way Man Utd settled down in the match did warrant a half time change – just one sub, just to stir things up. At least, a change between 55-60 min would have been decent. Carlo ended up making two subs at 70 mins and one at 78 mins. In that, he removed Didier Drogba, our best player on the pitch and brought on Malouda, our worst player in recent times. He kept Essien on the pitch for all 90 mins despite his poor show and brought on Mikel.

When we are chasing a goal, I would brought in Yossi Benayoun or Salomon Kalou and certainly not Obi Mikel. And I don’t quite buy the argument that Mikel was brought in to release Essien further up. One, Mikel came in for Bosingwa the right back. As soon as Mikel came in, it was Essien who managed right back area, while Mikel occupied the space that Essien was until then. Mikel’s coming in meant that Carlo was not really looking for an equaliser. It’s not like going for an equaliser would have meant Man Utd scoring another one. Man Utd were happy to sit back and we couldn’t open them up. A Benayoun or a Kalou would have been just ideal there.

I got a feeling that we didn’t do our homework well. We turned up just like we always do and played the same stuff. Get the ball – slow the game down – keep moving the ball in the final third – move it to the flanks – poor cross – blocked by opposition. Rinse and repeat. The only players that could have done something to surprise Man Utd and induced a mistake were Benayoun, Kalou, Zhirkov and Drogba. Two of them didn’t get to play and two of them were subbed off.

As long as we are predictable like this, we will be beaten tactically. The problem about being beaten tactically is that we don’t even realise that we were second best. We pick up stats like possessions, shots, corners and stuff. Tactically beaten means exactly that. You get the ball, you get the shots, you get all but you don’t get the goal. You’re tactically outplayed.

Beat Man Utd at Old Trafford?

Bear in mind, it’s not just the away goal that we have conceded. We have conceded an away win to Man Utd. All they need is a draw at Old Trafford. As far as we are concerned, we need a win at Old Trafford, most preferably with a couple of goals. For us, both 2-0 and 2-1 will see us through. Can Chelsea beat Man Utd 2-1 at Old Trafford? Absolutely possible. This weekend is very crucial. Would Carlo rest players against Wigan? Would he prefer to play a more fresh bunch of players next week, something that Man Utd cannot afford to do?

My advice is just this. Play 4-3-3. Drogba on the right. Zhirkov on the left. Torres in the centre. Benayoun in left midfield, Lampard in the centre midfield, Ramires in the right midfield. No defensive midfielder. Terry and Ivanovic in the central defence. Paulo Ferreira (wish van Aanholt is around) as the right back. Ashley Cole as the left back. Play like men. We are better than Man Utd man to man. Champions league is all that we want. Go on the offensive. Hit them before they know what hit them. Scoring 2 goals in Old Trafford is certainly possible!