Manchester United 2; Chelsea 0

OK, I am a United fan, and I am finding myself cheesed off with the stupid analysis of today's game that I have heard coming from TV pundits regarding certain incidents. So I'm going to answer those silly assertions.

My source for summarising quotes will be this article about the match from the BBC.

First:

"Chelsea put in a resolute showing but had Mikel Jon Obi harshly sent off for a rash tackle on Patrice Evra." (emphasis mine)

The contradiction here is apparent. They (and the Sky commentators and pundits today) say the sending off was "harsh", but in the same breath admit it was a rash tackle. Later on, the BBC say: "Chelsea suffered a setback when Mikel was sent off when he led with his studs as he chased down the ball and their resistance finally buckled on the stroke of half-time." A two-footed, studs-forward tackle like this one deserves a red card by the laws of the game. One may argue that there wasn't in fact enough contact to really warrant a red card. This may be acceptable. But in any case the ref had good reasons, based on the game's rules, to send Mikel off for this challenge. I can see why Chelsea might want to appeal it, but they can't claim - as some do - that there was no justification whatsoever for this sending off.

"Giggs curled an outswinging cross to the near post with the outside of his left foot and Tevez got his head to the ball before Cech to head in his first goal for the club.

Chelsea will be unhappy referee Mike Dean did not blow for half-time before the goal as the allotted two minutes of added time had already elapsed."

Ludicrous. It is common practise for referees to allow play to continue beyond the alloted injury time if one team is still threatening with an attack. Which United were on this occasion. The referee was waiting until the attack was over to blow the whistle. This happens in matches around the world on a weekly basis. And this time United happened to score thirty seconds after the allotted time was up, completely fair and square. There is nothing questionable about it.

I am surprised that the BBC did not mention that the incident which led to a United penalty in the dying moments was a complete dive by Louis Saha. But Auntie does mention the fact that United should have had a penalty in the first half when Joe Cole brought down Evra. He got the ball - but only AFTER he got the man. Sky, of course, didn't bother remembering this - they were too busy spending the whole bloody game whinging about imaginary injustices against Chelsea.