Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea: Awful performance from a truly disappointing Chelsea side at Old Trafford.
Chelsea were well and truly beaten by Jose Mourinho's Manchester United side in one of our most disappointing performances of the sea...
https://www.chelseadaft.org/2017/04/manchester-united-2-0-chelsea-awful.html
Chelsea were well and truly beaten by Jose Mourinho's Manchester United side in one of our most disappointing performances of the season.
I can take defeat on the chin if we deserve to be beaten as we were yesterday. I can accept the manner of defeat if we have played our best and have given it our all but have still lost the game. I do not for one second accept the performance of the Chelsea team at Old Trafford yesterday afternoon coupled with a poor display from the match Referee. Chelsea appeared lifeless and a team that had ran out of ideas and that's what concerns me the most at this stage.
I am not prepared to jump on the bandwagon with these so-called Chelsea fans that are spouting so much rubbish on Social Media at the moment as I am hoping that this is just a blip for Antonio Conte and this team to refocus, to sort things out as quickly as possible.
The Chelsea team we all know and have admired this season will have no problems in dealing with our remaining fixtures against Southampton, Everton, Watford, West Brom, Middlesborough and Sunderland to claim five wins to wrap up the title. The Chelsea team that appeared on the pitch at Old Trafford WILL struggle to get over the line.
What frustrates me the most is that it was almost as if we had been beaten before the game started with news that Thibaut Courtois was injured in training and would have to miss the game. In addition to the blow suffered with Courtois, we then lost Marcos Alonso in the pre-match warm up which added to our problems and it became clear early on that it affected our balance.
Asmir Begovic is of a good enough standard to deputise with the right protection in front of him and Kurt Zouma in for Alonso with Cesar Azpilicueta moving to wing-back. We should have been more than capable to deal with the threat of Manchester United and taken the game to them, to impose our style of play that has been so impressive this year.
It never happened once. We had the likes of Eden Hazard and Pedro who were both virtually non-existent throughout. Diego Costa struggled up front playing up against Bailly and Rojo and wasn't helped by the fact that our passing on the day was shocking. I've never seen a Chelsea side give the ball away so many times.
The only person who could walk away from the game yesterday and hold his head up high would be the ever reliable N'Golo Kante. As for everyone else in the Chelsea blue, they need to have a look at themselves today because surely they know that they did not turn up for arguably the biggest game of our season.
The Manager has claimed responsibility but for me it's everyone as a collective. In any season no matter what our league position is, a trip to Old Trafford is a massive game and I cannot for the life of me understand how you can not be up for the game, how you can afford to drift in and out of the game like we did. If we know things are not working out, we should have players that demand the ball to make things happen.
As I said, I can take defeat if we deserve to lose after giving it our best. Chelsea were nowhere near that yesterday and now as a result, have our lead cut to just four points in the title race. Alarm bells ringing? Not quite yet but Antonio Conte and these players MUST sort this out quickly.