Poor performance. Not the worst result we could’ve got. Still a pointless game. This season is well and truly terrible, the season needs to end and a lot of the players are playing like it. Here are five things we learnt watching Manchester United hold on to a 1-1 draw against Chelsea.
Lucky first half
Manchester United were extremely fortunate to go into the half time break having not conceded. We looked absolutely terrible. Chelsea were utterly dominant and it was a miracle that they didn’t finish any of their many chances. They seemed to be lacking that clinical killer instinct in the final third and the Red Devils were very grateful for it. Thanks to some poor finishing and a few strong saves from David de Gea Manchester United were able to keep out a devastating Chelsea side. The United players desperately needed to switch on at halftime in order to get anything out of this game.
Fullbacks not good enough
Defensively Manchester United were yet again shambolic. So much so that Ralf Rangnick decided to bring on Phil Jones for the final ten minutes of the game to sure things up in a back five. But the defending in the wide areas was all over the place. Reece James was constantly in acres of space and had so much time to build attacks. The Chelsea wing-back deservedly won man of the match it was no surprise that it was his cross from that wide area that led to the goal.
Alex Telles was constantly getting spun by both Mason Mount and Reece James. Being tucked in narrow against this Chelsea side did not work. It only served to pannick both Lindelof and Varane at centre-back. And then Diogo Dalot was extremely poor. Again for the goal he was caught in no man’s land, not closing Marcos Alonso down at all. This space allowed the goal-scorer to take a brilliant touch and rocket the ball past de Gea into the back of the net. But again, with the time and space that were given to the Chelsea players I am surprised it took them this long to score in the first place.
Ronaldo to the rescue… again
Once again it was the main man, the greatest goal-scorer in the history of football, Cristiano Ronaldo that came to the rescue of Manchester United. The Portuguese forward has scored 8 of Manchester United’s last 9 goals. It is crazy to think that some people think that this man was a problem for this team. He is the complete opposite. I genuinely think this Manchester United team would struggle to stay in the top half of the table if we didn’t have Cristiano. The way he took his goal last night was fantastic. The composure. The touch. The movement. Elite. This man cannot be stopped. Imagine if he was in a team that was actually doing well, the numbers he could achieve then.
Rashford not good enough
This has been a very poor season for Marcus Rashford. Especially when one considers the levels he was producing in recent seasons. In the last two season before this one, he achieved over 20 goals and 10 assists across all competitions in each season. Whereas this season, he sits on a meger 5 goals and 2 assists. It isn’t just his productivity that has fallen off a cliff, sadly it is his entire game. He can’t even seem to get the basics right. Things that were once an integral part of his game seem to have abandoned him, beating his man, his pace and control in tight areas all look nothing like what they once were. And then his off the ball work just seems to be nonexistent at the moment. I really don’t know what it is with Rashford and honestly I hope he can sort himself out and return to being the player that we all know he is capable of being.
Need a CDM
We have known that this team needs a proper defensive midfielder for some time now. After scraping through with a combination of Fred, McTominay, Paul Pogba and an ageing Nemanja Matic, this problem has been apparent for arguably two seasons. Last night was no different. Whilst we did see a pretty solid performance from Nemanja Matic, he’s going at the end of the season and even this season we haven’t been able to rely on him. Going forward this position has to be Erik ten Hag’s number one priority in my opinion. Last night we saw glimpses of what a proper CDM can offer us. Matic was solid, provided somewhat of a screen for the defence and was able to progress the ball through the thirds quite well, even popping up with a brilliant assist for Ronaldo. But ultimately we were still easily bypassed in midfield because he lacks the energy to get around the pitch effectively. We need to be doing better. We need to be buying better players.