Chelsea and Manchester United played out an entertaining draw in Michael Carrick’s second game as manager of The Red Devils, but it was Chelsea who had the better of the game and will have come away slightly disappointed not to have secured the three points.
Man Utd offered little in the way of attack, only registering two shots on target, but could have won the game if the second of those had been better executed by Fred. As we have seen several times this season, Carrick’s team struggled to play out from the back and were most threatening when getting the ball forward quickly.
Chelsea also stuck to their familiar system under Tuchel, looking to probe the flanks with full-backs pushing well forward, and circulate the ball to catch their opponents out on the opposite side of the pitch.
Manchester United Drop Their Superstar
Man Utd left out superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and instead started with Bruno Fernandes as the central forward. He started off in a false nine position looking to drop into the gap between midfield and attack and play in wingers Rashford and Sancho, in order to exploit the space left by Chelsea’s advanced full backs.
They set up to ensure they had plenty of players behind the ball when Chelsea were in possession, reorganising into a 4-5-1/5-4-1 to match Chelsea’s front five with one midfielder from McTominay, Fred, or Matic dropping into defence when necessary. A criticism of Solksjaer before he departed was that his team did not press high enough up the pitch, and this was something that Carrick clearly looked to address.
Chelsea’s Attacking Threat
As we have seen so often this season, Chelsea set up with fullbacks expected to push high up the pitch and play as wingers when in possession. Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi were selected to support Werner, but both often operated in the hole behind him as well as pushing out wide as they have been known to do. Tuchel’s team will have identified the difficulty Man Utd had against Man City when their rivals played in front of the defence, and seems to have decided to set up to play in between United’s midfield and back line.
Battle of the Long Ball
Chelsea were not afraid to play the long ball, mixing between playing short through the middle and long to the wings, adding extra width to their game. They didn’t seem to want to commit as many midfield players forward as in previous games for fear of being caught on the counter-attack, so their plan to circulate the ball took on another dimension as they looked to seek out the opposite flank more directly.
As mentioned previously, and as we have often seen from Chelsea, their full-backs James and Alonso pushed well up the pitch when in possession, and Alonso in particular saw plenty of the ball. This attacking mentality inevitably left gaps down the sides of the Chelsea defence, but Man Utd once again failed to get the ball forward quickly enough to exploit them.
The Red Devils did press higher up the pitch, as promised by Carrick, but with low intensity. Added to that, Chelsea played out from the back with their back 5 plus their goalkeeper, giving them a 6 v 3 advantage over Man Utd’s attackers, who had absolutely no chance of winning the ball high up the pitch without Chelsea making a mistake.
When in possession, Man Utd refused to play the ball long and instead consistently attempted to play the ball out from the back. I’ve commented before how this Man Utd team don’t look comfortable playing out from defence and I was surprised that they continued to do so, especially when they created a decent chance from a long clearance halfway through the first half. Picking up the second ball, Man Utd finally exploited Chelsea’s wing-backs being out of position, and I expected to see them go long much more after working this out. However, they continued to try to play short and Chelsea simply let them have the ball in defence, with only Werner pressuring their defenders, while their midfield pressed intensely when they played forward.
Chelsea Pressure Almost Pays Dividends
Chelsea got a lot of joy on the wings, especially on their left flank, but were not able to make the most of crosses. With Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi drifting wide, there were not many bodies in the box to aim for, and attacks often broke down. With this wing play stretched the Man Utd defence, Chelsea did find a lot of space in the centre, but were unable to get close to the box. Rudiger’s shot that crashed against the bar was a speculative effort and the closest they got to taking advantage of the space they were afforded in the centre of the pitch.
With Chelsea happy to let Man Utd’s centre backs have the ball and choosing to instead pressure their deep-lying midfielders as they received it, I thought it was particularly strange that they didn’t use this time and space to play over the top and bypass the Chelsea midfield. The one time their passing through the middle did work for them was on 43 minutes, when two quick passes from defence to halfway and then into the channel behind Reece James led to a promising attack and a penalty shout. Apart from this they were rather ineffective in possession.
The refusal to switch to a long-ball style was even more strange when we look at the goal that Man Utd scored. It came from what can only be described as a hoofed clearance by Telles and a quick break to win the second ball. Jorginho mis-controlled and Rashford and Sancho were both there to pick up the pieces and put them 1-0 up.
The irony of Chelsea’s penalty is that it came from a cross into the box from a corner, after the struggled all game to make the most of crosses into the box. They continued to play down the wings during the second half, and it almost paid off when Rudiger found himself unmarked at the back post, but he volleyed over and the chance was gone.
United’s Missed Opportunity
Of course, Manchester United could have won the game themselves with their second shot on target, after Fred intercepted Mendy’s poor pass as he tried to play out to his defence. Rather than striding forward or trying to find a teammate, he made an awful attempt to chip the goalkeeper that ended up straight back in Mendy’s hands.
On the balance of play, Chelsea had the better of the game, but their refusal to play through the centre and a poor miss from Rudiger cost them the three points. On the other hand, Manchester United’s stubbornness to stick with playing through the midfield and their own refusal to play in a direct manner that could have benefitted them meant that they created very few chances, and their own poor finish also meant that they missed out on two extra points. Had Fred executed that opportunity better it may have been a definitive moment in the title race, and although Mendy has been widely praised for his goalkeeping performances over the past year and a half he looks very poor with his feet and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tuchel looked elsewhere for a replacement if he intends to continue to play out from the back.