Chelsea’s discipline and tactics broke down Manchester United’s negative gameplan

Jose Mourinho’s transparently negative game plan collapsed 35 minutes into the FA Cup quarterfinal. Chelsea maintained disciplined tactics for the full 90 minutes to book their spot at Wembley.

Many clubs have studied Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Chelsea in January. Mauricio Pochettino is the only manager to defeat Antonio Conte, and as such he offers the only blueprint for interrupting the Blues’ march through English football.

Jose Mourinho took the wrong lessons from that match. Rather than adapting Pochettino’s tactics and exploiting the space behind Chelsea’s wing-backs, Mourinho imitated Spurs’ hack-a-Hazard non-strategy. Every United player took every opportunity to trip, tackle (in both the English and American football sense) and kick Eden Hazard.

If you don’t mind the undiluted cynicism, this is an effective game plan. The first 30 minutes of a physical game can break Eden Hazard’s resolve. If he spends enough time under hard pressure and on the ground, he will retreat from the battle.

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However, in the most refreshing display of officiating so far this season, Michael Oliver knew exactly what Manchester United were doing. He extended plenty of leniency towards the Red Devils, only showing yellow to Ander Herrera in the 19th minute. Several of Herrera’s teammates were lucky to get away with mere fouls.

Oliver had had enough of United’s cynicism right around the critical juncture for Hazard’s play. He warned United’s captain, Chris Smalling, that the next player to foul Hazard would be in the book. Less than a minute later, Herrera fouled Hazard and Oliver stayed true to his word.

Down to 10 men and with Oliver performing his duty of protecting players on the pitch, Mourinho had nothing left. Aside from a brief spurt of pressure early in the second half, the Red Devils evinced little interest in forcing extra time. Someone who did not know the scoreline would have thought that United were the team protecting a one goal lead. Mourinho seemingly parked the bus, determined to see out a 1-0 defeat in order to preserve his excuses and rationalizations.

Chelsea continued on the pitch what Antonio Conte started last week in the press conference. The Blues did not take Mourinho’s bait. Just as Conte did not get into a war of words via the media, Chelsea did not seek revenge nor lash out in anger in the face of United’s hacks. Even when Marcos Rojo stamped Eden Hazard, Hazard did not Dare to Zlatan and crack an elbow into Rojo. Instead, Rojo will likely join his teammate on a retrospective suspension.

Chelsea’s tactical discipline reflected their overall attitude. The pass map for this cup tie will take a place in the football museum alongside the map from the Everton fixture. Chelsea’s ball movement through the midfield was downright Euclidean. Chelsea moved the ball right-to-left from N’Golo Kante, through Nemanja Matic to Marcos Alonso with barely a degree of variability.

The diagonal pass lane from Gary Cahill to Matic up to Eden Hazard was equally precise. That angle was nearly symmetric to the right-side lane to Hazard, starting with Cesar Azpilicueta to Kante. Chelsea’s passing formed a spear-head to Eden Hazard, a near perfect triangle superimposed on the 3-4-3 lattice.

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Both managers made a statement about their teams and their own character in this match. Jose Mourinho lived down to his detractors’ worst perceptions of his tactics and his attitude. Considering what Antonio Conte is on track to accomplish this season, Mourinho may rue the day he reduced his own legacy to three Premier League trophies.