Chelsea played 90 minutes of forgettable football marred by several refereeing decisions that should bring the entire Premier League into disrepute. We’ll try to focus on the players in our player ratings.
Set aside VAR and Chelsea should not have lost this game, but it’s hard to argue they would have won it, even with competent refereeing that ejected Harry Maguire in the first half and properly awarded Kurt Zouma’s goal in the second. The Blues can lose a game on their own, thank you very much, no further help needed from the wizards of Stockley Park.
Willy Caballero, Goalkeeper: 6
Frank Lampard took the gamble or the sent the message or had whatever motivation a manager needs to have to start a 38-year old over a £72 million struggling starter. Despite the dramatics of Lampard’s decision, it really had no effect on the outcome.
Manchester United scored on their only two shots on target of the first 92 minutes. But given the quality of Chelsea’s defending in those moment and the quality of the shots, it’s hard to say Kepa Arrizabalaga would have done any better, especially in his recent form. Since United had only one other shot and Caballero did not need to do much to take control of his box or pull crosses out of the air, hopefully Arrizabalaga would not have done any worse.
Reece James, Right back: 6
Reece James needed Olivier Giroud in the first half, when Chelsea had control of the game and James had the time and positions to send crosses into the box. Instead, James’ crosses sailed harmlessly (from Manchester United’s perspective) through, although as we have said before that is not just the striker’s fault: Chelsea need players at the near post, far post and in the centre because James’ crosses pass through numerous target zones.
James’ best moments on defence and in terms of controlling the pace of the game came when he came off the wing towards midfield. If a three-man defence comes into shape for Lampard, James could be just as effective as a midfielder (especially in a 3-5-2) as he would as as wingback.
Andreas Christensen, Centreback: 6.5
Can we fault Andreas Christensen for getting his nose broken and in the consequent personal and tactical disarray lose Anthony Martial, resulting in the opening goal? We could. We won’t.
For the first 40 minutes, Christensen was once again doing that thing where he was oddly physical for a player of his build and repute. Yes, it’s a bit absurd to talk about his physical play compared to Antonio Rudiger on his left or the man who replaced him, Kurt Zouma, but at least Christensen is adding that to his game. He also had four tackles, sharing the team lead despite playing only half the game.
Give him credit for blood shed in service to the team, not that he can afford to lose an ounce of anything from his frame. At least he’s willing.
Antonio Rudiger, Centreback: 7
Rudiger’s passing was an essential element of Chelsea’s game. In the first half he was at the root of a lot of the forward movement, both in transition or when Chelsea would send the ball backwards to stretch the pitch and then Rudiger would launch them back forward. In the second half, he pushed further up the pitch and was as much a recycling option at Jorginho.
Kurt Zouma, Centreback (45′): 6
Kurt Zouma would have been Chelsea’s third centreback with a goal this season if not for the combined machinations of Fred, Brandon Williams, Anthony Taylor and what’s-his-name in the VAR booth all working through Cesar Azpilicueta to deny Zouma his first league goal of 2019/20.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Left back: 6.5
No, really, what was Azpilicueta thinking, getting pushed in the back and falling into the man in front of him? He was asking for it just as much as Michy Batshuayi’s SpongeBob-clad junk was asking for Harry Maguire’s foot to drive into it.
Haha, no, but to be serious (as Frank Lampard would say), Azpilicueta had a relatively standard, workmanlike, unspectacular match. Fortunately, “unspectacular” for Azpilicueta is still a high quality game. He and Pedro did not have much of a rhythm going on the left side in transition or on offence, but then again, who ever has a rhythm when Pedro is around? Even so, Azpilicueta several times sprinted from a deep defensive position to overlap Pedro near the final third, once again giving the lie to the narratives that he is slow and does not contribute on offence.
Jorginho, Midfield: 5
Jorginho made a brilliant diagonal pass that sliced through Manchester United’s midfield and defensive lines into the box, with the ball landing right in the path of Michy Batshuayi breaking clear of the lines to be one-on-one with David De Gea. Unfortunately, Batshuayi took it way too literally to be “in the path of the ball,” as he lost his balance and fell so that he was level with the ball on the ground, going over the goal line out of play.
Other than that pass, WhoScored tells me that Jorginho completed eight of nine long passes and made three tackles. That’s a lot more than I remember him doing.
