Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: “We have shown that spirit so many times over the years and this point could win us the League. At 3-0 down, a lot of teams would find it easy to let their heads drop and accept defeat but we carried on working hard and, thankfully, got something out of the game. We really had to dig in. Of course it’s two points lost, we understand that. But after being 3-0 down all the City players at home won’t have enjoyed watching the way we fought back and the spirit of our team. They know it will be a fight to the finish and we’ll be there at the end.” – Wayne Rooney.

Runner-up: “The FA’s decision does not find me in agreement. Absolutely not. I retained and I retain the belief that John Terry could have kept the captain’s armband. I spoke with the chairman and I told him I don’t think someone can be punished until it becomes official. It is going to be civil justice, not sports justice, to decide if John Terry committed that crime.” – Fabio Capello.

Sir Alex Ferguson: “They should’ve had a man (Cahill) sent off in the first half. Danny Welbeck’s clear through. I don’t blame Howard Webb — he needed help and he didn’t get it.”

Andre Villas-Boas: “The first one is an obvious penalty. The second is very, very dubious. I don’t know if Howard Webb had the correct angle. I’m not sure if he’s compensating for anything in the first half, but it was the wrong decision. We expect, in top games, top refs and, at the moment, it hasn’t been happening for us.”

Top articles of the day

Chelsea 3 – Manchester United 3: Alex loves spot of controversy (Steven Howard, The Sun)  Howard points out what many are saying this Monday morning, namely don’t write off Sir Alex Ferguson or Manchester United.

Manchester United’s David de Gea shows true worth in Spanish duel (Richard Williams, Guardian) United’s Spanish number 1 is hailed by Williams after some crucial saves late on.

David de Gea is transformed from a flapper at crosses to a flying saviour (Jim White, Daily Telegraph)

Inspirational Rooney keeps title dream alive (Sam Wallace, Independent) Plenty of praise for Rooney in the back pages this morning as his two penalties brought United back into the match.

Chelsea’s failure to nullify Wayne Rooney proved their undoing (David Pleat, Guardian)

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas takes the hit after his team fail to kill game against Manchester United (Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph)

No defence for that! (Jamie Redknapp, Daily Mail) Redknapp is critical of AVB in his Mail column. “Two huge moments at 3-2 to Chelsea: a miss by Fernando Torres and the odd decision by Andre Villas-Boas to sub Daniel Sturridge. Patrice Evra, who had been booked and was being tormented by Sturridge, must have felt like throwing a street party. It also sent out a negative message to the rest of the Chelsea players that they should defend and close out the match. Would Fergie have made the same mistake? No.”

Roman’s big shock for AVB! Chelsea boss ‘shaken’ after showdown (Neil Ashton, Daily Mail) “Andre Villas-Boas is fighting to convince Roman Abramovich he is still the man for the Chelsea job  after an amazing showdown on Saturday.”

Fabio Capello takes a swipe at the FA: Fabio puts huge bomb under FA (Steven Howard, The Sun) The Sun columnist takes Capello’s comments on Italian TV on Sunday as another excuse to bash Don Fabio.

Capello must mend this dangerous divide or face his inevitable departure (Sam Wallace, Independent) “If the Football Association was a military command then they would surely have described Fabio Capello’s interview with the Italian broadcaster RAI yesterday as a case of one of their lead agents going rogue.”

Fabio Capello risks undermining England’s preparations for Euro 2012 (Dom Fifield, Guardian)

Weekend reviews: Players need to make referees’ lives easier, not harder! (Graham Poll, Daily Mail) the former referee looks at the raft of penalty decisions over the past couple of days.

Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend (Gregg Roughley & Jacob Steinberg, Guardian) Orange balls, Swansea, Norwich and Stephen Warnock all come under discussion.

Johnson’s diving confession shows football morality has hit a new low (James Lawton, Independent)

The return of Luis Suarez: Luis Suárez must let his football do the talking when he returns for Liverpool against Tottenham (Alan Hansen, Daily Telegraph)

Suarez gets the shakes (Mark Irwin, The Sun) “Spurs players will have no problems shaking hands with Luis Suarez at Anfield this evening.”

Harry will dash from court to Anfield in private jet (Mike Walters, Daily Mirror)

Jose Mourinho: Why it’s just too special for Jose (Martin Samuel, Daily Mail) Samuel wonders why The Special One will be returning to Blighty this summer.

Gossip: City fear losing Toure to mega-rich Russians (Darren Lewis, Daily Mirror) Kolo Toure… not Yaya.