The chaos spiral continues at Manchester United as Michael Carrick’s side found a new way to let down the manager and fans.
The Reds battled through a testy first half at Stamford Bridge in which the side should have scored. If they had, what came next might not have stung quite as much. The second half display could not have been further from “battling,” and resulted in a second straight Premier League defeat to make it seven points through nine matches.
The defense was solid in the first half of
action, though there were still worrying moments in transition. The best moments for Chelsea came from players being caught out of position, with Diogo Dalot notably sloppy on a United corner to give up a disallowed goal. United were the team on the front foot, though, and should have done better with some decent chances.
Amad and Matheus Cunha both had shots on target blocked or put off balance while Bruno Fernandes whiffed on a tremendous chance created by Bryan Mbeumo. The winger sent him through with an excellent pass into the left half space, but Bruno’s shot was too powerful and sent high into the air.
Bruno nearly set up Mbeumo as well with a low, driven cross through the box towards the back post, but his teammate was just a bit too late to tap it into the net.
The positivity was warranted after the first half, but the second half could not have gone to hell much quicker than it did.
Chelsea were put in front by Morgan Rogers shortly after the restart. A poor turnover of possession near the center circle turned into a gallop through acres of space in the heart of the United team. Harry Maguire was left backpedaling and accounting for an open Estevao to Rogers’ left, and was depending on Lisandro Martinez for help. Instead, the Argentine was caught ball watching as Rogers continued his run through the center and slotted a simple shot past Senne Lammens.
Poor cohesion and awareness led to the goal, and a frustrating switchoff led to the second as Martinez gave away a penalty. He recklessly shoved a Chelsea player without even looking at the ball on a corner kick cross. To make matters worse, he did so shortly after receiving a yellow card, and was sent off for a second bookable offense. Cole Palmer converted the penalty and the result was all but settled.
Chelsea should have had a third, but Estevao was just offside when he beat Maguire in a 3v1 situation. The Blues were nearly gifted another goal as Joshua Zirkzee attempted a ridiculous tap around a defender on the dribble. The problem was that Zirkzee was still well in his own half and United were pinned back, meaning his showy move was easily intercepted by the sieging Chelsea players.
United are back in Europe this week, facing Roma at Old Trafford as the pressure mounts with every match.