Mateo Kovacic, Midfield: 8
Mateo Kovacic joined the ranks of Chelsea’s elite players on Monday night. Time after time in the first half he would receive the ball in the defensive or middle third, turn past his marker, drive or slalom his way up field, approach the opponent’s defensive line at the top of the box and slam on the brakes, as he realized he had a tightly-packed row of the wrong colour shirts ahead of him and not a single teammate doing anything in support of him.
Kovacic drove all of Chelsea’s action through midfield and into offence, and regularly set himself and his team up for the final pass. But he never had a teammate making a run in behind to receive said final pass; nor anyone darting on a tight overlap run that he could feed with a narrow vertical pass; nor anyone moving between Manchester United’s lines so that he could dribble central or lay the ball off to someone with a better shot from the top of the box.
Mateo Kovacic is not Eden Hazard in the final third. He needs his teammates to finish the move or at least help him take the next step towards the end product. They left him out to dry, just as they usually do to their goalkeeper in defensive situations.
On the subject of defence, along with his offensive contributions Kovacic also led the team in defensive actions, with a few key tackles and interceptions in the chaos of the second half.
N’Golo Kante, Midfield: N/A
Kante came off at the exact minute of the game as in the much-derided game against Watford last season. It’s hard for me not to take that personally.
Kante probably would not have saved Chelsea from either of the two goals, given the situations they came from, but you can never say Chelsea were better off without Kante on the pitch, despite the quality Mason Mount delivered. Kante could be out for an extended period with an adductor injury, which is just about the worst possible news.
Mason Mount, Midfield (10′): 7
The winter break was not enough time for Tammy Abraham to recover and apparently not enough for N’Golo Kante to put himself back together, but it certainly did the trick for Mason Mount.
Mount’s pressing was as aggressive and energetic as it has been since the beginning stages of the season. He and his teammates forced several turnovers deep in Manchester United’s zones with their well-timed and coordinated pressing. Mount and James worked a clever free kick late in the game that Mount rattled off the post from long range in that moment that confirmed everything was going against Chelsea.
Willian, Right wing: 5
Remember we said at the beginning that Andreas Christensen shared the lead with four tackles? He shared it with Willian, whose four tackles far outstripped anything he did on offence, which wasn’t very much at all. Willian worked well on the press, but he did not offer anything that could help Chelsea get behind United’s lines.
With Callum Hudson-Odoi reinjured and Christian Pulisic still injured, Willian and Pedro may be set for more starts together. Hopefully they can rediscover their old rapport and individual scoring magic.
Michy Batshuayi, Striker: 3
Getting a Slab-foot in the Simeone’s might be the best thing that happened to Michy Batshuayi on Monday night, since it shifted some of the conversation and banter away from his performance in front of goal. Batshuayi had two shots, both of which exuded less confidence than an Alvaro Morata late 2018 shot. The shots were tentative and the timing was off, which meant that even if they were on goal they would not have made their way past David de Gea. If the striker doesn’t believe he will score, he won’t.
The rest of his play was not much better. There was the Jorginho pass mentioned above. Pedro slid a perfect throughball to Mason Mount who played in Batshuayi, but that came to nothing. Later, Pedro was running at three Manchester United players at the top of the box, and Batshuayi was seemingly running within their little pack rather than opening up to either side to draw a defender to him and / or make himself available for a pass.
You can only fault a player so much when he has played so little. But Olivier Giroud has played far less and did everything Chelsea needed their striker to do, including putting the ball into the back of the net.
If Tammy Abraham is unfit for Saturday’s game and Batshuayi starts, Giroud will be entirely justified in his choice of protest.
Pedro, Left wing: 6
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: the man is timeless. The energetic pressing, the frenetic runs (sometimes with the ball back towards his defensive zone), the brilliant passing interspersed with wild shooting, the ever-present confidence that one of those wild shots will curl into the top corner. It’s sometimes hard to believe it’s been a decade since Pedro was winning Euro and World Cup trophies with Spain. He’s so much the same player.
Pedro has not been treated much better by the fans than by Frank Lampard this season, but he may be in line for a run in the starting XI. His experience is invaluable and his style of play does bring something new to the side.
The question for him, Lampard and his teammates is if they can take what he does and who he is – and there should be no question about all those attributes, good and bad, at this point – and apply it to where the team needs it.