Mata cashes in on United lethargy

Manchester United 0 Chelsea 1

It was a goal not without an element of controversy — as we have come to expect from this fixture — and the sending off of young United defender Rafael moments later, for hacking at the ankles of David Luiz, caused further ructions.

United players, led by Ryan Giggs, claimed Chelsea players had pressured referee Howard Webb into showing a straight red as Luiz and Rafael tussled near the corner flag, with Oscar apparently one of the visitors brandishing an imaginary red card.

Further, Chelsea’s Brazilian did himself few favours when television replays appeared to show him grinning conspiratorially as he lay on the ground and his countryman faced his punishment.

Ferguson also poured oil on troubled waters after the match by claiming that Luiz had twice elbowed Rafael in the build-up to the full-back’s retaliation.

All of which, at the end of a game in which United had failed to score at home for the first time in 66 league games, provided a much-needed diversion after a completely forgettable preceding 86 minutes.

Ferguson’s extension of a proverbial olive branch, when he left his dug-out pre-match to seek out Rafa Benitez and shake his hand to bring to an end their own simmering feud, created an entente cordiale which, unfortunately, extended onto the field of play.

The United manager had also courted controversy with his pre-match team selection which saw the ineffective Anderson and Tom Cleverley called up for rare starts — decisions which would have ramifications for Chelsea’s rivals for a top-four finish, Tottenham and Arsenal.

With United below par and Chelsea, presumably, content to have earned a solitary point, it should have been little surprise that the game petered out into a real end-of-season affair until the explosive finale and a goal which started after substitute Wayne Rooney was tackled — unfairly, he claimed — on the edge of the Chelsea area.

The visitors broke clinically upfield with a Raimres backheel finding Oscar who, in turn, picked out Mata with a superb pass into the area. The Spaniard steadied himself and scored from 15 yards, via a deflection off defender Phil Jones, with a shot which Anders Lindegaard might have saved.

Rooney badgered referee Webb after the goal went in and the simmering sense of injustice in United’s ranks persisted and led to Rafael losing his composure moments later.

But while Ferguson allowed his Brazilian defender an element of slack for his retaliation on Luiz, it remains to be seen whether the veteran manager is equally forgiving when it comes to the performance of, above all others, Anderson and Cleverley.

With the ever-dependable Michael Carrick rested, it was an ideal opportunity for the pair to show the manager they have a future in his midfield. Instead, their completely ineffective performances saw them both substituted after 68 minutes, with Ferguson deciding, quite correctly, that his best chance of creating a goal lay in keeping 39-year-old Giggs on the field.

It was surely significant that Anderson and Cleverley were the central midfield figures on a day when their team failed to score at home in the league for the first time since December 2009.

Stand-in keeper Lindegaard, also, hardly covered himself in glory on a rare start, although he did show sharp reflexes after 13 minutes when he saved the only other chance of note in the entire afternoon.

Patrice Evra lost the ball deep in the Chelsea half with Frank Lampard launching the counter attack with a pass to Oscar. The Brazilian sprinted half the length of the field before being allowed space and time to test Lindegaard, the keeper pushing his shot onto the post and smothering the rebound.

It was a rare glimpse of goal for either side, although the few sporadic sights that had come in the first half had fallen Chelsea’s way, with Demba Ba failing to capitalise on a couple of half-chances.

Late in the first period, a superb through ball from Giggs finally put the Chelsea goal under a degree of pressure, although Robin van Persie was unable to make clean contact and volleyed wide.

It was hard to imagine, but the second half — until the late excitement — offered even less entertainment.

Mata, the one creative player who at least showed close to his usual high levels of play, won a couple of free-kicks which were wasted and a promising, late Rafael run ended with some solid defending by Branislav Ivanovic — the “highlights” of a half which offered nothing until its closing stages.