Manchester United vs Chelsea Review

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It takes five minutes for a dream to crumble, Robert Sanchez took less than that. After what looked like a steady ascent towards retribution through the Club World Cup, another rush of blood to the head, another catastrophic error, laying the foundations for one of the worst halves from a Chelsea team in PL history.

Enzo Maresca has deserved all of his plaudits for the work he did to orchestrate Chelsea’s rise to world champions, but he turned an opportunity where he had little to lose into, arguably, his worst display as Chelsea manager. Every decision was as baffling as the next, and ended up making ten men play like nine.

It is no secret that almost every team in any league trains for the inevitable game state of playing with a man short. The idea is to stay compact vertically & horizontally and attack with speed. Instead Maresca made the baffling decision to sub off not just Estevao but also Pedro Neto. “The reason why is because they attacked with five players often,” said Maresca post-game, “and we needed to defend all the width so we decided to go to a back five.” Those changes backfired spectacularly as it instantly took away Chelsea’s two most explosive and effective players in transition, calming any fear United had of a ball being played in behind when they threw men on forward. Maresca also revealed that Palmer was not 100% and took a risk playing in this fixture. In Maresca’s defence you can only plan for a red card and playing without your best player for 70 minutes, not both.

The result was inevitable. The enduring image of this defeat was in the 27th minute, when Joao Pedro, who left it all on the pitch, swivelled away from a United challenge in his own def 3rd and looked to spark a break. He looked up and saw no option, no outlet. No one was surprised when an under-fire defence that has now conceded 7 in their last 3 games allowed Bruno Fernandes to score his first goal from open play in SIX months, before Casemiro, lollygagging at the backpost, casually made it two.

When the Brazilian was sent off for a second yellow on his compatriot Andrey Santos just before HT, fate offered Maresca another window. The team was begging for at least one outlet in behind. Gittens and an eager Garnacho, both with enough venom to set fire to the waterlogged pitch, were available on the bench. Half-time provided a free window to make that one sub.

Instead, Maresca changed nothing, perhaps waiting to see what cards Amorim was going to play before revealing his hand - after all his opponent had 5 changes left, he only had 2. With Andrey Santos on the pitch, and parity restored numerically, possession switched hands violently from 58% in United’s favour to 75% for Chelsea. With only half-an-hour left to pull off a heist, Maresca was ready to throw on Garnacho but said post-game that Wes Fofana was tired and asked to be subbed. Here Maresca would make his final glaring error, bringing on Tyrique George for yet another fruitless display at CF. It is an experiment that has failed nearly every single time, and yet the Italian manager has repeatedly planted walnut seeds expecting it to drop apples in his palm. George roamed around for 26 minutes, completed no dribbles, had no shots, won 0 of his 6 duels, ran in behind a few times and wasn’t found. This, after not completing a single pass in the first half against Fulham.

Every single Maresca decision directly diluted the team’s chances of pulling off a result. Even if the intent was to go back 5, Pedro Neto should have been moved to a RWB position from where his industry and speed would have been a genuine asset. Using 3 DMs in a stoic 5-3-1 with Enzo, Reece and Cucurella running into space while being a man short was a callous setup lacking any tactical intent. This was full-on damage control against a United side who have been dire for the better part of a year.

Trevoh Chalobah’s headed goal did little to redeem his error on the first goal or his current form, which has been abysmal for the past three games by his exacting standards. After the Bayern horror-show, this was another error-strewn performance at the back, a major concern considering there are no reinforcements available till January. Joao Pedro showed selfless industry, but this was his 3rd game in a row without a shot on target. This was a performance tainted by crippling self-doubt, exacerbated by their manager’s lack of initiative. A performance to forget, and all eyes on ensuring that Lincoln City does not become Grimsby.