Chelsea welcomed Michael Carrick's Manchester United to Stamford Bridge in one of the Blues' most important games in this run-in. With the home side in 6th and the away side in third place, both teams are battling for Champions League slots.Â
To give you an idea of how much pressure Liam Rosenior was already under, the Blues were level on points with Brentford and Bournemouth. Chelsea needed a win, having lost their last three games before this. Instead, Blues faithful got another loss, making it the fourth consecutive loss without scoring in the league this season.
It was a horrendous outing, but not because the players were poor, though some were. This result stings harder because the Blues are just coming from a bad Manchester City defeat. Sanchez gets the smallest portion of the blame, but with both center backs having good games, let's see how each player performed on the night:
Robert Sanchez: 6.5/10
Sanchez was solid, especially in his distribution. His goalkeeping was very good, particularly with how well he snuffed out attacks. The goal the Blues conceded was one he could do nothing about. Matheus Cunha placed the ball in the one spot Sanchez couldn't get to.
Malo Gusto: 7/10
Gusto did not have much defending to do, but he was quite active in the final third. He completed several important crosses and created three chances, making him the second-best chance creator on the pitch.
Wesley Fofana: 8/10
Fofana, again, was great in the air. His long passing was impeccable as well. He won all his aerials and his reading of the game was fantastic. He was one of the better defenders Chelsea had on the day. No player in Blue had more clearances (5) than the Blues No. 29.
Jorrel Hato: 7/10
As good as Fofana was, Hato was slightly better, mainly because he was contesting ground duels for two. The not-so-tall Chelsea centerback contested seven ground duels, yet his partner contested zero. No game will be easy for Hato, but he clearly doesn't plan to make games easy for his counterparts either, and that's commendable.
Marc Cucurella: 6.5/10
You could tell Cucurella was not having a great night against Bryan Mbeumo. However, the Spaniard did all he could to manage the situation. His distribution was great as well.Â
Moises Caicedo: 6.5/10
Caicedo did not make many defensive contributions, largely because Chelsea had so much of the ball. His passing was fantastic, like his old self. He wore the armband for the Blues, despite Enzo Fernandez playing, showing that the latter has indeed been pushed down the captaincy hierarchy.
Enzo Fernandez: 7.5/10
Rosenior's men got to see more of the Fernandez fans saw at SL Benfica before he joined. His passing was excellent, even making more key passes than any other player in Chelsea blue. He was alert defensively as well, making more interceptions than anyone for the home side.
Estevao: 5/10
Unfortunately, the youngster was only able to manage 16 minutes of play before he was forced off due to injury. In that time, he took one third of Chelsea's shots on target. And that was practically all he did.
Cole Palmer: 4.5/10
Palmer was poor. He took more shots than all his other teammates, but managed to get none of them on target. Yes, Manchester United were structurally sound, but it still takes some carelessness and desperation to shoot three times into traffic. He didn't make his mark in the chance creation department either.
Pedro Neto: 6/10
Neto deserves commendation for his crossing and chance creation, because they were quite good. However, his shooting was as bad as Palmer's. Of the three shots he took, all of them were blocked. It was that kind of night for Chelsea.
Liam Delap: 4/10
Delap got into good shooting positions, but like his teammates, he was poor in that department. He tried to make himself a pain in the butt for the Manchester United defense, but they simply were having none of it.
Alejandro Garnacho (16'): 7/10
Garnacho was much better than the man he replaced, all things considered. The former Man Utd forward caused so many problems for his former club. He completed several key dribbles. This means that he attempted (5) and completed (3) the most dribbles of anyone on the pitch.
Josh Acheampong (81'): N/A
As the game went on, Chelsea's defensive players had less and less to do. Acheampong would have been happy to see gametime in a game of this magnitude. He didn't get many opportunities on the ball though, but he completed all the passes he attempted.
Trevoh Chalobah (81'): N/A
Another strange substitution considering that Chelsea was chasing the game at the time. Like Acheampong, his passing was good. And like Acheampong, he had nothing else to do.
Romeo Lavia (88'): N/A
It was an injury substitution, so it had to be made. Lavia, unsurprisingly, did nothing.Â
Liam Rosenior: 5/10
His failing was in the way his team played. The result is unacceptable, mainly because Man Utd let Chelsea have the ball. You could argue that it was because Carrick's men knew that the west London side would be LESS of a threat WITH the ball. The Blues were also lucky to only concede four shots and one goal. Chelsea showed the same defensive frailties, despite being so dominant in possession.Â
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