Football’s primary colours were set to collide at the Bridge where Jose Mourinho, having never visited the ground as an away manager lead his Red Devils against the Blues of Antonio Conte. Manchester United came into the game from an impressive display midweek against Fenerbahce but they not only had history against them today, they also had one of the title contenders against them. Right from the first minute, things went from bad to worse. Jose Mourinho’s tactics were wrong and Chelsea opened United on several fronts including Midfield and Defence.
Chris Smalling was a big letdown at the back with each of his errors proving to be major where Chelsea capitalized. The midfield suffered against a top notch performance from the opposition and except for Herrera’s efforts, the others were nonexistent. The attack failed to create anything yet again and Antonio Valencia who’s a right-back looked to be the only one creating anything going forward. Chelsea inflicted the biggest defeat for Jose personally and United themselves were the key reason for their letdown.
Player Ratings
David De Gea: 6/10
The margin of the defeat would have been bigger if not for the couple of good saves De Gea made. He watched helplessly as his defense let him down on a big night. Nightmare!
Antonio Valencia: 7/10
Valencia would likely be the only player who tried ever so hard. Created options attacking wise but defensively the whole team was a major letdown. Individually, though, the Ecuadorian continues his good start to the season.
Chris Smalling: 4/10
A horror from the Englishman with individual errors costing his team hugely. Indecisive conceding the first two goals and was schooled later on by Kante which led to another goal. A night to forget indeed.
Eric Bailly: 5/10
Got a silly booking in the first half and did nothing really. Got injured later on and was taken off to be replaced.
Daley Blind: 4.5/10
Absolutely untidy at the back where he gave away possession numerous times and was terrible defensively. A rare bad performance from the Dutchman.
Marouane Fellaini: 5/10
Looked confused honestly and did nothing to prevent Chelsea’s pacey play through the middle. Got injured and was replaced at half-time.
Ander Herrera: 6/10
Tried hard in the midfield to do anything to get United forward but was completely overwhelmed.
Jesse Lingard: 5/10
Did nothing extraordinary except for a good strike which was saved well by Courtois.
Marcus Rashford: 6/10
Rashford was one of the few United players trying but on a bad day like this, there wasn’t really anything much he could have done. Had to drop back more often to cover Blind than go and perform in the attack.
Paul Pogba: 5/10
Another poor performance which does very little justice to the money United lavished upon him. He must improve his game as he has let the whole team down.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: 5.5/10
Zlatan should take his chances well because whenever it’s delivered well to him he wastes it. His header at just 1-0 down was wasteful and was isolated throughout the game.
