Game Review of CHELSEA's 1-1 draw against Manchester United

 Chelsea v Manchester United Game Review

-Vivaan Jain and Samarth Purohit

-Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala

Photo Via: standard.co.uk

Chelsea, who stand atop the Premier League table have had an impressive start to the 2021 season, both domestically and in Europe. However, the same cannot be said of the Red Devils, who have struggled to consistently deliver in the Premier League. The two sides faced off each other at Stamford Bridge on 28th November, in United interim manager Michael Carrick’s second game as head coach.

 

Game Review:

The game started as expected, with Chelsea dominating both in terms of possession and creating chances. On the other hand, United seemed more than comfortable parking the bus and nearly hanging on. Chelsea played as they usually do: play out from the back and pass the ball to the holding midfielders who would either play it on the wing or give a through ball for the man up top. For the first quarter of an hour, Chelsea was quite persistent and looked set to dominate.  The issue however seemed to be with finishing as no one would be on the receiving end of the crosses made by the wingbacks. Chelsea’s wingbacks had lots of space as they hugged the touchline, since United played with a narrow shape, and didn’t press. However, they couldn’t make use of the space created, since their forwards weren’t able to capitalize on their crosses. Manchester United also, due to their narrow shape, stopped Chelsea from playing through the centre, forcing them out wide.

Even when Chelsea had players occupying places in front of goal, namely, they failed to convert those chances. This might be one of hindrances in Chelsea’s hopes to secure the title this season. Chelsea require a reliable and clinical striker who can comfortably put the ball in the back of the net, and Lukaku’s return from injury will be highly anticipated.

In the second half, however, Jorginho made a terrible error, allowing Sancho to run away with the ball and score an easy goal to put United up 1-0 soon after half time. Jorginho scored a soft penalty soon after, equalising the score. Tuchel brought on subs in the form of Mount, Pulisic and Lukaku to potentially score a winner in the dying minutes of the game, and while Mount and Pulisic showed promise, they were unable to change the outcome of the match. Lukaku had a relatively average performance, not really posing much of a threat to the Red Devils, but not making any obvious errors either.

Manchester United played in a very un-Man Utd way. Manchester United is a club that plays attractive football, and what we saw against Chelsea was far from it. United set up to defend from the get-go, and it seemed like they were playing for a 0-0 draw, emphasized by the fact United started with all three of Fred, Mctominay and Matic. They played a sort of 4-3-1-2, with Rashford and Sancho up front, and Fernandes as a cross between a 10 and a False 9. Hence, United’s shape was quite narrow. Was it efficient and maybe even the best possible decision? Maybe, but it highlights the loss of direction the club has been in since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Fans are hoping Ralf Rangnick’s involvement with the club, both as a manager for the remainder of the season, and as a consultant in the future, are steps in the right direction for the club, though only time will tell.

 United played their best football between Sanchos goal and Jorginhos equaliser. However, it was only Carrick’s second game as boss, and his inexperience showed, as he took off Sancho for Ronaldo. This imbalance in the side led to United losing control, and allowed Chelsea to grow back into the game.

 Fred was quietly brilliant all game, until a crucial error from Mendy towards the end of the game, landed the ball at his feet mere yards away from the goal. He could have passed the ball to Lingard, who was open and would have most definitely converted the shot, but instead he took a poor shot and cost United a valuable chance to win the match.

 The dying minutes saw Rudiger in a position to score, in the very final seconds of the game, before he made a crucial error, hitting the ball far too wide to convert.

 Many questions will arise from this game, particularly regarding the once most dominant club in England: Manchester United. It is impossible to say whether Rangnick will be able to turn Manchester United around quick enough for trophies to come in the next season or so, but United finally may have found its identity again: and that can only be a good thing for the premier league, having its now sleeping giant finally awaken, to face new competition in the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and indeed, Chelsea.