He may be both arrogant and smug, but new Chelsae manager Jose Mourinho has now managed to topple Sir Alex’s Manchester United twice in less than an year. Last season, Mourinho got the better of Sir Alex when his Porto side eliminated United from the Champions League. This time, Chelsea’s Eidur Gudjohanson helped his new manager begin his premiership account by scoring the only goal of the match in the 15th minute. Quinton Fortune was to blame as his missed interception deep in the Chelsea half allowed Frank Lampard to quickly launch a counterattack. Picked out at the edge of the United penalty area by Lampard, Didier Drogba headed onto Gudjohnsen who nimbly poked the ball over Tim Howard from close range. It was a lightning fast move and Chelsea had gained the only edge they would need on the day.

In Need of an Oil Change

It’s easily to blame this opening day loss on United’s injury troubles and Olympic absentees. However the disconcerting aspect of this performance seems to be that the Red Devils are no longer able to play together like a machine with interchangable parts. A few years ago, a United team bereft of three or four key players would still be able to play with a style and effort in keeping with the club’s form. But now, without the likes of van Nistlerooy and Ronaldo, Manchester United looked strangely out of joint in the attacking half. Sir Alex’s charges looked the more dominant side for much of the game, but in the final third of the pitch the United attack would consistently break down and hand the ball away. Almost every United ball into the Chelsea area was played as a lofted cross that emerged closer to the halfway line than the touchline. There was very little production in terms of through-balls and penalty-areas passes along the deck. It’s hard to blame Alan Smith for not scoring, he never received a decent ball in firing position. Dominance doesn’t matter if it doesn’t yield scoring oppourtunities and today offered what might be the most goal-shy United side to be seen in quite awhile.

I miss the option of fielding Nicky Butt in midfield. Neither Eric Djemba-Djemba nor John O’Shea were impressive in midfield. Djemba-Djemba lacked vision and passed poorly whereas O’Shea, a defender by trade, proved to be lacking what it takes to push the team into attack. Roy Keane appears adequate in defense, but his absence from a more familiar midfield slot does seem to be a waste of his ability to guide the team. It seems that the jury-rigging employed in response to United’s absences has not yielded any revelations regarding the benefits of players in different postions. In fact, as soon as Rio Ferdinand returns to the fold from his long suspension, I doubt we’ll see either O’Shea or Keane playing out of position. United are just in too dire a need of a consistent midfield transition into the attack for Roy Keane to be wasted on defense.

Forlan Hope

On a final note, and I hate to say it, but Diego Forlan was woeful. I think it’s obvious that time as run out on the Uraguayan’s time in a United shirt. If he can’t establish himself during this period when injuries have left United short of attackers, what hope does he have when Louis Saha and Ruud van Nistlerooy return to the lineup?

So Much for Matchday One

Oh well, it’s still early days and there are still 370 Premiership matches to be played in which the league’s crown will be contested. Let’s just hope United will improve after analyzing this performance and returning some players back to the lineup after injuries and Olympic commitments subside.