Lesson to learn from a rhapsody in blue
Yes, yes, we all know that the Premier League is – dilute to taste – the greatest/most exciting/most hyped league on the planet but, my friends, the World Cup is the World Cup.
The Premier League season still has a long, long way to go and so nothing was decided at the Bridge yesterday but next Saturday and the following Wednesday are days which will shape the footballing destinies of nations.
So, when seen through a patriotic prism – green on red and blue, if you will – Chelsea versus Manchester United provided reasons to be both cheerful and fearful.
Nicolas Anelka was the main source of shivers. Thrillingly, if sometimes still annoyingly, engaged in redefining the concept of the target man, Didier Drogba might well be the most complete striker in world football right now but Anelka, the rapier to Drogba’s broadsword, is no shrinking violet in his company.
In a hotly contested game of few clear-cut chances, it was Anelka who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half, nimbly cutting inside Patrice Evra and bringing the best out of Edwin van der Sar with a curving left-footed shot.
And then just before the break it was the Frenchman again, tracking back – yes, tracking back – to help out his defence before, with lightning speed, launching a counter-attack the length of the pitch which ended with Drogba unable to convert a half-chance close to goal.
Where once Anelka was the incredible sulk, he is now playing with an almost zen-like calm, his striker-cum-winger-cum-linkman role central to a lot of Chelsea’s most fluent and imaginative play.
It’s hard too to imagine the Anelka of yesteryear being quite so philosophical about the ownership of the game’s decisive goal, a striking case of two heads definitely being better than one.
So, it’s official, Nicolas Anelka is a contented man, and that could spell bad news for Ireland. Certainly, he was much happier at the end of yesterday’s 95 minutes than his compatriot Patrice Evra.
It says something about the attack-minded bias of this current crop of French internationals that Evra rarely stays at home. Constantly bombing forward to play one-twos or cut inside himself, the full-back was more of a presence in the final than the first third at the Bridge yesterday, a pattern which, if repeated in the World Cup play-off, will see his Manchester United team mate John O’Shea with plenty on his plate.
On the other hand, Evra’s forward-going instincts could give unaccustomed space to Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Liam Lawrence, Stephen Hunt or anyone else who might find themselves advancing purposefully up the right flank against the French.
Hell, maybe even O’Shea will get to advance beyond the half-way line as he did, to almost glorious effect, the last time the Irish visited the Stade de France.
That O’Shea played well yesterday and, more importantly, came through what was at times a fairly tough battle, will be a relief to Giovanni Trapattoni. But you wouldn’t have to be mind-reader to guess the biggest lesson the Ireland manager will have taken from the game and one which he will be at pains to relay to his players this week.
Consider: here were the top two virtually canceling each other out, with United even shading things on the pitch until Chelsea got their noses in front on the scoreboard with only 15 minutes to go.
And even though the match played host to some of the most stellar names in the business of turning possession into goals – Drogba, Rooney, Ballack, Giggs, Lampard, Owen, Anelka – it was ultimately decided by the most straight-forward of set-pieces.
No matter that Fletcher’s tackle on Ashley Cole might have been harshly penalised. No matter that Drogba might have been offside and interfering with play. No matter that even John Terry and Nicolas Anelka couldn’t seem to decide for a while on who got the meaningful touch (all I know for sure is that it wasn’t Noel Hunt).
All that matters – and especially if, like Giovanni Trapattoni, you are obsessed with the “leetle details”, the tiny margins which define success or failure – is that a Frank Lampard free-kick was headed beyond the reach of van der Sar (okay then, by Terry), and that that most routine of footballing fundamentals, at any and all levels, was ultimately enough to separate the big two in England and give Chelsea the breathing space of a five-point lead at the top.
Fergie will fume, of course, and the pundits will pontificate and the delirious as well as the angry fans will clog up the phonelines. But all that really matters, as Trapattoni, will never tire of telling you, is the result. Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0. Close your eyes and hear him say it: the performance passes but the result stands forever.
An Italian manager got to savour the right result yesterday. Can we dare to hope that another is about to follow suit?
