Antonio Conte made no excuses for himself or his players after falling to Manchester United. United out-classed Chelsea in every aspect of the game, from team strategy to individual performances.
Antonio Conte stood in his technical area at Old Trafford yesterday, subdued and pensive. The crowd noise would have made it hard to hear anything, but even when the volume went down Conte’s voice did not carry across the pitch. Nor did he stalk the touchline directing his troops, on a day when his team was in absolute disarray.
After the game, Conte faced the press a much more defeated man than he was two weeks ago following the loss to Crystal Palace. Chelsea at least had positive takeaways from that match. The Blues had no such consolation against their former boss. Conte laid it bare: “Against Crystal Palace we didn’t deserve to lose. Today we deserved to lose.”
Chelsea were undone by Manchester United in every area of the pitch and every aspect of the game. From individual battles to tactical execution to overall game-plan, Jose Mourinho and his men defeated Chelsea at every opportunity.
"We can say what we want about individual performances of the Chelsea players, but this was a Jose Mourinho game and he absolutely nailed it… Chelsea were preparing for what we’ve come to expect from Mourinho, but they were caught off guard by the unexpected tactics. – Ajitesh Rasgotra, The Blue Lions"
Chelsea were not able to cope with the speed and chemistry of Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard. The Blues appeared to have spent the week training to shut down Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a highly-talented but slow-moving quintessential target man. The lineup shuffles to compensate for Marcos Alonso’s absence limited Chelsea’s adaptability. But even a full-strength Chelsea XI would have been shredded by United’s young duo.
Chelsea have made it this far in the season atop the Premier League by finding new ways to win. Sometimes that means getting lucky. Other times it means winning ugly. And other times it came down to moments of individual brilliance from their superstars. United foreclosed any hope of a lucky or ugly Chelsea win. Chelsea themselves ensured there would be no moment of magic from the front men.
"Every single time a Chelsea player had the ball, everyone would stand where they were, the ball would go towards them and then a United player would read it. They had all the time in the world to read where it was going… It was reminiscent of last season’s Chelsea. – Travis Tyler"
N’Golo Kante and Eden Hazard were the only Chelsea players who came to Old Trafford to play, let alone win. Hazard did his best to create a Hazard moment. His teammates, though, seemed to forget that they have a role to play in his individual efforts.
Ander Herrera barely left Hazard’s hip all game. Other United defenders swarmed Hazard whenever he approached the offensive third. No Chelsea players – not Diego Costa, not Nemanja Matic, not Pedro – would use the space created by the overloaded man-marking to create an outlet pass for Hazard. It was as if they were waiting for Hazard to repeat his goal against Arsenal, minus the open field that he attacked on that run.
Next: Nathan Ake, Michy Batshuayi frozen out of prime opportunity against United
United shut down Eden Hazard, and they shut down Chelsea. Jose Mourinho won the chess match over Antonio Conte. On this form, Chelsea deserve to lose more than just a single game. Another London team is showing extreme desire to win. With six games remaining, the “second season” may have just begun.