Chelsea was held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Manchester United as the league leaders see their lead at the top of the table reduced to just a solitary point. Incredibly wasteful in front of goal, Jorginho’s careless touch early in the second half would ultimately prove a costly error for his team. Here are the lessons learnt from Chelsea 1, Manchester United 1.
Manchester United, Chelsea’s voodoo team?
Here is an interesting statistic, the last time Chelsea won against Manchester United in the league was back in November 2017, when Alvaro Morata powered in a header 55 minutes into the match to give Chelsea a 1-0 victory. In the time since, there was the disappointing 2-1 loss away to Old Trafford in the reverse leg of the 17/18 season, the chastening 4-0 loss on the opening day of the 19/20 season, and the underwhelming pair of goalless draws last season. It would seem that Chelsea somehow struggles to turn up home, or away, against the Red Devils.
Against a Manchester United side that was still in limbo, caught between the loss of their previous manager and the imminent appointment of the next man-in-charge, the Blues once again failed to put in a convincing performance to maintain their lead at the top of the league. It was very much a match of “what could and should have been” as Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner and Antonio Rudiger were all guilty of missing massive chances to give Chelsea the lead. Perhaps the most unforgivable moment of the match, however, came down to a moment of poor judgement from Jorginho. As the last man back from a Chelsea set-piece, it is puzzling as to why the Italian midfielder tried to bring a difficult ball under control when simply clearing it would have proven to be the wiser option of the two.
At the end of the day, as Chelsea continues their hunt for their first Premier League title in 5 years, it is fleeting moments like these that could ultimately prove to be their undoing. In the meantime, Thomas Tuchel’s men have to lick their wounds, get up and go again. After all, no league title has ever been won by individuals who stop and feel sorry for themselves.
Give Marcos Alonso time
Sunday’s match against Manchester United was far from a classic Marcos Alonso performance at left wing-back. This is evident from Tuchel’s decision to replace the Spaniard with Christian Pulisic 70 minutes into the game when Chelsea were desperately surging forward for an equalizer. For a wing-back who has largely based his game on his ability to contribute offensively, Tuchel’s decision ironically highlights the 30-year-old’s low output levels on the day.
However, the game against Manchester United was Alonso’s first match since he played the full 90’ against Malmö FF on the 2nd of November. Since that game, he has been left out of the side in part due to Chilwell’s brilliant form and in part due to an unfortunate injury sustained prior to the match against Burnley. Alonso then had to spend the international break recuperating accordingly. The point here is that the Spaniard needs a few more games under his belt before he gets back up to full speed. After such a long lay-off, elements of rustiness are as evident as they are unavoidable in his game. Moreover, while his performance was not good on the day, he is far from being the main reason behind the two dropped points against United. The wing-back’s underlying numbers have actually been rather respectable this campaign, and the level of performances Alonso was able to conjure up during the early periods of the season certainly calls for greater amounts of patience to be had.
A show of character, or a lack of it?
The period following Jorginho’s error, which had allowed Jadon Sancho in to score United’s only goal of the game from their first shot on target, can only be described as disappointing. Chelsea’s players seem completely lost as Manchester United found their confidence and slowly but steadily began to assert control over the game. For a side that is perhaps not used to games going against the way it is “supposed” to, the team’s ability to rally themselves after Jorginho netted the equalizer should be seen as a show of strength in character.
However, in the 19 minutes between Sancho’s goal and Jorginho’s penalty equalizer, the way in which the team threatened to capitulate was worrying. Perhaps it was due to United’s goal coming completely against the flow of match, or perhaps it was a certain level of overconfidence that was allowed to build up over the course of Chelsea’s ten match unbeaten streak. Either way, Chelsea did not seem well-equipped at all to deal with unexpected setbacks in a game. For a team comprising of veterans such as Thiago Silva and Rudiger, it is unacceptable that the momentum of the game was allowed to swing the way in which it did.
Despite Tuchel’s claims of Chelsea being on the “hunt” as “underdogs” in this season’s title race, both the manager and the players do harbor concrete intentions of winning the league this season. To do so, however, would require the mental capacity to not just anticipate, but also, to react to unfortunate circumstances on the pitch. With potentially tricky games against Watford, Leeds United and Everton coming up, Chelsea’s title credentials will be tested to its limits. It is up to the Blues to rise up to the challenge once again.
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