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ADL Daily - Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham confront their Premier League failings
Thursday 30 September 2010
This week’s Champions League group stage saw Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Chelsea put aside their failings at the weekend in the Premier League to come away with valuable victories.
While Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday ended Carlo Ancelotti’s side’s flawless start to the season, the Blues showed no lack of creativity in front of goal on Tuesday. Without Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, Chelsea are a slightly weaker force, however, their absences allowed Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and youngster Gaël Kakuta to come to the forefront of the action - Malouda and Kakuta occupied the flanks while Anelka often dropped deep and linked the play. Anelka’s movement was too much for Stephan Mbia and Souleymane Diawara in the heart of the Marseille defence as he constantly switched to the wings, offering Chelsea an extra dimension in attack, something which was significantly missing during Saturday’s match.
Whereas Chelsea’s failing of the weekend lay in attack, Manchester United’s weakness was in defence as they trailed to Bolton Wanderers twice. With Rio Ferdinand back in action and his central defensive partnership with Nemanja Vidic re-established, the Red Devils looked much more stable at the back. This, along with Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick being employed as holding midfielders, prevented United from being careless in possession and allowed them to control the game, keeping Valencia’s dangerous wingers at bay. Sir Alex Ferguson’s policy of containment seemed to be working and when Javier Hernandez came off the bench to score the winning goal, the United fans could rejoice in a well-fought victory without the likes of Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Arsenal, meanwhile, maintained their unbeaten start to the Champions League with an away victory against Partizan Belgrade. In attack, the Gunners managed to open up the rugged Partizan defence with incisive passing and movement complemented by excellent finishing. However, as exposed by West Bromwich Albion on the weekend in the league, Arsenal’s defence seem to struggle at times and, in turn, cannot match the quality provided upfront. Denilson unnecessarily gave away a penalty for handling Radosav Petrovic’s cross, and the resultant penalty was scored by Cleo. Towards the end of the match, Kieran Gibbs showed signs of inexperience when he fouled Ivan Stevanovic, giving away another penalty.
Finally, Tottenham Hotspur desperately needed a win after two back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and West Ham. Wednesday night was the perfect backdrop for Spurs to regain their in a home Champions League group game against FC Twente. While Twente were not outplayed, Harry Redknapp’s men showed more ruthlessness in attack and as a result they were rewarded for applying pressure to the visitors. This result puts Spurs back in the run-in to qualify for the final 16, especially with the important game against Inter looming.
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