Yesterday Man United lost to Chelsea 4-1 on penalties but all the attention has fallen onto the referee. I am going to try not to moan too much about the referee but it will be hard.

The game was a lot better than I expected, there were more goals, the teams didn’t cancel each other out and it was entertaining to watch- apart from the penalties.

Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, John-Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka all started for Chelsea.

Ben Foster, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea, Ji-Sung Park, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Luis Nani, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov all started for United.

Chelsea kicked off the 2009 Community Shield and it was Drogba who had the first shot, only minutes in he decided to unleash a 30-yard strike but Foster blocked the ball and picked it after it bounced in front of him.

Chelsea were given a needless corner when Ferdinand’s back pass went out of play for a corner, from Lampard’s corner, Ivanovic’s shot was headed by Evra onto the top of the crossbar and away.

Nani gave Man United an early lead only 10 minutes in when he went straight past Ivanovic (when he had done quite easily throughout the first half). Nani took the ball on the left side; he came in on the right and unleashed a stunning low ball with his right foot, which went past Cech.
Nani then did his trademark back flip which I am sure Sir Alex Ferguson would have told him off for doing.

Minutes later United should have had their second, United broke away from their half with Park, his ball to Berbatov was stopped by Terry but the ball rebounded back to Park, he got the ball to Berbatov who was down Man United’s right. Berbatov crossed the ball into the left side of the penalty area to Rooney who headed it towards Park and Park couldn’t quite hit the ball past Cech.

A few minutes later and Man United were at it again, Berbatov played a one-two with Park who put him through on goal, Berbatov tried to chip Cech but Cech stayed tall and managed to knock the ball away for Chelsea. Park nearly managed to get through but Cech was there to get the ball.

Foster had one or two nervy moments in the first half, at one point he had to hit Carrick’s back pass into Drogba to get the ball away. Not long after that he did exactly the same thing when his first touch was awful and again he kicked the ball off Drogba.

Chelsea did have one or two slight chances in the first half, Anelka’s ball in from the left was deflected off Ferdinand for a corner but it wasn’t too far from going in for an own goal.

Man United had a few more chances in the first half, Nani’s corner was knocked to Carrick who had a shot and Cech had to knock it over for another corner.

Second half and United got us underway. Chelsea made a substitution at half time, Jose Bosingwa was brought on for Ivanovic who had a terrible first half against Nani.

Man United had an early free kick just yards outside the penalty box when Mikel brought down Berbatov. Nani took it but it was headed away by Drogba.

Throughout the second half, Chelsea grew in confidence and started to put a few more moves together. Chelsea’s equaliser came when Evans’ clearance was picked up by Malouda on the left, Malouda got the ball to Lampard who was surrounded by red shirts but he got the ball back to Malouda who crossed the ball into Drogba. Foster came off the line to knock the ball away but it only fell to Carvalho and he headed the ball into an empty net. Chelsea had equalised 52 minutes in and Foster should have done better.

That understandably gave Chelsea more confidence and we saw players like Anelka and Drogba draw more saves out of Foster.

There was a worrying sight for Man United fans when Antonio Valencia had to come on for Nani who had his arm in a sling, which he made out of his shirt. First thoughts were that Nani had broken his collarbone but it still not known what the problem is. Chelsea also brought on Michael Ballack for Mikel.

This substitution was going to prove to be controversial, not because of the sub but because of the player. Ballack and Evra were going to have a few moments and the first came when Ballack had only been on the field for seconds. Ballack went in on Evra who had the ball, Evra stayed up and Ballack fell over and he then claimed that Evra had trodden on him, replays showed the he might of slightly but it was only accidental. Ballack stayed down but he got up as soon as the referee had blown his whistle. Ballack and Evra then had a few words.

Minutes later then were then at it again, this time it was an off the ball incident, Evra got the ball to Rooney and he carried on running forward, Ballack decided to what looks like elbow him in the face and Evra stays down. Chelsea clear the ball (at this point Evra is still down with what looks like a head injury). Chelsea keep hold of the ball and Drogba and Anelka run with the ball towards United’s defence who are a man down. Drogba gets the ball to Lampard (who Evra would have been marking if he hadn’t been down injured) who scores. Foster gets a hand to the ball but it still goes into the back of the net.
Minutes earlier the referee had stopped play for Ballack but Ballack clearly fouled Evra and he didn’t stop play. That is what everyone is irritated and annoyed about this morning. Chelsea’s second goal came in the 71st minute which didn’t give United long to try and get an equaliser.

After that goal, Fabio da Silva, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and Ryan Giggs were all brought on to try and get United an equaliser. O’Shea, Berbatov, Fletcher and Park were all taken off. Chelsea also brought on Deco for Malouda.

Things weren’t over between Evra and Ballack, Evra went in and cleanly got the ball off Ballack but the referee decided to book him. Evra did play the ball but he still decided to give him a yellow. Ballack did get up and get on with it so I don’t know why the ref booked him.

With not long left Chelsea brought on Salomon Kalou for Anelka. The game hadn’t finished and United were really trying to get an equaliser, which looked like it was never going to happen.

Three minutes were added on for stoppage time, they had nearly run out but Giggs put Rooney in on goal, Rooney ran past Chelsea’s defence and he put the ball past Cech. The game finished 2-2 and we went into penalties.

There is not much to say about the penalties apart from we were awful. Penalties are always luck of the draw and we didn’t have the luck yesterday.
Lampard took the first penalty and he scored, Giggs took United’s first and Cech saved it. Next up was Ballack who was never going to miss and he didn’t. Carrick took United’s second and he scored to make it 2-1 to Chelsea.
Drogba scored Chelsea’s third and poor old Evra had his saved for United. Kalou then stepped up to take the winning penalty and he scored.

Overall I am not too disappointed, it isn’t an important trophy it is one of those trophies, which is nice to get. I am disappointed with the referee but now we can look forward to the start of the season next week.