Sports

Chelsea vs Man United: Three things we learned

Published

6 years ago

October 20, 2018

Manchester United emerged undefeated at Stamford Bridge for the first time in Jose Mourinho’ s four visits to his old club , but Chelsea were the more grateful of the two sides for a point in a thrilling 2 – 2 draw on Saturday .
Substitute Ross Barkley struck with virtually the last kick of the game in the 96 th minute to salvage the hosts ’ unbeaten start under Maurizio Sarri and spark a touchline melee as Mourinho took offence at the excessive celebrations of one of Sarri ’ s backroom staff .

However , there were also positives for Mourinho as the visitors showed plenty of heart and no little skill to fight back from a goal down thanks to Anthony Martial’ s double .

AFP Sports looks at three things we learned:

Martial firing

Mourinho’ s struggles at Old Trafford are encapsulated in his troubled relationship with Martial , with the Frenchman failing to deliver on his rich potential over the past three seasons .

However , the 22 – year – old cannot be accused of failing to play for his manager in his time of need .

Martial ’ s composed equaliser transformed a game in which United had been outplayed for the first 55 minutes .

His second was an even sweeter finish that showed what United are capable of with Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford also playing their part in a flowing move.

“ Martial is improving , he is doing different things than before, ” said Mourinho. “ He is a more complete player than before but he needs to improve . He has a huge talent and he wants it , which is a good thing . ”

Hazard warning for Chelsea

Sarri complained that Chelsea stopped playing “ his football ” after Martial levelled , and were too easily panicked into playing long balls .

Alvaro Morata again failed to act as a reliable focal point and his replacement Olivier Giroud is still without a goal this season .

The lack of an in – form striker has so far been papered over by the stunning form of Eden Hazard .

But the Belgian was blunted by some rough treatment by United early on as both Nemanja Matic and Ashley Young were booked.

On this evidence , Hazard can expect more bruises in the coming weeks as it becomes clear that if you stop him , the rest of the Chelsea attack is pretty blunt .

Pogba zones out

Unlike against Brighton , Tottenham and West Ham this season , United did not lose , but in common with those games they did once again concede from a corner .

Paul Pogba was at fault as Antonio Rudiger was given a free run to power a header past David de Gea and give Chelsea the perfect start .

Mourinho refused to criticise Pogba individually but for a coach whose success has been built on defensive solidity , patience with such a basic weakness is wearing thin .

“ My feelings is that we work . We work on the pitch, the analysis , the preparation , ” said Mourinho.

“ We defend mixed , so some of the players are in zone , some have individual opponents . Every player knows the zone or the man, but sometimes the opponent is better than us . ”

( AFP )